Did You Know: Tech Savvy

Tech workers create inspection plans before even arriving at a track.  The Tech plan is shared with the Chief of Tech. In the case of the Class Compliance Chief (CCC) visiting Majors Tour races, the plan is shared with the Race Director, Event Chief Steward, Series Tech Chief, the local Chief of Tech, and National Staff members. Not only does a Tech plan help inspectors be prepared and organized for inspections, but it prevents a “witch hunt” situation.  Inspectors aren’t going to look at “this” and then look at “that” until a problem is found. The Tech plan is in place to protect competitors from such situations, and shields inspectors from being accused of conducting a “witch hunt.”

 

Since the plan is pre-approved, inspectors cannot “add” anything to the plan. In fact, sometimes items are removed from the plan for certain reasons such as weather or lack of manpower. This is the reason tech people cannot and will not allow competitors to whisper in their ears about items they believe to be non-compliant.

 

In the case of Spec Miata CCC, the National office works with SM drivers to keep the class clean. Members can call the office and discuss items to inspect. And if the CCC would like to add the item to the list, then it will be added and inspected. This gives the CCC time to research the validity of a claim, and get proper tools to correctly conduct the inspection. When something is yelled out in tech at an event, the inspector has no time to prepare for a proper and fair inspection.

 

During impound the only way to inspect an item is to file a protest. Protests on rules compliance of an entrant, driver or car must be filed no later than one hour before the start of the race session of the competition for the issue in question.  Cars in impound may be protested within 30 minutes after any session.