Anglesey weekend, or the horror story of the catalyst witch hunt

[maurici]

Well. Just got home at 12.30 P.M. On sunday of what was meant to be the first weekend of my sprinting season after a year without competing.

This is a post to highlight how roten and how little common sense is applied by several people on this sport, but if you are a member of SSOT and you are reading this lines, don't worry, this wont be one of my inflamatory posts moaning and swearing. I've been asked to write this in a MP to the SSOT, but, I really think It must be public, so I've done my best effort on being objective and descriptive.

The weekend started bad, very bad, on friday where we was allowed to scrutinie our cars.It was a good Idea to do so and take it out of the way.

The day was typical miserable Anglesey weather, with rain and wind. I went to the scrutiniering bay and queued under the rain getting soaked for an hour while the scrutinier decied to accept to take a radikal in admision without logbook and arranged to have it made in-situ while the others were waiting in the queue, under rain cold and wind.

When this individual, finished with the loog book, told to all the cars in the queue that he was tired and he would not accept any other car. That was 17.50 P.M. The scrutiniering times were till 18.30 P.M.

Fair enough he didn't wanted to scrutinie our cars, but was absolutely unnecesary to have us waiting for an hour under the rain, and even more unnecesary to laught in our faces when all the 4 cars there waiting told him “c'mon, only 4 cars and we have been soaked under the rain for an hour”...

This same undesirable individual, laught in my face again on saturday morning when I went to scrutinie my car, asking me if I was still soaked after yesterdays wait. Poor taste, and a clear view of a person that shouldn't be allowed to share space with normal people.

After the 4^th saturday timed run, I decieded to call it a day. I was first in class, and I wasn't going any faster, and I was reasonably happy with the points scored in the speed series, so I went with my dad walking to rocket corner to see the last timed run from there.

When we walked back, Gavin, Longton's secretary came to tell me to go to the scrutiniering bay as I was requested by the scrutinier team.

When I arrived there, I found myself and another 5 westfields under re-check for not having catalytic converters in the car.

I have to say, that everyone will know their circumstances, but in my case, being road-going and Q-plate, and enforced by both championship rules to bring the car in the exact same condition that it wen trough the MOT, I was pretty convinced that my car didn't need it. Apparently does.

In summary, we were all of us excluded from the event and banned to take part in next day event.

The same undesirable individual who had been behaving not very well during the whole weekend, was extremely rude, unpolite, and refused to even debate the rules. He was too busy issuing us non compliance sheets with his best sarcastic smail and with a feel of satisfaction while f***** 5 amateur drivers and making them waste a lot of money for all the wasted weekend.

The clerck of the course, surprisingly, was the one who took the decision to exclude us, and supported this individual position. A clerck of a club (whitch I'm a paid member) that is alive because there is amateur drivers competing with them, and other clubs (like wesfield one) attending to their meetings... so witch hunting amateur competitors of a whole “friend” club, doens't looks like the best practice.

The rule of the catalityc converters is been there for ages, and is been not enforced, because is not realistic, and technically speaking you can't fit them to any engine. Is not a safety issue and should be prossecuted ONLY if another competitor claims against your car. And that, from my experience in club motorsports, rarely happens. If they wanted to start to police it, or enforce it, they shold have had to issue a warning beforehand to avoid competitors with cars that had been compilant for 10 years to waste over a grand preparing the weekend. (as for example happened with the warning of the f***** lithium batterys). And the should had to do a sample of the WHOLE PADOCK. I did walk a bit this morning, and I could count from a single pass, about 15 cars post 1999 without catalytic converters.

Is another stupid rule, like the one of the size of the headlamps (just to quote one), that if you apply it with severty, half of the grid would be excluded.

 

What happens now?

Well. This is my goodbie to the competition world. At least the MSA world, and my return to trackdays. There will be two clubs without me as a customer due this incident, and a license less in the MSA, so they are losing it, not me. For you to understand my point, I'm not an sprinter, and I don't praticularly enjoy sprinting itself. I like track time, and I like competition, and sprinting is the only way of competition I can afford, so NO, I'm not sprinting anymore and not giving longton or MSA a single penny ever else. After wasting over a grand in one weekend, I think I had enough.

