A record with no certification/verification of engine size means nothing. IMHO
As a Maxton record holder I get a bit irritated at critisiums of ECTAs program. Especially when it is implied that somehow ECTA records are a joke. I set my record with a car that was 100% legal for the class. Heck I even drove the car 600 miles round trip to the event even though that is not a requirement of the "street" classes. My engine was legal size at 1300cc in a 1500cc class. I did have a turbo and was not simply running up in class using a non-blown engine. I was not running up in class with an engine too small for the H class. I set the record in a Fuel class even though I was running pump gas because I was not running event gas. No my engine was not pumped or torn down to check displacement but I was ready to all that if asked. The record still stands after 2 and 1/2 years. Did I buy the record? No more than anyone else running at Maxton or El Mirage or Bonneville buys a record. I showed up, paid my entry fee, went through tech, made my runs, obeyed the rules and the race officials. My record was set against an open class but at the time it was the fastest speed for any class H/BF class or category at Maxton from street through Streamliner.
Tell me again that this means nothing.
The reason is this. In ECTA's infancy there was a struggle to make ends meet for the organization. Few entries, but affordable enough to race. It was brought up by a racer that if they were to split those motorcycle classes into 2 and 4 stroke that a competitor would run all the classes. Essentially like a previous post said, "buy a record." This gave an important financial solution to the organization. Competitor would run down the track, hand over xxxx amount of dollars for a specific class and there you go. A purchased record. Then he would sign up for the next class above run down the course, come pay again, etcetc. you get the pictures. THere is no engine tear down, no verification of any sort. Where is the "hard work" when you could puttts down the course at 80 mph and get a record from 50cc /2 all the way to 3000cc /2 with the same bike? There was a time in history where this was needed and served a purpose. Today is not it. It is time to strengthen the legitimacy of a record in the ECTA start combine the 2 and 4 strokes and start measuring the competitors for a record.
IF 2 strokes have such an advantage then where are they? Speedweek may draw 1 or 2 a year. When Belen Wagner was racing at Speedweek she had a few. McVicar in his early years??? Andy Edwards used to bring 1 or 2 in the 250 or 350 range, of course in earlier years of the TZ750 Guthrie brought out many. This is speaking for Bonneville. I am rock solid on the SCTA sticking with no distinction between the two. 4 strokes seems to rule 98% of the records.
Seriously? Is this the real JonAmo or has somebody stolen his logon?
Now . . back to the 2 strokes . . . . First off . . the ECTA/LTA 2 stroke bike classes top out at a displacement of 1000cc, so no one could " putt down the track at 80mph on a 50cc bike and get records all the way up to 3000cc / 2 records." And apparently virtually no one has done that up to the 1000cc level either. Look at the records in the rule book or on-line. 1000cc is the highest class with 2 stroke records and there is only 1 ECTA 2-stroke record in the 1000cc and over classes. And it was set back in 2004. There are only 5 ECTA 2 stroke records at the 750cc level and 3 of them were set in 1995.
Second . . your comment about the purpose for splitting the classes into 2 and 4 stroke so the competitor could 'run all the classes'. Again, looking at the ECTA records I am hard pressed to find a 2-stroke record held by a 4-stroke bike or a record in an ECTA 4-stroke class held by a 2-stroke bike. Can you show us one? Yes, it is true that ECTA allows competitors to run up in higher displacement classes (both cars and bikes) but it is no longer allowable to run in different 'body' classes unless the bike and/or car can meet the rules of the different body class.
Third . . your comment . .” It is time to strengthen the legitimacy of a record in the ECTA. . “ Are you implying that ECTA records are not legitimate? Granted there were some records in the early days that were established under a very liberal application of rules. If fact, you stated some those reasons like ECTA getting enough income to keep the operation afloat. However, the ECTA took positive steps some years ago to ‘retire’ those records and open up those classes (reset to zero) to be competed for under stricter enforcement .
Fourth . . . you imply that 2-strokes are not showing up in overwhelming numbers at SCTA events. I don’t have access to entrant information for Bonneville for bikes split between 2 and 4 stroke engines. I am not sure that such data exists since there is no separation of 2 and 4 strokes by SCTA. However it is a fact that the 2009 El Mirage bike champion was a 2-stroke – the Budfab Streamliner and sometimes Streamliner Sidecar. Also depending on displacement classes and whether their racer is configured as a Sidecar Streamliner or a Lakester the McLeish Team runs 2 strokes. Looking at the Bonneville bike records in the smaller displacement classes up through 500cc you can see that the 2 strokes dominate those classes once you factor out the Pushrod Classes and many of the Vintage classes. About the only inroads in those displacement classes for 4 stroke non-pushrod is in the blown classes. That is because few try to use blowers on 2 strokes – it can and has been done but it is a bit rare.
Fifth . . You seem to be distressed that people are purchasing records. I don’t see that as unique to ECTA or LTA. You can do the same thing at Bonneville. Different rules but the same result. Just use a vehicle that fits in multiple classes to take multiple records. The only difference is that you cannot run up in displacement at Bonneville. Here is an example . . Take the 125cc SCS-BG and 125cc SCS-BF records at Bonneville. Both are open records. If someone shows up with a 125cc blown SCS and they make two runs using event gas they will get the record for the 125cc SCS-BG class. Now they go to registration, pay the needed fee to change class, and go out and make two more runs. This time they are running in the 125cc SCS-BF class. They don’t even have to change from event gas to fuel. Since it was an open record they get the new record. How is this different from ‘purchasing a record’ by changing classes with the ECTA?
Let’s face it. People aren’t really that upset that ECTA has separate classes for 2-strokes. What has folks irritated is that they feel ECTA should not certify records without a displacement check. That translates to a fear that some ECTA record holders might be using engines that exceed the upper displacement limit for a class. Ironically, at the same time, ECTA gets criticized for allowing records for vehicles with engines that are smaller than the smaller displacement limit for a class.
This is not to say that ECTA does not have rules for displacement checks. They do. Go read the rule book. The difference is that it is at the discretion of the race officials when to check an engine displacement or at the discretion of other competitors if they desire to protest someone’s engine. If it is so important to some folks that this be changed then they should submit a rule change that stipulates the every record setter “MUST” have a displacement check.
Peace . . .
