Proposal: passenger seats

[Eagle7]

If you were protested, this clearly would not be a safety item or give you an advantage, so as long as you had the seat installed for no other purpose than I don't think any reasonable steward would give you any penalty other than to remove it before next race.

I'm all in favor of allowing passenger seats, but this troubles me. Does a steward have the lattitude to not penalize an illegal car? Seems like they need to be bound by the rules.

[Chip42]

I'm all in favor of allowing passenger seats, but this troubles me. Does a steward have the lattitude to not penalize an illegal car? Seems like they need to be bound by the rules.

the tech scrutineers have "checks" on every class after the race at impound. certain illegal items, such as restrictor plates on a spec mitata, would qualify to DQ the car, while others would only be a logbook note to be corrected before the next event (like an undersized overflow bottle).

generally, though, the IT tech checklist wouldn't inspect the passenger seat - but cage welds, belt certifications, fuel inspection ports, air dams, etc... (safety / "easy" items)

competitor protests have a variety of potential outcomes - determined by the SOM, though illegal mechanical items always get a note in the logbook. if a competitor wanted to, he could protest an IT car for having a non-OE seat installed in the passenger location, and the car with a passenger race-style seat installed would be found illegal as a result. GCR- 62, 8.3.3: "In the event a car is found in non-compliance, a claim that the non-compliant item(s) offer no performance advantage shall have no influence on any ruling."

I support the changed language. We have a couple of cars with removable petty-bars and seats. I say send it in.