Washington, DC (February 8, 2016) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed a regulation to prohibit conversion of vehicles originally designed for on-road use into racecars. The regulation would also make the sale of certain products for use on such vehicles illegal. The proposed regulation was contained within a non-related proposed regulation entitled “Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Fuel Efficiency Standards for Medium- and Heavy-Duty Engines and Vehicles—Phase 2.”
The regulation would impact all vehicle types, including the sports cars, sedans and hatch-backs commonly converted strictly for use at the track. While the Clean Air Act prohibits certain modifications to motor vehicles, it is clear that vehicles built or modified for racing, and not used on the streets, are not the “motor vehicles” that Congress intended to regulate.
“This proposed regulation represents overreaching by the agency, runs contrary to the law and defies decades of racing activity where EPA has acknowledged and allowed conversion of vehicles,” said SEMA President and CEO Chris Kersting. “Congress did not intend the original Clean Air Act to extend to vehicles modified for racing and has re-enforced that intent on more than one occasion.”
SEMA submitted comments in opposition to the regulation and met with the EPA to confirm the agency’s intentions. The EPA indicated that the regulation would prohibit conversion of vehicles into racecars and make the sale of certain emissions-related parts for use on converted vehicles illegal. Working with other affected organizations, including those representing legions of professional and hobbyist racers and fans, SEMA will continue to oppose the regulation through the administrative process and will seek congressional support and judicial intervention as necessary.
The EPA has indicated it expects to publish final regulations by July 2016.
About SEMA
SEMA, the Specialty Equipment Market Association founded in 1963, represents the $36 billion specialty automotive industry of 6,633 member-companies. It is the authoritative source for research, data, trends and market growth information for the specialty auto parts industry. The industry provides appearance, performance, comfort, convenience and technology products for passenger and recreational vehicles. For more information, contact SEMA at 1575 S. Valley Vista Dr., Diamond Bar, CA 91765, tel: 909-610-2030, or visit www.sema.org.

 

Oh yeah? Need not worry? We need to stop voting for the party that wants
more and more to control and regulate every phase of our lives.
[h=1]No, the EPA isn’t making it illegal to turn an old car into a race car......says who?[/h] [h=2]Buried in a 629-page report,
the EPA raises dander, but racers need not worry.[/h] by Jim Resnick and Jonathan M. Gitlin - Feb 10, 2016 11:20am EST



Rest assured, the EPA is not coming for your racing car. Besides, it was already illegal to remove the emissions equipment in the first place.
Alex Bellus
The Environmental Protection Agency is at the center of another controversy, this time with automotive racers and enthusiasts. At issue is a proposed rule that sounds to some like the EPA wants to ban anyone from turning a road car into a track-only toy or race car.


Last July, the EPA published a lengthy 629-page proposed rule called "Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Fuel Efficiency Standards for Medium- and Heavy-Duty Engines and Vehicles—Phase 2."

Buried within the text
was an amendment to an existing federal rule that reiterated Clean Air Act policy on road vehicles equipped with emissions controls. According to that rule, owners, operators, aftermarket companies, and service businesses may not tamper with or remove emissions equipment on vehicles so fitted, be they dedicated race cars or not.


The two-month window for public comments on the proposed rule came and went (closing on September 11, 2015) with little notice or fuss.

But earlier this week, the Specialty Equipment Manufacturer's Association (SEMA) circulated a press release claiming that the "EPA Seeks to Prohibit Conversion of Vehicles Into Racecars." While this headline correctly assesses the EPA's position, it overstates the notion that anything has changed. Regardless, it inflamed passions in the racing and car enthusiast world in no time.

[h=3]Further Reading[/h][h=2]The agony and ecstasy of (grassroots) racing[/h]It's different for pros like Kurt Busch—he showed us—but any racing ups your heart rate.

Grassroots motorsport has undergone something of a resurgence in recent years here in the US thanks to series like the World Racing League, Chumpcar, LeMons, and others. But is the EPA really trying to ban anyone from giving an old BMW a new life as a race car? We don't think so.

The EPA's Laura Allen released the following statement to try to clarify the agency's position: "People may use EPA-certified motor vehicles for competition, but to protect public health from air pollution, the Clean Air Act has—since its inception—specifically prohibited tampering with or defeating the emission control systems on those vehicles. The proposed regulation that SEMA has commented on does not change this long-standing law or approach."


In fact, the new language is about clarifying what may have been a loophole for engines that weren't from road cars. Allen continued: "[We have] simply clarified the distinction between motor vehicles and nonroad vehicles such as dirt bikes and snowmobiles… [which] may, under certain circumstances, be modified for use in competitive events in ways that would otherwise be prohibited by the Clean Air Act. This clarification does not affect EPA’s enforcement authority. It is still illegal to tamper with or defeat the emission control systems of motor vehicles. We are focused primarily on aftermarket manufacturers who sell devices that defeat emission control systems on vehicles used on public roads."


Here are the facts: nothing has meaningfully changed. Yes, other reports stated that if this proposal passes, it will be illegal to tamper with or remove emissions equipment from model-year 2018 and later road-going cars, pickups, and light-duty vehicles, even when converted solely for use on a racetrack. But this is the case now; there's just no federal enforcement. The revised language simply makes it (somewhat) clear that the same regulations apply if you swap a tractor or snowmobile engine into your race car. (The only race car I can think of to have used a snowmobile engine was the Chaparral 2J, which used a two-stroke engine to drive a pair of fans that sucked the car to the ground.)


The crux of the matter is a remaining lack of definition and enforcement. The EPA recognizes the vehicle itself as the target of compliance or noncompliance. Racers and enthusiasts have long considered the vehicle's use as the arbiter of compliance or noncompliance and this seems to make more logical sense. Other laws like those pertaining to road safety equipment like airbags no longer apply when a car turns to the racetrack for good.


Racers remove street-car emissions equipment in track preparation because some emissions controls, especially those on older cars—most often the subject of race car conversions—cannot operate in the stressful environment a racetrack creates. Under those very high temperatures, shock, lateral braking, and acceleration forces, they would likely overheat and could even pose a fire hazard. Some of these racers are even converted to run on alcohol rather than gasoline, popular among some drag racers.
Additionally, we're talking about a rather small-scale problem. There are roughly 28,500 racing-licensed members of the Sports Car Club of America and about 35,000 licensed competitors in the National Hot Rod Association, the two biggest sanctioning bodies in the amateur and semi-pro racing business in America by far. Meanwhile, there are about 253 million vehicles on our roads. Even if every one of those racers had a converted race car—and this would never be a 1:1 license-to-car ratio—it would net a roughly 4,000:1 ratio of road cars used almost every day versus race cars. And race cars are not used every day. They're used only on certain weekends and only during the racing season.


The EPA has made it as clear as it can (which is, sadly, not all that clear) that this effort does not actually target legitimate racers. After all, what would any kind of enforcement strategy look like across well over 1,000 racetracks across the country?

 

For pictures of Monterey Racers Reunion including some of Mark Donohues Porsches
click here: https://www.tamparacing.com/forums/sh...59#post9379759