Cheating

#1

When planning to build his car, one of our drivers bought a car with a broken airflow meter and at Road Atlanta, he told me that that he bought a used one from a large BMW salvage yard. Our driver was surprised at the high cost. The yard owner told him that the cost is high because he is "selling everyone one he can to the Spec E30 guys. They are buying them and are grinding them out to increase the airflow."

Obviously, this is a huge illegal mod and I will start checking airflow meters at every race, including mine and in front of other drivers. Every driver should be prepared to pull the boot, especially at the National Championship races.

From the Spec E30 Rules.

6.9. Rule Compliance
6.9.1. Performance enhancing cheating and non-compliance will be subject to harsh penalties.
6.9.2. At first offense, there will be a disqualification of the current race, a disqualification from the previous two races, and a loss of Championship points from those two races.
6.9.3. At second offense, there will be a loss of half of the season points, a two-race suspension, and disqualification from the current race.
6.9.4. At third offense, there will be a loss of all season Championship points, a four-race suspension, a mandatory order to return all prizes, prize money, and trophies, and a disqualification of the current race.
6.9.5. The fourth offense will result in a disqualification of the current race and permanent ejection from the series.

I was extremely disappointed to hear of this, if anything because I honestly though everyone was playing by the Spec E30 rules when it comes to engine performance.

Plus, and this is big, it sounds like we are getting a reputation for being a series of cheaters. I don’t know if this is accurate or not but if anyone is found to have an altered airflow meter, you will receive the full extent of the allowed penalties. And I will report your cheating to the Spec E30 community. And your car will be thoroughly teched at each event and per the CCR Impound Rule 17.3 Disassembly "Tech Inspectors will not disassemble any part themselves. They will leave it up to the competitors and their crews. If the inspection is being performed as part of the normal impound inspection process the competitor will bear the cost of disassembly and reassembly."

At my personal cost, I will build, or will have built, a device that will accurately check the inner diameter size of a stock airflow meter and I will use it at every race that I attend. I will also use a a measuring caliper.

We have no tolerance for cheating and will do everything we can, within the rules, to find and prosecute anyone with performance enhancing mods.

Carter

#2

Carter wrote:

[quote]When planning to build his car, one of our drivers bought a car with a broken airflow meter and at Road Atlanta, he told me that that he bought a used one from a large BMW salvage yard. Our driver was surprised at the high cost. The yard owner told him that the cost is high because he is "selling everyone one he can to the Spec E30 guys. They are buying them and are grinding them out to increase the airflow."

Obviously, this is a huge illegal mod and I will start checking airflow meters at every race, including mine and in front of other drivers. Every driver should be prepared to pull the boot, especially at the National Championship races.

From the Spec E30 Rules.

6.9. Rule Compliance
6.9.1. Performance enhancing cheating and non-compliance will be subject to harsh penalties.
6.9.2. At first offense, there will be a disqualification of the current race, a disqualification from the previous two races, and a loss of Championship points from those two races.
6.9.3. At second offense, there will be a loss of half of the season points, a two-race suspension, and disqualification from the current race.
6.9.4. At third offense, there will be a loss of all season Championship points, a four-race suspension, a mandatory order to return all prizes, prize money, and trophies, and a disqualification of the current race.
6.9.5. The fourth offense will result in a disqualification of the current race and permanent ejection from the series.

I was extremely disappointed to hear of this, if anything because I honestly though everyone was playing by the Spec E30 rules when it comes to engine performance.

Plus, and this is big, it sounds like we are getting a reputation for being a series of cheaters. I don’t know if this is accurate or not but if anyone is found to have an altered airflow meter, you will receive the full extent of the allowed penalties. And I will report your cheating to the Spec E30 community. And your car will be thoroughly teched at each event and per the CCR Impound Rule 17.3 Disassembly "Tech Inspectors will not disassemble any part themselves. They will leave it up to the competitors and their crews. If the inspection is being performed as part of the normal impound inspection process the competitor will bear the cost of disassembly and reassembly."

