September 2004 Fastrack

[POS Racing]

Saw this in the September 2004 Fastrack

TECH BULLETINS
1. Stock: For the purposes of rule 13.7, the
upper (flat) and lower (U-shaped) mounting
brackets for the front sway bar in a Miata are
both considered to be sway bar brackets.

So why are they additing this tech bulletin, can replace the OEM brackets?

[EvilSpeeder]

13.7 Anti Roll (Sway) Bars
Front anti-roll (sway) bars:

Substitution, addition or removal of any front anti-roll bars is permitted.
Substitution, addition or removal of anti-roll bars may serve no other purpose than that of an anti-roll bar.
The use of any bushing material is permitted.
No modification to the body, frame or other components to accommodate anti-roll bar addition or substitution is allowed, except for the drilling of holes for mounting bolts. Non-standard lateral members which connect between the brackets for the bar are not permitted.
Rear anti-roll (sway) bars:

May not be removed, replaced, or modified in any way.

I think they're just clarifying what is a swaybar and what is a bracket. The way I read it they can't be messed with.

I would think that this

No modification to the body, frame or other components to accommodate anti-roll bar addition or substitution is allowed, except for the drilling of holes for mounting bolts.

would have caught it, but somebody must have tried to talk their way past it.

[altiain]

I think the intention of that ruling is to legalize Miatas that have broken their front sway-bar brackets and have had to weld new OEM ones in. This is a pretty common failure, especially for Stock Miatas running a bigger front bar (it happened to lugnutjon's car last year at one of the SCCA TMS events). The way the rule used to be interpreted, the brackets were actually part of the unibody (since they were welded to the unibody), and therefore could not be altered or modified in any way.

Unfortunately, replacing a broken bracket means grinding the old one off and welding a new one on - modifications to the unibody (and therefore illegal) under the old interpretation, since the factory service manual does not list a specific procedure for swaybar bracket replacement.

However, if they are considered separate brackets and not part of the unibody, they can now be removed and replaced (including grinding and welding) without rendering the car illegal for Stock competition

Hmm...I wonder how long before they come out with a similar clarification for S2000s, which have a nasty tendency to crack where the front upper a-arm mounting bracket is welded to the unibody. There is a Boxster S owner threatening to protest all S2000s in B Stock at Nationals this year, on the supposition that any S2000 that has broken in such a manner and been repaired is no longer Stock legal. Unfortunately, a lot of the top S2000s have had this problem, since it appears to be caused primarily by the high lateral loads incurred in autocrossing.

[EvilSpeeder]

Its not specifically allowed. It still seems grey to me. Somewhat along the lines of autocrossing a car thats been crashed and repaired. Is bondo legal?

[tailchaser]

Most importantly, that means that the MazdaSpeed brackets can be substituted after you break the stock ones without bumping to CSP, since they are now clarified as sway bar brackets rather than chassis. Correct, altiain?

[brock]

Wouldn't you need to do an entire package conversion in order to do that in stock class? It may not be as extreme as adding a torsen to a package that did not come with one, but it was not standard on the car from the factory.

[tailchaser]

Sorry... not the MazdaSpeed brackets as in the Titanium jobbies with the hairdryer and the buck-teeth, but MazdaSpeed brackets as in "performance" parts...

[altiain]

Its not specifically allowed. It still seems grey to me. Somewhat along the lines of autocrossing a car thats been crashed and repaired. Is bondo legal?

I guess I see it differently. This new ruling clarifies that the brackets are separate from the frame. You can replace any part on any car with the exact same factory part (seats, wheels, control arms, brake calipers, you name it), but you cannot modify the frame in any way. Before, the gray area was that the brackets, being welded to the frame, could be interepreted as part of the frame, which you can't alter. Now, they're clarified as separate from the frame, which means you can replace them with OEM replacements all day long, imho.

TC, I don't know if the Mazdaspeed brackets would be legal or not. I don't think the rules allow for the substiution of different brackets.

I can't tell you if bondo is legal or not. That's why I make them replace parts instead of fixing them every time some idiot hits me.