Well, not much of a rant, but I do tend to get somewhat peeved at SCCA Enterprises over SRF tech issues.
Ever since the SRF came out (originally the "Sports Renault", later the "Spec Racer", now with Ford power, the "Spec Racer Ford"), Enterprises has tended to ship things that were in violation of various specifications in the GCR.
The original chassis had a main hoop that was too low by any reasonable standard. The fix was to add the "tall man" kit to raise the hoop and add bracing. This is still the configuration of new SRFs today, a kit to raise the main hoop which is not permitted under any circumstances in any other class.
Then there is the soft headrest pad. They've finally stopped doing that, but for an extended period of time they shipped it even though it violated the requirement in the GCR for a non-resilient foam.
Of course, one year they started shipping new cars with FM100 fire bottles. For the record, FM100 was never an approved substance in fire systems for the SCCA. That year, as Halon started getting pricey, FM100 started showing up. We gave everyone a year to get it out of their cars, but since Enterprises had sold cars with FM100 despite the GCR violation, we ended up giving SRFs an additional year of FM100 use.
Then there was the year that we started requiring dated SFI rated harnesses. Enterprises shipped undated belts for new cars well into that year.
So I hear good things about Erik Skirmants, who just took over. I'm sure he's a good guy and means well. But still, Enterprises has been pulling stuff as long as they've been around, and I have to be considered a skeptic until I see some improvement. Keep this in mind over the next day or two as I am preparing some tech blogging based on the NARRCOffs at Lime Rock this past weekend; at least one of the entries will be about SRFs/seats/harnesses/HANs devices, and my technical opinion on these matters isn't one of joy, love and happiness.