I wish to discuss a SCCA appeal that did not go my way. I fully appreciate that there are a number of reasons one can loss a protest and I am fine with that....not complaining. I just need some perceptive from other competitors.
We were DQ'd for having a FV tail pipe that did not terminate 1-3" from the end of the body. It was in fact .25" out of this range. I complete agreement with Tech and there were no other nuances applicable to this measurement.
To salvage this mechanical preparation mistake an appeal was filed citing GCR App G.2 (Measuring Standards) which we believe allows us 1/2 of the final digit of the specification.
Possibly stated incorrectly, but what I mean is we should have had a working range of .501 to 3.499. To be very clear the rule states the exhaust must terminate 1" to 3" from the end of the body. No digits after a decimal point. We viewed this as clearly indicating that the tolerance was approximately +/-.5".
The appeal was denied because our use of the .5" tolerance was considered a "strained or tortured' interpretation of the rules. The COA stated that the exhaust rule 'as written adequately provides a range of minimum and maximum acceptable value for the exhaust system termination point'.
Please provide some insight if you can.
Brian