THSCC Forums

Posting in a forum that I've done illegal stuff is not okay. If someone could remove that post, then I'd appreciate it.

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"Every ship is a minesweeper, once."

I think it's at federal level, since the EPA certifies emissions equipment and the states may (or may not) verify compliance or implement further emission controls (CARB, 49/50-state cars, etc) for registering and licensing.

The only time the EPA really gets any air time in the auto enthusiast sphere is when they crush black market cars, which is usually due to owners blatantly ignoring/breaking the law surrounding the 25 year grey market rule. The EPA goes after super low hanging fruit, so things like R33s, R34s, and Land Rovers only get crushed when their owners do something incredibly dumb like try to file an insurance claim; they let people come to them vs going out and pursuing individuals.

That's pretty obvious now days for sure.

You can go look all over Mustang, Camaro and Challenger forums and plainly see people discussing running longtubes without or with high flow cats, which is clearly a EPA violation. Nobody ever gets in trouble though.

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2017 Autocross Chief of Tech

2000 E Street Miata
2015 Focus SE EcoBoost 6 speed
2015 Fiesta ST (Wife's ride)
2012 Yamaha FZ1 sorta crotch rocket? All I know is 150HP and 487 lbs is fun!

Wasn't sure which post you were referring to but I modified mine too lol. It's openly discussed on much more public forums though and honestly nobody really cares. This one is at least members only so it's not like the EPA can see it.

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2017 Autocross Chief of Tech

2000 E Street Miata
2015 Focus SE EcoBoost 6 speed
2015 Fiesta ST (Wife's ride)
2012 Yamaha FZ1 sorta crotch rocket? All I know is 150HP and 487 lbs is fun!

I've actually been arrested and gone to jail for stuff related to this before, and the $3500 retainer that my lawyer got for getting a felony charge thrown out is not something that I can afford to pay very often.

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"Every ship is a minesweeper, once."

One thing to keep in mind here. There is no such thing as an 'off road' or 'track car' exemption. There is a 'competition' exception that is ONLY valid for cars that are use ONLY for competition.

Basically, everyone was illegal before and everyone will still be illegal. The states also have no requirement to enforce federal regulations, so unless the EPA wants to send the FBI over to VIR to impound cars I wouldn't worry about this.

1068.235 (b)

https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2011- ... 68-235.pdf

^^^^^What he said^^^^^

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"Every ship is a minesweeper, once."

I tell people that story often, If you want a real example of government overreach there you go!

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2002 MCS, 2003 MCS Track Rat, 2003 Generic White Yukon, 2003 BMWk1200rs, 1973 CB350F, 02 996. 08 Cayenne Turbo
http://www.clinehallagency.com

That may also have had something to do with my demeanor when dealing with people that are annoying me.

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"Every ship is a minesweeper, once."

Correct. And, IMO being in the same business, the reason that SEMA is making a stink (beyond the financial interests of its membership) is that there is no established method to challenge the judgement of the EPA should ever decide to increase its enforcement efforts. They want something like CARB EO for everything in case this is more than just sabre rattling by the EPA.

If you spent a lot of time around him, you'd understand why they simply threw him in jail.

So when this blew up the other day, I saw it numerous times in my various social media streams. And I expect this discussion here is just like hundreds happening elsewhere. Has anyone heard yet of anyone (outside of SEMA) such as amateur/grassroots motorsports organizations (NASA, SCCA, etc.) making a statement on this or if they have started to study it to figure out what (if anything) needs to be done?

To be honest, my fear is that I don't know if I need to act or not. It just seems like a lot of opinions with no clear understanding to me what is going on. People here (and elsewhere) are able to make compelling arguments that are not always in sync with each other. To the point about SEMA, I get that they are ringing the alarm bells, but I also don't know if they tend to go to "DEFCON 1" for anything and everything that is regulation related (cough, cough, NRA) or not.

There has been various auto media (Jalopnik for example) that have talked about this as well, but I don't think they are in agreement (or are they?) Where do we go for well researched info?

Richard

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Richard Casto
1972 Porsche 914
2013 Honda Fit Sport
2015 Honda Fit EX
http://motorsport.zyyz.com
Money can't buy happiness, but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than a Kia.

Jay from Lemons had a memo sent to him by a lawyer giving his take on things, and that's about it.

Motor Trend wrote about it:

"Make no mistake: This issue is complicated. The rule the EPA is proposing to change is somewhat vague and contradictory, as are the EPA’s proposed changes and its motivation for doing so. A degree in public policy is required to untangle all the legalese. SEMA, meanwhile, is being paranoid and reactionary, shooting from the hip and making a mountain out of a molehill. Neither side can claim much of a moral high ground here.

[...] As car and racing enthusiasts, we should care about this controversy because it indirectly affects us. If the EPA’s intent is to eventually crack down on race car emissions, it will have a major effect on the motorsports we enjoy and participate in as well as the companies we buy performance parts from. The evidence, however, doesn’t yet support that conclusion, and SEMA has done us all a serious disservice by crying wolf. SEMA’s kneejerk reaction hurts its credibility and exposes it (again) as the lobbying firm it is as much as it actually informs us all of important regulatory activity. The government is not coming for your race car, and it’s disingenuous and manipulative for SEMA to suggest so. What’s worse, it’s created a false controversy that will cloud the important discussion to be had about the actual regulation."

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"Every ship is a minesweeper, once."

And you'd understand why jail threw me back out.

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"Every ship is a minesweeper, once."