Silverstone 2013. Rules are made to be broken?

[Mervyn Rundle]

I think I may have heard my name mentioned somewhere so perhaps this is a good moment as your chairman to put the record straight. 
I can only say to all of you that I was very perturbed to be told after the race on Saturday that some cars had been scrutineered, found to be underweight and that no penalty had been applied.  I did not hear this directly from any MSA official and so I took this up with the Clerk of the Course personally as soon as I could.   He was not aware of any scrutineering reports to this effect and told me he would investigate.  Later a deputy clerk telephoned me and told me that he had investigated the matter and he considered he could take no further action at the circuit.  He did not tell me why the scrutineer or scrutineers concerned had not reported their findings to him although he did say that without written reports and given that the cars had already left parc ferme he could do nothing more.  In other words (just in case there is any doubt) I was aware that no report had been made but not the reason why.  I asked him if it was possible to extend the time for individual protests so that an aggrieved driver could make a protest and I was told he could not do that.  It is true that I have heard talk around the paddock as to the reasons why this debacle seems to have occurred but in the present situation repeating them or placing any formal reliance upon what is nothing more than hearsay would in my opinion be inappropriate and damaging to any proper investigation. 
One competitor in particular has approached me and suggested that I take it on myself to issue the penalties which the alleged offences would have merited.  As members will be aware none of your board nor myself as chairman have power under any rule to issue race penalties of any kind.  Given our proximity to the competitors it is almost incredulous to suggest that we should do so nor is it my style to approach these things with all guns blazing but without knowing all the facts.
I have also been asked in an email to confirm in front of witnesses that I did not try to intervene or influence the decision as to whether the findings of the scrutineer were reported or not to the Clerk.   I would like to thank Alec as reigning champion for his concern to ensure the rules are properly applied and for the opportunity to state that I have indeed intervened and tried to use as much influence as possible to get a proper report sent through to the Clerk so that the correct and appropriate action can be taken.  I can however also say that I have not spoken to any of the scrutineers about the incident nor do I know any of them.
Neither myself nor your board are happy with the explanations that we have received from  BARC or the MSA officials and on the suggestion of the Clerk of the Course we have asked the Championship Stewards to convene, investigate fully and to take such action as they deem appropriate using the powers available to them.  I trust that this will prove to the members that we take these matters extremely seriously and will pursue them when necessary.
Naturally a board member will post any developments as they occur.
If however you have any comments you would like to make please email me directly at [email protected]

[Trevor Williams]

Mervyn
Thanks for posting that! If my comment in any way inferred that you were not being truthful in what you told Alec, be assured that was never my intention!
Lets hope that it gets sorted out whatever the outcome is!
Cheers
Trevor

[Mick Storey]

Are there reliable facilities to weigh cars at Brands Hatch?

[hemi442]

There used to be one there.  I think it was at the Clearways end of the back of the pits where they do noise tests.  Not sure - it was a long time ago, but someone else may remember.