They lose a customer (and maybe other 4), they will look terrible to the public, More issues will arise now... its been a terribly poor move from all of them.

Who wins? Unfortunately nobody aside of the undesirable scrutinier who enjoyed the whole story like if he was wining the lottery.

Shame and poor management from all of them this weekend.

Those are the facts, from my point of view, and I've tried my best to be as objective and near to the real truth as I possibly can.

 

Regards.

Maurici Revilla-Vazquez.

Msa National B license Holder.

Longton And District M.C. Member.

WSCC member and Speed series competitor.

 

[AdamR]

Well, I'll be interested to see what comes of this. The only routes I can see are to revoke the daft rule or disqualify everyone else without a cat and a post 99 car.

A real shame the MSA seem to be doing their best to reduce participation in recent years.

Hopefully see you at the Javelin sprints mate 

Regards,

Adam Read

Just wasted £101 renewing his MSA license, and was also going to join the Speed Series and LDMC when his car was built.

[Castlecroft]

What I can’t understand is why the scrute did not pick you up on not having a cat at the time of scrutineering.... and that they waited until the end of play.... so unless somebody complained what prompted him to enforce the clause post having a race ticket ?

[TAFKARM]

This is one of the major reasons I’ve been put off getting into sprinting; the seemingly constant rule changes, the lack of clarity and communication and the squabbling make it seem very unattractive to a newbie. 

Yours

Archie M.

[AdamR]

Russ, after my experience yesterday at Cadwell, it seems to be much more to do with the organiser than the type of event...

[Onliest Smeg David]

Have to admit to being a bit disillusioned with several aspects of Sprinting (not just MSA stuff) and have opted not to compete at the moment for this and other personal reasons.

BUT it is still a great sport and experience, And all should have a dabble, try it out @Archibald Meatpants. So different to track days, and has very high adrenaline fixes!

It is easy to be put off by a few woes, but everyone should make there own mind up by having a go.

WSCC will support you and help you learn the ropes.

Maurici has been served an awfully bad sprint meal, and has also had bad luck. So I fully empathise with his post. But not everyone has experienced the same.

 

[maurici]

@Dave (OnliestSmeg) - Manchester AO

That would be  full topic for a different post, but I've always found sprinting itself quite ****. The atmosphere, the banter with fellow drivers, being part of this particular club, and eventually win... can make it up, and it did it for me for a while. But i kept sprinting for reasons purely aside of the driving itself. I still think that you should try it to have your own experience and opinion, but as a driver, i dont find it rewarding at all. That is up to everyone to evaluate, but if i could put the same people, and the same atmosphere in a regular trackday, i would swap it eyes closed.

[cphelps]

Personally I have always found sprinting to be a friendly, welcoming place, and a great way to test yourself and your car. We as a family have never encountered any issues that weren't easily shrugged off or resolved with the help of our racing community, and one poor experience should not put anybody off. I'm sure both the SSOT and Longton will do everything they can to ensure this doesn't happen again in future, and we need to trust and support them in that. Unfortunately, a rule is a rule, and if they choose to investigate it fully, there is not much the Clerk of the Course can do. @Archibald Meatpants Please don't allow this one unfriendly character encountered by @maurici over the weekend to influence the impression of a community that is overwhelmingly friendly, welcoming and supportive of anyone who choses to join it. 

[Terry Everall]

Charlotte... Thanks for expressing those sentiments. I can assure everyone that the SSOT are actively investigating  the events of the Eligibility check as well as other issues including the correct interpretation of the Cat requirements as specified in the Blue Book.Several of the SSOT were at the Anglesey event. It will also be useful to understand what triggered this check and why it involved 2 classes that contained Westfields ( and 1 Caterham ). Only cars manufactured after 31/12/1999 were checked for compliance. We are also looking at whether the need to fit a CAT applies purely to Road Going cars and Not those running in Mod Prods  running  on slicks ( or list 1C tyres) and are never used on the road. We have already made our concerns known to LDMC verbally and will be contacting them in writing to move matters forward.. Once we have more facts and have looked at the interpretation of the rule it is likely that we will be contacting Motorsport UK to clarify our understanding of the requirement for a CAT to be fitted and which Westfield car it should affect. As soon as the issue is resolved we will inform everyone of the outcome.

