Resignation

[Steve Panas]

The angry feelings surrounding the situation of the illegal Whitwell engine have lead to conditions threatening the 2CV Racing Club's survival. A protest was common knowledge to the aggrieved party for at least six weeks before. Indeed legal advice, though unofficial, was sought on the matter. Knowing that the protest was looming prior to the race a threat was made by Mark Turner that, due to an appeal he would enter, the result of the championshipand the 24 hour race would take the maximun permitted time of 28 days to resolve. Therefore ensuring that the whole situation would be fiasco in front of nearly 400 people. Nobody would know where they had finished in the race or the championship until the appeal was resolved. Knowing that this was the situation I appealed to Trevor Williams that he should not enter his protest at the end of the race on the grounds of damage limitation. He agreed that the protest would not suit the clubs best interests at the end of the race for reasons as stated above. I now stand accused of being conspirital in the sucessful Trevor Williams protest. This has led so far to cause Andy Smith to finish 2CV racing and the demise of the team driving in Belgium.
A protest was lodged about the legality of the engines used by Whitwell at Snetterton this year. The MSA scrutineers deemed the engines to be illegal and not to be used for this meeting. This is not the first time that they have been officially found to be cheating. At this point their only alternative was to return the car to the trailer and return home. John Felix together with the technical director of the club, Philip Myatt, and Paul Robertson spent a great deal of time and effort to ensure that Whitwell could race, supply a serious front running engine and alter the time span of the appeal to suit Whitwell's appeal requirements. This opportunity was eventually declined by Whitwell for whatever reason. Following the meeting enquiries have been  made to the effect that if Trevor Williams renewed his membership that members of the Whitwell team would not. This current situation has lead me to a position therefore leaving no alternative than to resign from the management committee immediately

[David Bain]

I can't comment as a racer, just as a long-time supporter who tries to help others win within the rules. If the protest had been unfounded I would have thought that Steve might have some thinking to do about his position. From what I've read and heard at the weekend it seems that an inadequate reading of the rules has caused this problem and as a result of the scrutineer's decision toys have been thrown from prams. I don't see that Steve has anything to apologise for and his leaving his position will exacerbate the club's problems.

The question which follows on from this is - how many other cars are powered by the offending heads?

[Mary Lindsay]

As a relative newcomer to the club and having competed only in the last 3 24 hour races I am not familiar with many of the personalities concerned nor their various team affiliations or interests. The result sheet is a bit sketchy and it is not easy to work out who is who.

Our team was completely unaware of the events unfolding. Some clarification would be helpful as to exactly what the problem was with the heads and which cars run them.

It is a great shame that a cloud like this should hang over such an enthusiastic and active club. Steve Panas has obviously done great work for this event and the club as whole and his resignation is very sad.

We all thoroughly enjoy the event and aim to drive as competitively as we can within the rules and, hopefully, finish the race.  We are very conscious that there are two levels of competing cars - the front runners who have car set up and engine preparation well sorted and the rest of us who battle it out further down the field. We would like to think that it is purely their superior experience in 2CV driving and car preparation that separates us from the front runners.

Mary Lindsay, Team 77 Inworth Racing Extravaganza.

[philip myatt]

Mary
The Technical and Management team are currently working on the necessary proposals for changes to the technical rules for 2010, the cylinder heads are one area where changes are required, the current rule was written 14 years ago and its only just come to light that it is possible to be misinterpreted. A priority is to ensure that all cylinder heads currently in use will be able to be used in the future.
You will find other proposals posted in the technical section.

Philip

[Mary Lindsay]

Thanks Philip.

A priority is to ensure that all cylinder heads currently in use will be able to be used in the future.

But aren't some of them illegal?
What work has been done that makes them illegal?

[Chris Yates]

(I've moved this to the Technical forum as it has little to do with the 24hr)

[philip myatt]

It all revolves around the "add or remove material" statement, the interpretation by the scrutineers was that you cannot do both at the same time, it is very clear that it is not clear what the intention of the rule was, this ambiguity will be removed.

[Mary Lindsay]

How will you know which ones have been modified according to the current ambiguous regs and which ones will comply with the revised regs?

[Roy Eastwood]

From Philip Myatt's earlier post (August 13, 2009, 15:33:12):
"A priority is to ensure that all cylinder heads currently in use will be able to be used in the future."

Therefore it can be assumed that the heads deemed illegal now will become legal (my apologies if that's not what you mean Philip), that would certainly be my hope.

How will you know which ones have been modified according to the current ambiguous regs and which ones will comply with the revised regs?

[philip myatt]

We (the management team) are trying to ensure that all cylinder heads currently in use, empty or filled, will be compliant with next years rules.

philip

[Nick Roads]

I wanted to add a big thanks to Steve for all his time and effort for the organisation at the 24 hour race. It is very sad that he should feel he has to resign following the events outlined in the post on this forum.

Paul and Steve had approached me a couple of months ago to see if I could help in the organisation for the 24 Hour race in 2010 which I had agreed too - the details we were going to sort out after the race this year. What I do know is that it takes a lot of time and often those who organise such events do not get to appreciate that their efforts are valued.

Everyone involved in or simply at the 24 hour race I have come across are very impressed at how a small and poorly funded club can put together such an event. It may not always filter up to the organisers and the committee but it is really appreciated by the silent majority.

I cannot add anything to the issues about the engines and scrutineering that led to the resignation as I do not understand them fully. I did not even realise they were taking place over the weekend and as noted elsewhere the communication of the technical issues might be something to improve on in future .

I do know that in most disagreements there is never a clear right or wrong and this seems to be a classic case of that.

Hopefully all the parties can at least see the others perspective without having to agree with them.

For my part the irony is that nearly all those involved in Steve's post have directly really helped me to start in, enjoy and stay 2cv racing. Trevor Williams was the chairman when we started offering useful advice, encouragement and direction in getting parts and supplies. Mark Turner at Whitwell literally kept us going in my first 24 hour race even though he was based in the next garage. Twice we are at a loss how to keep the car going - he took the time out from managing 3 cars and with a diagnosis from him we were back on track. Andy Smith has offered many driving, setup (and life!) tips a number of times over the last couple of years.

I am not sure how this will all be resolved but it would be a great loss if any of the parties are not racing 2cv's and/or supporting 2cv racing next year.