At my personal cost, I will build, or will have built, a device that will accurately check the inner diameter size of a stock airflow meter and I will use it at every race that I attend. I will also use a a measuring caliper.

We have no tolerance for cheating and will do everything we can, within the rules, to find and prosecute anyone with performance enhancing mods.

Carter[/quote]
Uber wow!
I sure hope the Yard did not mean Spec-E30…

#3

I’d like to think that anyone found blatantly cheating would not only be dealt with by Carter firmly, but would also be ostracized by the Spec E30 community. I think the bulk of us are here for the right reasons, to race cars at the lowest cost possible and have fun. Intentional cheating has no place in this series (unintentional goofs sometimes happen, but machining your AFM ain’t that).

I’ll offer my car’s flanks to tell the world "Jim Bob Jones Cheats In Our Series" if that would help. :stuck_out_tongue:

#4

Part of the appeal of this series to me is the fact that you should be able to run a bone stock drivetrain - and not have to dump money into a built engine as you "need" to do in CCA.

Making sure everyone follows those rules will help keep this a competitive series, and I think help grow its appeal.

Post edited by: DaveCN, at: 2006/08/15 10:38

#5

ddavidv wrote:

[quote]I’d like to think that anyone found blatantly cheating would not only be dealt with by Carter firmly, but would also be ostracized by the Spec E30 community. I think the bulk of us are here for the right reasons, to race cars at the lowest cost possible and have fun. Intentional cheating has no place in this series (unintentional goofs sometimes happen, but machining your AFM ain’t that).

I’ll offer my car’s flanks to tell the world "Jim Bob Jones Cheats In Our Series" if that would help. :P[/quote]
I agree…anyway, I don’t know what that would actually do for you because the restriction is the throttle body size. that part that can be modified too…but…why? and if you do that you need more Fuel pressure/bigger injectors to handle the increase in airflow… or the 02 sensor will read rich and foil your evil plot anyway…and we have exactly what the rules are designed to prevent…everyone from doing the same moda, spending the money so they all can be the same again. Dumb!
If you have the bug to do all this, then run GTS, since Spec E30 is not your cup 'O tea

#6

C’mon guys (and gals), let’s not let this become Spec Miata.

What attracted me to this series in the first place was:
[ol][li]The driver with the most talent not the biggest bank account is most likely to succeed,[/li]
[li]The relatively inexpensive nature of building and running a factory stock E30, and[/li]
[li]The camaraderie of the SpecE30 drivers. (The April 2005 GRM article describing how [Alex May] drove from Summit to his home to get a spare diff and then he and Steve Kapuschansky helped install it in Carter’s car so he could race was what finally convinced me to buy the car and start prepping it.)[/li][/ol]

Cheating and rules creep threaten all of that.

If you want to race your checkbook, I suggest getting a Tire-Rack banner and run with BMWCCA CR.

Not to mention the fact that, considering I have two speeds (slow and slower), having to take apart the car for every race would be a real PITA.

Post edited by: sharkd, at: 2006/08/17 16:57

#7

Dan, good post and I agree. Lets all applaud Carter for his effort to keep it this way.

#8

sharkd wrote:

[quote]C’mon guys (and gals), let’s not let this become Spec Miata.

[li]The camaraderie of the SpecE30 drivers. (The April 2005 GRM article describing how Steve Kapuschansky drove from Summit to his home to get a spare diff so that Carter could race (IIRC) was what finally convinced me to buy the car and start prepping it.)[/li][/ol]
[/quote]

While I would love to take credit for being a nice guy, I think it was Alex who did the deed. I did assist Carter get it into the car in under 2 hours so that he was able to race, however :slight_smile:

-Steve

#9

Steve is correct. Alex had the diff in his garage 1.5 hours away and Steve helped me do the swap that made my weekend.

Many thanks!

