Labor Day In Sonoma....

[Marcus Miller]

James- search for 'a protest story' on this forum; its a good read.

Josh-
A) I would have found a way to have someone I trust stay with the car, while I left for Paris. Results are what they are.
yes, by the rules you must be prepared to stay several hours after the race.
C) Rules in the GCR are there in black and white - 6 months is 6 months.
D) Tech is more invasive, hopefully he is ready. Protests happen too, they just don't create the public spectacle they do in the SCCA. He would be welcome, his history or crashing and contact, maybe not so much.

[JoshS]

James- search for 'a protest story' on this forum; its a good read.

https://improvedtouring.com...ad.php?t=12127

[Z3_GoCar]

Thanks for the link Josh, and thanks Marcus for the suggestion. I believe that I was just lurking this board then, so I might have missed it the first time. So, he got to tear his own engine down. Also, because Jake found the pistons had domes he didn't get reimbursed for gaskets and one time use bolts, or maybe Honda's get to reuse them all. I wonder if he's still racing of if OSB or maybe OSBB ( other sanctioning bodies beckoned.)

[JoshS]

James, this thread is also an excellent resource for a simplified view into the protest/inspection process (in addition to lots of other confusing bits of the GCR.)

[Marcus Miller]

To close the loop, he did return to racing, late last year or this year. Has run up front and won since then.

[lateapex911]

If you guys are talking about the guy who was the subject of "A Protest Story", yes, he's in the same car and racing, presumably clean. He's a good driver. Very good. But I'll stop short of great, LOL.

As for the Paris bound protestee, it is not uncommon for the tools, the physical space, and or the conditions at the track to be inappropriate for a teardown, and arrangements have been made in the past to perform such work at other locations and at a later date. Clearly, the car gets towed to a neutral third party that both parties agree on.

It's a real shame that option wasn't presented to the protestee. In the NE, there is a Steward that is called in to act as a liason and adviser to those involved in a protest. In our case, he, I felt, spent significant time with the protestee and was presumably explaining the options available.

If I were the guy who needed to be in Paris, I'd seriously look at lodging some form of complaint that the matter wasn't handled in a manner that allowed me to defend himself.

One thing I don't like about the protest process is that it is a very shocking thing to have happen, and the clock is ticking; your answers and actions are needed quickly, and the wrong answer can prove lethal.

It's also interesting that the protester didn't list a variety of other easy to check items. He clearly felt the protestee was of a cheating mind, and there are a lot of cheap things he could have done that are far more likely to hit pay dirt than the items he listed. Some would have been obvious in the disassembly.

[Z3_GoCar]

Part of the reason I'm asking because putting my motor togeather, I'm aware of the cost of dissassembly. Pulling the head, $30 for a new set of head bolts and $180 for a top end gasket set. Pull the pistions and I need a new set of rod bolts, pull the crank and it's flywheel bolts and main bearing bolts, plus the cost of a bottom end gasket set. Pull the head requires pulling the cams that involves a $1400 special tool made by an 80 year old machinist in Bavaria. Otherwise the loads on the hollow cams will break them. So you can see a rather large bond may be required to see some of these parts.

[Marcus Miller]

Sounds like a good deterent to protesting