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Hello, @FocusedSteve and welcome to the CC forums. You've raised some good questions, and are obviously very familiar with these cars. I hope they are in teh spirit of understanding the BCCR, but I'm troubled by the accusatory nature of your claims. What are you building yourself? A focus? Many of us network together to share what we've learned and perhaps could answer some of the questions you raised. I'm on CC's Technical Advisor Committee and have spoken with Phil about his car, and also know his sister team car and it's owner/builder well. I run a Focus myself. Without seeing the Tech sheet on the 916 car, I can't answer all of the questions raised. Thank you BoD member @Chris Hugginsfor providing some answers.

How about the fact that they had an SCCA wiz kid in the car that went some 3 seconds faster than the car has been. Then with some coaching from him the other guys improved. As soon as a car starts to win the team is cheating when in fact it's preparation and having quality drivers. I've never lost a rear bearing in my Focus. Broke front hubs but took the points to get the billet ones. Accusing someone of Buying off an Official is pretty bold. You sound like you know Phil why don't you approach him instead of airing it out on the forums?

We struggled to import an Integra Type R race car about 6-7 years ago, it was a whole fiasco at the border since there was no import documentation and no title. We ended up not getting the car despite having it on the trailer at the border coming back into the US.

Thanks! I have had fuses blow due to being an idiot.

Cars are both tech team and peer reviewed, you NEED to attend post race tech to see if the windshield posted declared items list matches the car, if not ask a tech guy for clarification (recommended) or file a $50 protest.

^ Ditto what Rob said. I’ve never blown a fuse without first doing something silly.

Hello Does anyone know the legal requirements to import a race car from Canada into the States? Its not titled and has spares as well.

Just a bit to add.... The rules cover most anything you have questions about. The platform swap covers the difference in years. Any year chassis can be converted with any engine of that same platform. You MUST use all the same parts from that same year though. You can't build a unicorn that never existed from the factory (with the exception of the final gearing for some reason). As Chris said above, vin doesn't matter. Did you actually see what was claimed on the car? Do you know if they claimed an engine swap? Did they claim hub parts? What was on their sheet?

I went with 9's, cuz 10's were just a bit too wide for: a) bearing loads that are already overburdened, b) weight c) can run 225's or 245's on them.

100% agree. We only blow fuses when we do something dumb. Not sure how you have things grounded, but (me) being bad at electricity, that seems to be a common issue with automotive wiring. Nobody thinks about grounds when doing maintenance. Wires and wire bundles that move around can cause issues. Also, just make sure all of your end terminals are covered in some way.

Properly sized fuses in a unmodified config should never blow.

Hi How often do you have critical fuses such as coil, injector, dbw fuses blow? (Where there was no issue with the components) Planning to redoing my wiring, curious how often a blown fuse is a problem? Obviously if something is broken the fuse will blow and that's a good thing. Thinking about a PDM of some sort but not sure if it's more reliable since I don't think fuses are generally unreliable. Agree that pdm makes wiring very nice.

Might work better to cover the hole in the sunroof. But enough duct tape could make a skid plate.

Damn fella, you know how to come out of the gate spittin fire. 1. Champcar doesn't check vin's. You can buy a 2002 focus and race it as a 2003 focus. If there are differences in the years, you need to account for them. You can't take the Best 2002 parts and put them on your 2003 and call it a 2003. It needs to be raced in a factory configuration. You cant take a 2003 focus and race it as a 2008 focus, since that is a 2nd gen chassis. This is for cost control. The focus came with a 2.3 so its not an engine swap to race it with a 2.3, as long as it has the correct 2.3 for the year being claimed, and all the associated parts. All 1st gen foci are 200 points (except the svt) so this is really a minimal issue on this platform. 2. Champcar can and has checked displacement at impound, upon request. 3. You can swap suspension points. Specifically hubs are 2.5 points each.

