Why FWR SCCA will never see another dime from me

Apparently the "battery snatch" is a fairly common occurance in some circles. At my first National event, the tech yanked my battery out (much like your experience), snapping the zip ties that held it in (due to the woefully poor original strap that came with the Iceman CAI battery tray). This didn't really tick me off; rather I was suprised he was able to get it out with his bare hands. He told me to go fix it and come back. I went and found some SERIOUS zip ties (about 1/2" wide, and more than long enough), and pulled it back into tech. This time the guy smiled and came over, putting on a leather glove this time. He really meant to heave that thing out!

It didn't budge. He smiled again, took off the glove, and put the sticker on the windshield.

My attitude is that if the tech inspector sees something he or she doesn't like, fail the car, bring it up to the driver, and allow them to address it. No need to prove anything, and no need to ever get physical with anything on the vehicle. If you don't like something, then that's good enough for me and I will fix it. Please, don't touch my car, and I won't argue and try to convince you that my duct-tape a-arm is acceptable.

That said, please put someone on tech that actually knows what they are talking about.

Wow.

I think if he had done that to one of my cars I would have ended up in jail...

P71 wrote: You're a better man than I. I probably would have cold-cocked him right when when he broke the car.

I would also have lost it and most likely ended up in jail

Completely off topic, but this reminded me of a battery tie down incident from years ago.

Back when I still lived in England I used to have a TR7 Sprint (TR7 with a Dolomite Sprint 16V engine fitted). After tweaking the carbs for the ten millionth time (god I love fuel injection) I went for a test drive. I'd also been doing some other things and had, had the battery out. I reconnected the battery but forgot to re-install the tie down. I went for a test drive and everything was great. Approaching a roundabout I hit the brakes late and hard at about 80, planning on using it as a fast chicane. As I did that the battery came off the battery tray and landed on the red hot tubular header, electrics go dead and smoke plus comes out from under the bonnet. At this point I hadn't twigged what had happened so I coast through the roundabout and pull over. Open the bonnet (I was still in England so It want' yet a hood :) ) choking back the fumes and panicking. I see what had happened so I carefully lift the rapidly melting battery off the header as water/acid is leaking out, nasty nasty fumes. Well by a stroke of luck way beyond what I deserved, the melted plastic of the batter re-sealed itself as I pulled it off the header. I gingerly put the battery back on the tray and very very carefully drove home. Unbelievably nothing else leaked on the drive home and I made it without incident. I knew the guys in the local parts store really well and they couldn't believe it when I walked in with a half melted battery that still worked!!!. I've been very carful about battery retention since then. I've used up my good luck there!!!

Either a drivability or a 'holy cow that's cool' index

DILYSI Dave wrote: Sounds like you both could have handled things better. He shouldn't have broken your car. You shouldn't have argued with him when he said that it needed to be improved.

Well, if the manufacrturer deemed it adequate, than why would I disagree? I don't care what I said, he is to never touch my car in that manner unless he plans on paying to have it repaired.

Adrian_Thompson wrote: I used to have a TR7 Sprint....electrics go dead and smoke plus comes out from under the bonnet.

I'm given to understand that this is not exactly unusual behavior in English cars.....

I have to agree with Dave Hardy. He shouldn't have been an shiny happy person and yanked it out to prove a point, but if he was able to yank it out by hand without breaking anything, it was too loose.

I don't care if it was held in with twist ties, you don't yank people's battery and drop it into the engine bay, hangine off the wires. Period.

Bobzilla wrote:

DILYSI Dave wrote: Sounds like you both could have handled things better. He shouldn't have broken your car. You shouldn't have argued with him when he said that it needed to be improved.

Well, if the manufacrturer deemed it adequate, than why would I disagree? I don't care what I said, he is to never touch my car in that manner unless he plans on paying to have it repaired.

It probably was when it came out, but like you said yourself, it did have a replacement battery. Aftermarket replacement batteries are not always the exact same size as the original, and like I said, if he was able to yank it out without breaking anything, it was too loose. It does sound like he was being a jackass about it, which wasn't called for.

Bobzilla wrote: I don't care if it was held in with twist ties, you don't yank people's battery and drop it into the engine bay, hangine off the wires. Period.

Agreed.

Checked it over last night after repairing the wiring. The battery is now loose. Not like yesterday. Looks like it may have a crack now on the back tab that he forced the battery past. So it looks like he likely broke the battery tray to show me it wasn't working.

I have to admit, recently I handled a situation in less than an exemplary manner. Tech had closed, there were all kinds of people milling around near the start and here comes some kid in a primered Neon with a fart can and he drives THROUGH the crowd (no, really!) fast enough that people are having to twist and jerk to get out of his way. One of those folks was me. I literally had to jump backwards to save my toes. So he drives over to the 'Tech' sign and stops, this is probably 50 feet further. I was PISSED. I yelled at him to slow the hell down, the whole crowd went silent (I am known as the Human PA System). I marched down and informed this kid that it was NOT a good idea to show up after tech was closed and furthermore it was NOT a good idea to try to run over the guy who was going to be doing his tech. His battery had a bungee cord and I failed it. I told him that even though he nearly ran over me and violated the walking speed rule that if he would get a real tiedown I would pass his car. He left and didn't come back.