[Marto303]

What a shame to kick the season off this way. I really feel for all the guys that have had their weekend ruined. 

While we wait for an investigation into the events of this weekend and some form of clarification of this rule and how / when it’s to be applied, I have a a couple of concerns for those of us about to head off to events. 

My car does not have a cat. It is on a Q plate so does not require a cat for MOT, it was first registered in 2004 but the chassis year symbol ( 10th digit of the chassis number is a T ) suggest the chassis was manufactured in 1996.  I’m running in Mod Prod due to 1c tyres so does not require an MOT to compete!

So where do I stand in this mess ? Do I need a CAT or not ?

If I don’t due to production year of chassis, should I be questioned about this by a scrut what proof of year of manufacture is required ? 

Marto 

 

[Kingster]

Last season I "had a go" at sprinting and loved it - but was so very nearly put off from even starting due to the potential cost of adding in a cat on top of the rest of the MSA requirements needed to compete. As a newbie to this, the overall cost was getting prohibitively expensive and the cat would have just tipped the balance into the "no chance" category.

I ended up "taking a punt" that it would not get asked for during scrutineering - and it didn't.

However, if this rule is likely to be enforced, it would now completely put me off from entering again as I have no intention of ever fitting a cat regardless of cost (though that would be a big factor) simply to compete in sprints and for no other purpose.

I certainly wouldn't take my chances only to end up in the same situation as Maurici and get kicked out on the day after spending all the money and (perhaps more importantly) time on a weekend event.

Is there no way that, in future, the WSCC Sprint Series can run like the Javelin one with rules that are much more Novice friendly? 

AFAIK, Javelin requirements are very much like track day rules WRT FIA helmets, fireproof clothing, cages, HANS, extinguishers, cats etc. etc. This makes it so much easier for a newbie to have a go and thus get into the sport at a true grass roots level.

(I understand that we share MSA events currently, so this may not be possible - and sorry if I've just opened up a huge can of worms Terry & John!)

[Howard]

Marto,  it's all about the chassis age (as far as the MSA is concerned).  Yours is 1996 so you don't need a cat.  Mine is 2002 so I do, even though my car was originally built and SVAd with a crossflow and has an age related plate (P reg- 1975,  because I had enough of the donor car in the build at the time). It didn't have a cat when built and doesn't need one for the MOT, but if I was still running the crossflow I would still need a cat, according to the MSA.

Edited April 8, 2019 by Howard
unfinished sentence.

[maurici]

8 minutes ago, Howard said:

Marto,  it's all about the chassis age (as far as the MSA is concerned).  Yours is 1996 so you don't need a cat.  Mine in 2002 so I do, even though my car was originally built and SVAd with a crossflow and has an age related plate (P reg- 1975,  because I had enough of the donor car in the build at the time).   If I was still running the crossflow I would still need a cat, according to the MSA.

Then EVEN worst. My chasis is a from 1998... then are you telling me that appart of all, they excluded me with no grounds.

Honestly, reading this, I really want to cry right now.

As i said to Terry, I don't even want to know the outcome because is going to hurt me even more to know there was no grounds at all to exclude me.

Oh my good. What a huge ammount of muppets.

[Marto303]

Oh dear oh dear oh dear @maurici what a mess  you really do have some bad luck  !

So is our word good enough regarding the age of the chassis or do we require something in writing from the factory? 

[maurici]

I don't know, but I really have the date to show it. A simple VIN number decoder will give you this info.

 

Now, I really want to take actions against them. Is there any MSA expert who cant help me with the appeal of the decision? Is now a matter of pride