Carter

#10

Random dynos tests will tell the tale and fix the problem if it exsists. Every race I’ve been in the cars I run with seem almost perfectly matched, so if someone’s using an altered airflow meter/bored out throttle body, it ain’t help’in. For the record my car is open for inspection by any racer at any time. Fun Fast and Fair is the only way to run:)

#11

somewhat related but not cheating … during the discussion on the spec e36 class on the CR list, the diffsonline.com guy stated that "a lot" of spec e30 guys are buying rebuilt diffs (they’re $1300 for e36, don’t know what they cost for e30). I just thought this was curious because I didn’t get a sense of that happening from the banter on this list.
cheers,
bruce

#12

I can’t speak on the group as a whole but I think that it would be fair to say that as cheap as many in this group are, it would be an exageration to say a lot are buying rebuilt diffs at $1000+. I picked mine up used for $250. Probably just trying to boost sales a bit to the SE36 group.

#13

leggwork wrote:

[quote]somewhat related but not cheating … during the discussion on the spec e36 class on the CR list, the diffsonline.com guy stated that "a lot" of spec e30 guys are buying rebuilt diffs (they’re $1300 for e36, don’t know what they cost for e30). I just thought this was curious because I didn’t get a sense of that happening from the banter on this list.
cheers,
bruce[/quote]the remanu diffs for the E30 are close to 1500.00 and can be had with a higher % lockup than stock…if you would want that(of course Spec E30 ILLEGAL) but you can weld the diff in the spec E30 and that is legal.
I think the jury is still out on how the stock diff clutches hold up(as far as keeping the correct lockup)under the racing conditions they are being subjected to.

#14

screwynewy wrote:

$35 for a lsd diff at the E-Z Pull. :whistle:

#15

Ken - I wouldn’t consider many in the group "cheap," just that whey would like to be able to race competitively without having to always being concerned about performing performance upgrades, sometimes at great cost just to be competitive. Hence the rules, which from what I have seen is working well. The parts are out there at a reasonable price - you just have to look around a little. In my opinion, finding that good bargain on a used diff is part of the intrique of this group.

Ed

#16

edavidson wrote:

[quote]Ken - I wouldn’t consider many in the group "cheap," just that whey would like to be able to race competitively without having to always being concerned about performing performance upgrades, sometimes at great cost just to be competitive. Hence the rules, which from what I have seen is working well. The parts are out there at a reasonable price - you just have to look around a little. In my opinion, finding that good bargain on a used diff is part of the intrique of this group.

Ed[/quote]

Ed,

I agree with you 100%. I probably used the wrong wording. Many SE30 drivers are frugal. I am definitely cheap…I mean frugal . I spend way too much time looking for the best deal but like you said that is part of the fun of it.

  • Ken
#17

cheap…frugal…whatever you want to call it…we all want to have a very close, competetive group. we could all buck up and buy McLaren F1’s and have a close race or we could build up a 19 year old car that is one of the BEST platforms ever developed for club level auto racing…you choose!!!
I am not in a position to pay the freight to think about any other class, besides Spec E30. The car is affordable, the parts are too…the rules make it attractive and the administration and support are second to none…what more could one want from a hobby?

#18

nasaregistrar wrote:

[quote]cheap…frugal…whatever you want to call it…we all want to have a very close, competetive group. we could all buck up and buy McLaren F1’s and have a close race or we could build up a 19 year old car that is one of the BEST platforms ever developed for club level auto racing…you choose!!!
I am not in a position to pay the freight to think about any other class, besides Spec E30. The car is affordable, the parts are too…the rules make it attractive and the administration and support are second to none…what more could one want from a hobby?[/quote]

To win one or two :wink:

But, that is just my own fault, not the car or the series :slight_smile:

#19

nasaregistrar wrote:

…100% moral and financial support for that hobby from your spouse :S

#20

Well, mine doesn’t complain about it at all, and I only spend my play money on it which she has no say over. So life is good.
Of course, it’s not seen the track yet either.