The disqualification of Richard Bowyer (761) and Adam Rubery (700) following the final at Buxton for technical infringements and their subsequent sanction free return less than week later has caused a veritable storm, mostly on twitter, which has highlighted a few problems within the sport.
For many years the rule of the scrutineer has been much maligned and considered inconsistent. There is a "CBA" attitude at some tracks, check to see you have 4 wheels and go vroom, where as other you get. The excellent Roy Dyke at Mendips is a great example. He would make sure overalls and helmets were to standard, sometimes would ask for bonnets to be removed, and also check on any rule changes. There are the pernickety ones like Adrian Blackwell, who will go through everything with looking at minutia, despite wearing shorts which contravene the fashion rulebook, and the wrong shade of white for legs.
When a car is found outside the rules, there is consistency problems for technical infringements. From the "don't do it again" approach taken with Rubery/Bowyer to the hung, drawing and quartering of Moodie, and then the Dreyfusian degradation of George Macmillan in the post race scrutineering in the World Final. What draws these things together, all these cars had been outside the rules for sometime and had gone undiscovered for quite a period of time. Fact remains, it is still the driver's responsibility, and if in doubt. consult a "wise sage" to see whether it will be legal. In the Rubery/Bowyer case, to have a car passed so many times when clear guidance was in place asks questions about the scrutineers. How did they get away with these infringements for so long?
How do we solve this? It's a bit of short term gain for long term gain as each Scrutineer should take a different approach to their jobs.
At the start of the season, a day is set aside in each region for a "Brisca" scrutineer to look at the each car with a fine tooth comb. With the rule book in one hand and the tape measure in the other, each and every car is given the once over. Without the once over, you simply cannot race. Then during the season if the car is modified (new axle, nerfs etc) it is noted in a kind of log book. Then when its presented at the track, the scrutineers can look at the changes and check to see everything is above board. If it hasn't been presented or a change has been made but not noted, then a permission to race ticket will only be allowed if the scrutineer is happy with changes. If a change is discovered, but not declared, then a mandatory month ban would be the case.
When its championship time, cars are to be presented before the start to parc ferme where all checks are done, tanks will be drained and new tyres to be given to all competitors. The car is to be presented to pass post race scrutineering. Its called making a level playing field and taking out a variant. All cars as they enter the track, should drive over weigh scales (allowing for a certain amount of tolerance). Then we can get a result every time.
Ultimately, its the responsibility of the driver to make sure that the car is clean, legal and decent, the scrutineer should be there to check that it is so. But without greater co-operation and consistency, events like this end up looking like a farce, and all respect for scrutiny is lost.
Yours, with a clipboard and measuring tape....cheers' n gone
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