Statement from the National Rally Commission regarding the recent activity on Mr. Ismaeel David’s Facebook page.
Attached is the letter that was sent to Mr. Davids informing him that the Commission would not give him a dispensation for the use of a set of non-compliant hubs and wheel-bearing assemblies. These components form part of the stipulated components to prevent the importation of expensive rally cars and components, to try and keep a cap on costs, and to promote the local fabricators and constructors.
The fact that 7 new cars have been built to these regulations, with more to come, shows the success of and acceptance by the entrants.The first inspection, by the Technical Panel, of the GR Yaris of Mr. Davids was conducted in Port Elizabeth on the 4th of January 2024. At that time Mr. Davids was informed verbally that the imported hub assemblies that he proposed to use were not in compliance with the AR1 Class regulations, para 705
This was further communicated to Mr. Davids in writing in the report from the technical panel after the inspection.During our progress inspections while the car was at the Fast Developments facility at Zwartkops Raceway, Mr. Davids and his engineering consultant were again informed verbally that the hub assemblies were not in compliance.
Additionally, the Technical Panel has been requesting information from Mr. Davids to complete the homologation process to enable the car to compete in the National Rally Championship.To date, no information has been supplied by Mr. Davids.
The technical consultants have engaged closely with Mr. Davids during the building process to help with the introduction of this exciting new car to the top class in our national championship. If in fact Mr. Davids Yaris was ready in time for the Trac N4 Rally, the Commission would have accepted his entry as a non-scoring competitor to use the event as a test session.
We would have welcomed his participation, as it would have added to the spectacle of the highly successful Trac N4 Rally. However, no such request or entry was received from Mr. Davids. Mr. David’s Facebook post was disingenuous in that it did not tell the whole story, as he was aware of the noncompliance and had 10 months to comply with the regulations. This was not a sudden movement of the goal posts on the commission’s part.
The members of the Commission would like to express their extreme disappointment at the outpouring of totally uninformed, and some quite libelous comments from the Facebook keyboard warriors who profess to have all the answers.
This statement puts forth the National Rally Commission’s response to Mr. David’s Facebook post and will not engage any further in this diatribe, but the Commission would welcome any sensible suggestions from the genuine rallying enthusiasts that would ease our workload and help to continue improving the show.