This isn't meant to be smart, but what damage can a loose battery do in modern engine bays that can be a hazard to the driver/course/workers. I've never seen a battery manage to fall out of a car, nor have I seen it cause a short which caused issues. Maybe I'm just lucky, but the way things are set up in modern cars, I don't see how a battery voulf find a way to do any damage just by not being anchor tight. Plus, ripping the battery upward is a situation that would never occur in a car in the first place so why should we expect to NOT be able to lift it out when the hood it up?

Tom_Spangler wrote:

Adrian_Thompson wrote: I used to have a TR7 Sprint....electrics go dead and smoke plus comes out from under the bonnet.

I'm given to understand that this is not exactly unusual behavior in English cars.....

Yeah yeah Zaino boy, who won the F1 race again?

(For those not in the konw, Tom was zainoing his truck rather than watching the race. At least I was trying to keep my basement dry)

Adrian_Thompson wrote: Yeah yeah Zaino boy, who won the F1 race again?

A German. Quite a show by the Brits, though. The guy who has otherwise dominated the season finished 6th, and the World Champion was how many laps down???

(For those not in the konw, Tom was zainoing his truck rather than watching the race. At least I was trying to keep my basement dry)

Not my fault the race got moved to Fox and my stupid DVR missed it.

Sounds like a TECH I ran into at a hillclimb, years ago.

In reply to GregTivo:

Fine, let's put the safety issue aside. How would you like it if the battery came out of it's tray and knocked your drive belts off, puts a hole in your radiator, brakes and spills acid all over the engine bay? Day ruined. How about some nice dents in your hood from the pot hole the coarse designers didn't figure on being created by the ground pounders? If you can't at least pull on everything in the engine bay, you should be racing it in my option. Personally, I go through my car twice to make sure nothing is going to fly around in the back that can distract me. 8)

pinchvalve wrote: That said, please put someone on tech that actually knows what they are talking about.

I once saw a tech inspector try to fail an air-cooled 911 for a coolant leak.

The driver had washed the car before the event at there was a little water dripping from the wheel well somewhere.

srs007 wrote: In reply to GregTivo: Fine, let's put the safety issue aside. How would you like it if the battery came out of it's tray and knocked your drive belts off, puts a hole in your radiator, brakes and spills acid all over the engine bay? Day ruined. How about some nice dents in your hood from the pot hole the coarse designers didn't figure on being created by the ground pounders? If you can't at least pull on everything in the engine bay, you should be racing it in my option. Personally, I go through my car twice to make sure nothing is going to fly around in the back that can distract me. 8)

Isn't the entire point of Tech supposed to be "Safety"?

I was once asked if it was legal to autocross my RX-7 at an SCCA event by the tech inspector. He had no idea what a carburetor was and was thoroughly confused by everything in the engine bay. He really should not have been teching.

That was the exception though, usually all of the local clubs and tracks have really good tech inspectors.

GregTivo wrote: This isn't meant to be smart, but what damage can a loose battery do in modern engine bays that can be a hazard to the driver/course/workers.

I was in a vehicle (off roading) without a secure battery. we hit a bump or a turn and the battery fell off the tray and cracked itself open. I guess the acid reacted severely with something and produced toxic fumes that entered the cabin. We were still driving when I got the wind knocked out of me, I panicked and tried to jump out of the jeep. Fortunately I was buckled in so I couldn't get out and the driver was able to stop so we could jump free and run away.

There was no odor, but if you inhaled the gas you would reflexively gag violently. People panic when they can't breathe.

That same scenario at an auto-x could end very dangerously for anyone involved.

It's too bad the safety inspector acted the way he did.

I find it odd that Hyundai went to a plastic battery Tray. The one in my old Tiburon was solid metal

daytonaer wrote:

GregTivo wrote: This isn't meant to be smart, but what damage can a loose battery do in modern engine bays that can be a hazard to the driver/course/workers.

I was in a vehicle (off roading) without a secure battery. we hit a bump or a turn and the battery fell off the tray and cracked itself open. I guess the acid reacted severely with something and produced toxic fumes that entered the cabin. We were still driving when I got the wind knocked out of me, I panicked and tried to jump out of the jeep. Fortunately I was buckled in so I couldn't get out and the driver was able to stop so we could jump free and run away. There was no odor, but if you inhaled the gas you would reflexively gag violently. People panic when they can't breathe. That same scenario at an auto-x could end very dangerously for anyone involved. It's too bad the safety inspector acted the way he did.

interesting. I'm not advocating of course that a battery should be free floating, but I still think there is leeway in what could be considered a secure battery and ripping the battery out of someones car is not cool at all.

Nte to self: don't go bowling with JG