STS Rule question and answer!

[Marc Leininger]

Hello everyone,

This last race on 2-9-14 was much fun right?! It was for me but I was approached by someone and we struck up a interesting conversation about class legality and he came to the conclusion that my car was indeed illegal for STS. This was indeed troubling news because as soon as my suspension is installed and I'm able to get a proper alignment and decent tires I want to make a run at a regional championship.

The part in question that I was told to be illegal was my rear spoiler and soon to be installed R-package front dam and rear skirt. You see my car is not an R-pack... it is sadly quite the opposite. its what is know as a p for power steering (or pathetic).
So I read the rule book again because the part that stated that it would be LEGAL to install accessory parts on my car was to be in fact removed for 2014! Damn I thought. But thankfully my efforts of reading the somewhat confusing rules were not in vane. I found were the rules state in 14.2.F

F. Addition of spoilers, splitters, rear wings, bumper covers, valances, side skirts, and non-functional sccops/vents is allowed provided that either:
1. It is a production part which is standard or optional equipment of
a US model of the vehicle. (“Model” is defi ned in Section 12.3.)
2. It is listed in the vehicle manufacturer’s US accessory catalog
for that vehicle for normal highway use. This does not allow for
parts sold through a manufacturer’s performance catalog (e.g.,
Ford Racing, HPD, Mazdaspeed, Mopar Performance, Mugen,
NISMO, SPT, TRD, etc).
Parts must be installed as directed by the manufacturer. Exact replicas,including weight, from alternate sources are also permitted.

So now things got simple. All I had to do was locate a 18 year old small sales brochures that was made of the best paper that technology was capable of producing and be assured that it would state that there was such an accessory available. NO PROBLEM!!!

WELL LOOKEY WHAT I FOUND!!!
FROM THE 1996 SALES BROCHURE
FROM THE MAZDA ACCESSORY LEAFLET (USING FOR DESCRIPTION IMAGE DEFINITION).

Well I hope that's the last of that yeah!?

If anyone sees something I'm missing PLEASE let me know. I'm all ears. Oh and don't worry I know my car never came with the brace for the rear suspension so I will not be putting that on.

[Pete Loney]

Nice work Mark, thanks for taking the time to find those brochures.

[Jonathan Lugod]

SRSBZNS

[Craig Naylor]

You are correct, the R package Front Air dam, rear skirt, and spoiler are legal in STS. Whats is not legal in STS is a true "R package" as it would include the Torson SD, which is illegal in STS.

More to the point, Pete's car has been to Nationals with the Air dam and skirt installed and was not protested. Most of the Miatas present had them installed. I personally have the spoiler on my car, and the one I drove at Nationals did too.

RE: Power steering... so do I w/ AC still installed too.

[Sebastian Rios]

Sorry to make you go through all that hassle Marc. I kind of figured that with all the possible flavors of Miata you would be able to keep that stuff.
Still a good excercise in SCCA Solo rules interpretation.

Craig, although Pete's car has been to Nats and not been protested, the rules have changed for this year (2014).

[Steve Ekstrand]

I've been threatened with protest on items that most cars in previous years had. So don't assume even without a rules change that a car is safe just because it survived nationals before.

[Steve Lepper]

Steve, that's just because you're you.

Good work! I have all those brochures from when I bought my '97 new, so had I known I could have saved you a lot of trouble.

An R-package car would be legal... you just have to take the Torsen diff out and install a factory open unit (don't get me started....) Just like if you had a 1.6 car you could install a factory viscous unit if your car didn't have one.

[Craig Naylor]

Seb, your correct the rules did change slightly this year. This year their inclusion would have been legal as they were in the past based on the revised wording in section:

F. Addition of spoilers, splitters, rear wings, bumper covers, valances,
side skirts, and non-functional sccops/vents is allowed provided that
either:
1. It is a production part which is standard or optional equipment of
a US model of the vehicle.

The parts were standard on the R package.

OR (the new section)

2. It is listed in the vehicle manufacturer’s US accessory catalog for that vehicle for normal highway use.

For which Mark posted his research.

Would that mean you could run double sets, as their legal under two different sections of the rule?