The Kent Cams/Simpson Race Exhaust 2016 Series saw possibly one of the best Final Rounds we’ve ever had, a statement shared by so many on social media following the event. The expectations held out for the Border Counties Club were met and exceeded with a superb track, superb organisation, superb facilities and some absolutely spectacular showdowns across the classes. All credit to the club and their helpers.

Sam Gould and Becky Shaw came through as our Overall Mens and Ladies Champions and their success was celebrated at our annual presentation on 5th December (photo: Dek Traylor). The evening, as always, was a great celebration of the success of our fellow drivers, family, and friends during their 2016 BAS campaign. Alas the event did not go off without incident and these incidents are being dealt with, poor behaviour will not be tolerated at any Autograss event.

Following the conclusion of the 2016 British Autograss Series there were scrutineering checks carried out on cars competing in unmodified classes and unfortunately there were 2 cases of irregularity as outlined below;

Inspection of the SC393 engine led to the discovery of questionable marks to be found within the inlet ports of the cylinder head. The rules clearly state under section 17.9 cylinder head iii) The inlet port and exhaust port surfaces within the cylinder head, must remain as manufacturers original standard production finish and dimensions. Cleaning up or smoothing by removing metal or polishing of the original standard production finish is not permitted.
Figure 36 shows a diagram, the text with that says, the surfaces of the combustion chamber and inlet port must remain as produced by the original vehicle manufacturer i.e.”rough as cast”
Polishing and or machining and or grinding and or reshaping of surfaces is prohibited.
Chemical clean only permitted.

As a result the cylinder head was sent away for secondary opinion and further inspection away from BAS scrutineers to the NASA director responsible for scrutineering. Once the cylinder head was viewed carefully the markings could be seen clearly and according to the NASA director “it seems quite obvious that it has been cleaned with a wire brush on a drill. I believe the coarse marks on and just above the valve seat have been caused by the cup part of the tool used”. As a result of these findings although the performance advantages will have been negligible the engine was not in accordance with NASA ruling and therefore had to be deemed illegal thus meaning the car was disqualified from the 2016 championship. These findings have been passed on to NASA to deal with as they see fit but we look forward to seeing SC393 back on the racetrack in the future as a very promising young driver.

Photos below of the cylinder head in question.

SV23 was found to have been fitted with an incorrect engine part which lead to further investigation of this engine. BAS scrutineers took note of observed casting marks on the engine:
Scrutineers were aware that the number on the block was 05B, the casting number for a 1.2L block.
Scrutineers also know that the cylinder head was an 18B type, the casting number for a 1.2L cylinder head.
Once the flywheel wheel was inspected this was found to be an 01B, the casting number for a 1L flywheel.
Thorough checks were made by the BAS officials to ensure that this part in question had never been fitted by Nissan to the 1.2L engine for production and this was confirmed to be the case. NASA rules do not permit parts to be mixed from different engines of the same make, rule 1.27 page 23, there are also other rulings which do not permit this.
As a result of these findings BAS unfortunately deemed SV23 to be racing with an illegal engine and was therefore disqualified from the 2016 classification. These findings have been passed on to NASA to deal with as they see fit.

Photo below shows the flywheel which was removed from the engine of SV23

Points for each class remain on the website and we have recently featured photos and brief reviews of the trophy winners on our Facebook page. Keep checking our Facebook page for updates about the 2017 Series and new cars and drivers to the Series.

Dates for the 2017 Series are as follows:
Round 1 Mallow 29th/30th April
Round 2 South Wales League 17th/18th June
Round 3 Stroud 15th/16th July
Round 4 Border Counties 9th/10th Sept
Round 5 Yorkshire Dales 23rd/24th Sept
Reserve 30th Sept/1st Oct