Silverstone Scrutineering

[Mervyn Rundle]

As many of you will be aware there was a scrutineering issue regarding car weight in race one at Silverstone last week.  It would seem that some cars were found to be underweight but no action was taken by the Clerk of the Course, something which, without a very good reason, is not acceptable.  As a result, in the interests of fairness, your board decided to refer to the matter to the Championship Stewards to investigate, report and take such action as they considered appropriate.  Part of that request was to determine why the scrutineering process failed.

The decision of the Championship Stewards (who are appointed by BARC and not the club) is attached for you to read.  It is detailed, well reasoned and identifies the problem which occurred with the scrutineering process.  It should not happen again.

Your board of directors accept the Championship Stewards decision and consider that it should now bring the matter to a close.  However your board has decided that scrutineering needs to be tightened up as it has, to say the least, been poor at every race this year.  This is being taken up with BARC and the MSA.  

Whilst emailing and because there is clearly some confusion as to how the regulations work I thought it might help to quote a few extracts from a letter which I have recently written to one competitor who was genuinely concerned about this issue and which I hope explains the way in which the regulation process operates.  

"The club drafts the regulations after consultation with its members and BARC then approve them.  The regulations are handed over to the MSA for independent implementation and enforcement.  I maintain a "watching brief" but I do not intervene in any way unless I have reason to think that something is procedurally amiss......................... I do not believe in HALOing down from 25000 feet, turning into the Incredible Hulk and then "waterboarding" a scrutineer or competitor...............................In more general terms, a distinct, perceivable, separation of powers between Club Officials and the judicial process is highly desirable because it means that the people who drafted the rules have no input into their enforcement against an individual competitor.  

I hope this clarifies your board's stance on the regulations and their enforcement and that this will reassure you that such matters as occurred at Silverstone are not and will not be left hanging nor swept under the carpet but will be dealt with in the proper way laid down by the rules.

See you all at Brands


Mervyn Rundle

Chairman