Post race scrutineering

[DAVID PATERSON]

It has been suggested to me by a colleague that after Adelaide, Sandown and Bathurst the engines of the top 10 finishers are compulsorily pulled down for inspection/measurement. He went on to say that this does not happen at other rounds and the teams know this in advance.

Can one of our insiders please confirm or deny this?

[GTRMagic]

Confirm that it happened, or that it does not usually happen?

I understand there is nothing in the TEGA technical reports to support this... although TEGA does seal engines and pulls them down at their and the teams' convenience

[GTRMagic]

Interestingly, I understand that in a multiple car team, one car can be selected by the team as being the one where the seals are fitted. So #2 has had a few shots at having the engine sealed, while #1 does not appear to have had the same fate befall it.

Also, at Bathurst, the TEGA techies sealed 40 engines belonging to 20 cars.... for checking at a later date...

[Mark Webber]

Originally posted by GTRMagic
Interestingly, I understand that in a multiple car team, one car can be selected by the team as being the one where the seals are fitted. So #2 has had a few shots at having the engine sealed, while #1 does not appear to have had the same fate befall it.

Geezzzzzz!! That's a good rule isn't:confused: :confused:

[TSR]

I wonder which KRT car had the seal on it 15/51 my money is on car15 of CMcL, AP.

[Onlooker]

Or prior to the event you are aware that say 4th place will be having the fuel cell checked,3rd the rear end ratio,2nd the gearbox ratio's and the heads will be coming of 1st place and a select few will have say the rear end weight checked.f course anyone that is suspected of a breach will also be checked but hey imagine if you were leading the event had had heaps of grunt all day and then retired in the closing stages for some unforseen problem,you get nothing.
It is all purelly acedemic anyway as to my knowledge no one has ever been caught and penalised for cheating since the series began,so we must be the most law abiding citizens on the globe

[GTRMagic]

I would have thought there would be some issues of interpretation for discussion, unless that particular process joins some others in the series in not being totally transparent.

The teams seem to have to have all of their control ECU's checked at most meetings, front and rear tracks, front axle weights, spoiler heights, correctness of gearing etc etc and you would imagine that given some of the parts arent bespoke, and are made inhouse, that there might be measurement differences...

[Wizzby]

Can other teams also request another team's engine be looked at though if they feel a tech rule has been breached?

[TSR]

In the form of motorsport that I particpate in the top 3 placegetters have the heads checked and everyone has the fuel,weight & ECU boxs checked. But then again it is Aussie Bernie TC v8supertaxi rules.

[GTRMagic]

One team has been using an aggressive engine management system technique for many years, that overfuels the engine to the extent that it splurts fire.... its not technically illegal but can produce more horsepower if the right configuration of components are melded together.

Thats not strictly speaking a breach of a tech rule, although with the fire and smoke that used to come out of the exhausts, questions were often asked but never raised with any official-type...

[Wizzby]

But they could raise a protest if they wished?

[TSR]

MMMMM would not be a ***&***** coloured car would it.

[DAVID PATERSON]

Whizzby, if any competitor feels that another car is illegal they can fill out the form, pay the fee and lodge an official protest. The stated parts are then removed/disassembled/measured and if all is well the protestor loses his fee and must pay for any repair/rebuild necessitated by the inspection. If however, the protest is upheld, the protestor gets his money back and the protestee finds himself in hot water.

[GTRMagic]

It was a Ford actually....

[Wizzby]

I thought so, I guess it's really up to the other teams to keep on their toes....

Like having too many players on the footy field, it's up to the other team to protest it

[Onlooker]

Fortunatly for us nobody cheats so therefore this has never occured in V8's ,what a lucky bunch we are to have such honest teams

[GTRMagic]

Sometimes teams get pinged though, Bargs and Larko had problems with the control ECU at one of the rounds, and got fined for the privilege....

[Mark Webber]

Originally posted by DAVID PATERSON
Whizzby, if any competitor feels that another car is illegal they can fill out the form, pay the fee and lodge an official protest. The stated parts are then removed/disassembled/measured and if all is well the protestor loses his fee and must pay for any repair/rebuild necessitated by the inspection. If however, the protest is upheld, the protestor gets his money back and the protestee finds himself in hot water.

Thats fine but if somefor say pays and accuse's HRT of cheating then by the rules Mark's car can stay safe and untouched and the No2 car which maybe legal will be pulled down (by those rules)

[Wizzby]

I'm not sure on that one, I think the teams could specify which car to protest on..

[DAVID PATERSON]

Of course they can. You must stipulate which car you are protesting on the protest form.

[tiko]

I can remember a few years ago at bathurst they pick 4 or 5 cars out of the top 10 for "random" engine measuring. i think 1st, 4th, 7th, 9th were all picked?!

[Mark Webber]

refer GTR's post above for multi car teams

[DAVID PATERSON]

GTR, was referring to sealing, not inspections or protests.

[GTRMagic]

If we cast out minds back to 1988 at Bathurst, when TWR protested every Ford Sierra in the field (except info source Mr R.Eggenberger ), the teams even then managed to convince the technical gumbies that the multiple cars in the fleet were the same... so in the DJR camp, the FIA people molested the #18 car, while #17 and #28 remained untouched....

Except that at that stage, not all cars from the same fleet were the same.. as in this case.

[GTRMagic]

Imagine I am a bit dense for a minute (hardly a stretch I know) but I have a hypothetical.

Imagine for a minute that a TEGA scrutineer put a seal on a Supercar engine. This seal cannot be broken unless in the presence of a TEGA technical delegate, or with permission from the category technical manager. So if a team does work on their engine that impacts on the sanctity of the seal, they require permission to do so.

So imagine if a team who has an engine sealed by a scrutineer, is seen removing conrods and pistons from the said engines, having taken the sump off the engine, and taken the crankshaft out to allow this to occur.

I wonder what the penalty would be for such a thing, if a TEGA technical person were to walk past a team doing this and have a mild heart failure at the thought and view of this happening.

Nothing untoward is suggested to be going on in the engine department, more that a seal wasnt broken, but voided by a different method of access to key engine components