The FIM Giveth - and Azhar Hussein taketh away!

No sooner has the excitememt caused by the relaxation of the FIMs streamlining rules - and their confirmation that this permits FFs - died way, than Azhar Hussein announces that it's all changed again. According to Azhar, only the World Championship Series, consisting of a few rounds scattered across the world with none in England, will allow what he calls 'prototypes'.

The other E-power races, at club and national level, will be 'homologation races' where only production electric bicycles, with at least 25 made, will be permitted to race. A commercial committment to Azhars orgnaising body will also be needed by entrants. It's going to be a sort of travelling electric-bicycle circus, a 'formula Brammo' where the entrants are part-time bit players in some corporate entertainment process.

Regardless of the improbability of anyone making 25 electrical FFs to enter this folly, it's clear that it's about as far as it's possible to get from the commonly understood concept of "Motor Racing". Forget the circuit owner, the promotor and the eager crew of maniacs, hot to run whatever strange devices they brung. This is "bowling Ball racing" (thanks KC). If motor racing was run like this we'd still have front-engines, beam axles and white, linen helmets.

Bit like bicycles (with or without motors)I guess.

Azhar also took the opportunity to complain at some length about how much effort he wasted incorporating and supporting the rules in his E-GP formula allowing FFs when, after five years, no one has turned up to race one. If he'd known, he said, "he wouldn't have bothered". It's obviously upset him and I think everyone on this list should mail him to apologise personally for the discomfort we've caused him.