In general, the headgaskets have orifices of different size that the pressure from the pump create the proper flow through the head along the way to the back of the engine. Depending on where the flow comes off on the heater hose and where you return it to, you can help or hurt by looping it. Not sure on the M20 where this is, but the general consensus on most engines is you can block it off with no issue. If you loop it back to the water pump, you are bringing coolant that has made a trip through the head and picked up heat back into the flow that will tend to go back to the engine. Granted, some of that will be directed to the radiator by mixing and then through the thermostat to the radiator. As mentioned, some times blocking off makes getting air out a bit more difficult. A whole bunch of words and no answer to your question. I should be in Washington DC.

Duct tape skid plate FTW!

Yep, practice rounds always have the same parameters/settings as the championship rounds.

Just registered, didn’t know where t post this so here it is I’m looking for information about how the post race impound process work with Champcar, I’ve attended races, never watched the impound inspection system myself. I’m currently building a car and I’m not sure if I like what I’m learning. The 2005 Black 916 Ford Focus SVT car of the Blue shells that took first place in class at Autobahn recently is my concern. Phil Miller ran this car as a 2002 or 2004 Focus SVT car and did OK in the past, I think he did a first place at Autobahn a few years ago and a first place at Indianapolis. He had some issues with the SVT motors and kept blowing them up. Fast Forward to now, Phil has spent a small fortune (I pray I had his disposable income) on upgrades including a full drivetrain swap to the newer 2.3L engine (actually a 2.5L) Now the car is listed as a 2005 Focus at 200 points. How did this car go from being a 325 Point 2004 Ford Focus SVT, to being a black 2005 Ford focus at 200 points? Isn’t an engine swap, an engine swap? How do you get to just change the year of the car? What year is the car from the VIN number? Or am I totally off base and the black car is new build for him? Lets considered the possibility that I’m totally confused on the providence of the chassis and put that out of frame. Phil’s Black 2005 Focus number 916 just landed first in class at autobahn, doesn’t it get inspected? Did anyone even notice that it’s a 2.5L engine, not a 2.3L? Wouldn’t that be class C not B? What else is on this car that isn’t declared? Does the 2.5 even come from a car on the VPI list? Additionally, rear hubs. The Focus of this era is known to have rear hub issues, which Phil has experienced first hand. Suddenly he runs two races with no rear hub issues, again, the inspection process, what parts of the rear hub or carrier is he using, because I doubt they are stock Focus parts. With Phil’s deep pockets did he pay off a Champcar tech inspector? 1) How do you change a cars year of manufacture and get reduced poi9nts instead of an engine swap calculator and added points? 2) Does Champcar check displacement at post race tech inspection? 3) What are the rules on swapped suspension parts? I’m beginning to think that Champcar tech isn’t really a tech inspection, please convince me that I’m wrong.

At the gate you simply tell them that you want electricity and pay $35. They'll give you a tag to affix to your cord. There are power poles spaced throughout the paddock but the challenge is getting a spot near a pole; there is about one power pole for every eight paddock spaces. That said, with 60-something entries, getting access to power should not prove to be problematic. Bring extra extension cords in case you have to run it a longer distance to reach a box. Cheers!

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k224/johnny_3301/IMG_1792_zps596ee481.jpg I remember reading an article about the rapid change in tire width and rim width in the early sixties. IIRC, the tire engineers thought that the tire should be wider than the rim and the rim engineers thought the rim should be wider than the tire. Testing went back and forth with a wider tire then a wider rim, and in the space of about six months the combo went to from pretty narrow rims and tires to about double the width, with grip increasing every time. That apparently flew in the face of accepted physics which basically said that the available friction was dependent on the normal force and not the contact area. As they say, the theory says it should work in practice, but if it doesn't, it's time for a new theory.

I'm right there with y'all. 245 on a 10.

I'd be arguing the dash bar. If it doesn't say you can't do it, and it is done in a safe way, take it to the race director. If it is done in a way that I'd dangerous or doesn't meet a minimum level of safety, then I guess that's tough luck. At the end of the day, if it isn't in the bccr, appeal to the higher power (race director).

Duct tape.

Same here, they seem to like the stretch.

Try as we may, there ends up being a lot of learning in tech inspection. For instance the dash bar I have (since 2011) has a bend in it and it looks like its 30 degrees and that is too much of an anlge so now it needs a gussett to shore it up. And SFI/FIA approved means it can't be expired (HANS) according to those entities rules.