Cars with surprise tests in the championship of Galicia in the rally

AND Rally Championship Race of Galicia It starts long before the start of the first stage. Drivers must come to the big event with their car in optimal conditions and, above all, in accordance with the parameters required by the Galician Automobile Association.

“The same drivers and teams asked us to control the cars more, and we are at their service,” notes José Antonio Martínez, head of the Federation’s technicians, who highlights two changes this season: more and more exhaustive controls.

Inspections between stocks are already a reality, and their goal is to find out which pilots made prohibited changes to the regulations. “In Coruña we already had doubts and in Noia we wanted to resolve them. We have taken several switchboards and they are already being checked at an authorized center. If something is not in line, the affected pilots will be punished,” says Martínez. Changes to the engine’s electronics are hard to see, but also very common. Their purpose is to increase the power and thus the speed of the vehicle.

A pilot can go through a sudden check purely by chance or because of a technician’s suspicion. Two of them carefully analyze the car’s performance in each section. In case of any doubt, they act immediately. “We are trying to make it as fast as possible so as not to disrupt the race. We look a lot at switchboards, pipe flanges and the weight of the vehicle with scales,” the technical manager enumerates.

Outsourcing between stages is another illegal practice which the Federation wants to eliminate, although they admit that it is not easy to monitor more than a hundred vehicles. Between sectors, only the pilot and his co-pilot can repair incidents in the vehicle. “The sanction in this case is exclusion from the exam. It was quite common. We haven’t caught anyone this year – he says.

Daniel Alvarez He was the winner of the Volante AMF Cup in Noia. The Caldas de Reis driver passed a surprise inspection after the first morning special, and another one at the end of the test. “They always control me a lot, my car is on everyone’s lips because the times are good,” the racer notes.

Classic controls

“My vehicle is said to be equipped with an injection system, but in reality it has a carburetor. They examined me to make sure everything was correct,” he recalls. The winner of the AMF in Noia confirmed this technicians inserted a tiny camera for the reception of his Peugeot 205 Rali to check that he has used the benefits according to the homologation sheet, the vehicle passport and the conditions of the cup in which he is participating.

Many pilots were caught in the checks. The consequences in most cases were warnings. “Besides being a technician, I’m a pilot and I also know how to put myself in their shoes,” says Martínez, who will establish sanctions for repeat offenders. Warnings range from financial penalties to the exclusion of violators.

Illegal training is also repeated. “It is a custom here in Galicia. They disturb the neighbors a lot, and we don’t want the rallies to be jeopardized,” says the technical chief who sanctioned 20 drivers who trained after the deadline. This year, a longer schedule and GPS tracking were introduced.