Bartlett vs CAMS

[Kingair]

Why was the Confederation Against Motorsport(CAMS) in the early 80’s, so anti Kevin Bartlett getting rear disc brakes for the Z28 Camaro?

[Backagain]

Originally Posted by Kingair

Why was the Confederation Against Motorsport(CAMS) in the early 80’s, so anti Kevin Bartlett getting rear disc brakes for the Z28 Camaro?

They were simply following the regulations for the class, rear discs were never an option on that model Camaro and it was never homologated with them.

[Alan52]

The homologation process was hopelessly politicised.Some may say corrupted.Then came the intractable problem of equalising car performance for Bathurst and all the other circuits which was a technical problem with very different solutions.
To reply to the second post discs were homologated for the Camaro after the 1980 Bathurst race when it became obvious to even CAMS that the car was both uncompetitive and dangerous in long distance races without them.Overseas drivers who came out to race the Camaro here couldn’t believe it didn’t have discs as that was the only braking system they had ever raced with in the States.
Basically the homologation system worked like this in the ‘80s.There were 2 annual homologation updates.One at the start of the year and a second one leading into Bathurst and the other long distance races.Holden decided that their main priority was winning Bathurst and specifically winning Bathurst with Brock at the wheel.They didn’t push too hard for the start of the year update and by mid year could go the woe is me and get what they wanted for Bathurst.They played this card trick year after year.Then the HDT were the parts supplier and a lot of those updated parts were not necessarily available to the other Holden teams.So you had situations like 1979 when Bob Morris beat Peter Brock in the Touring Car Championship but when they got to Bathurst the Brock car was literally seconds a lap quicker.
None of this is to criticise Brock as a driver but once homologation and parts supply became more equitable with Group A his Bathurst dominance disappeared overnight.

[Alan52]

Bartlett was also up against it as CAMS were much more likely to do favours for manufacturers/distributors as a way of encouraging them to enter or remain in touring car racing than they were for what they saw as mere race teams.Thus Nissan,BMW and Mazda found it a lot easier to get dispensations than the Camaro teams did.Ford teams were looked after because even CAMS could see the necessity of Ford remaining in the sport even if the company pulled out after 1977.

[275 GTB-4]

The FIA homologation system isn't confined to Oz, so why hadn't the Camaro already been homologated with rear disks for SCCA or Trans-Am racing say?

[275 GTB-4]

Originally Posted by Alan52

Bartlett was also up against it as CAMS were much more likely to do favours for manufacturers/distributors as a way of encouraging them to enter or remain in touring car racing than they were for what they saw as mere race teams.Thus Nissan,BMW and Mazda found it a lot easier to get dispensations than the Camaro teams did.Ford teams were looked after because even CAMS could see the necessity of Ford remaining in the sport even if the company pulled out after 1977.

"mere race teams" some with substantial corporate backing...