To sufficiently explain what' I'm going on about, first you must read THIS. I wrote this little tounge-in-cheek article for fun over a week before the Phillip Island round. Note especially the fifth paragraph, alongside the second photo. I have since highlighted it.

I may have unwittingly predicted something during an attempt at satire. I'm sure that's been done before.

The Superkart Club have "Class representatives". The Rotax 125 class rep is, notwithstanding, a lovely bloke, and an experienced and good steerer in the heavy class.

But he, like a handful of other poor souls, is one of those who has an aversion to Jon and Dean's Hyper creation. I can almost understand it. A Hyper Racer is an expensive option, an elite choice, you might say. But it's worth every cent, and the key words there are "option" and "choice". It doesn't stop anyone from choosing a cheaper alternative to go racing in the non-gearbox classes. That's the beauty of free market economy and motorsport. Development, competition, raising the bar, freedom of choice...

Such sophistication attracts people with money. So it's almost as if the anti-Hyper element want people with money to stay away from the sport. This seems strange. People with money are potential event sponsors. This makes track hire more achievable, takes pressure off club members and, well, you know the rest.

So thanks to this strange aversion to all things Hyper, the powers-that-be (and the not-so-powerful) nitpicked the Hyper throughout '06. Sometimes it involved hovering around the machines in the pits during events, dropping hints and inferences of illegality, or just plain complaining. Sometimes, it bordered on harrassment and could have been quite intimidating for new members.

There were no clear breaches of technical regs. However, as if by magic, technical regs suddenly changed so that there were. I won't go into detail- needless to say, Hyper Racer moved earth, wind and fire to accommodate the whims of those who seem to have great difficulty coping with their sophistication and professionalism.

So, Round 1: All the HyperRacers congregated outside garage 25 at the opening round of the 07 season at Phillip Island, looking resplendent, naturally. The Class Rep had been circling earlier, trying to think of something derogatory to say about the Hyper Racer machines as is the status quo.

After the first session and weigh-in, he swooped. He pointed out that my race numbers were the incorrect colours for the heavy class.

He was quite right. Jon Crooke had overlooked that regulation change from last year, but had cleared it with the chief scrutineer and timekeepers on the proviso it would be corrected for round 2. He must have been distracted by all that work on the other forced changes. But that wasn't all.

I was then told that the stylish drop shadow on the numbers and the style of font, were not as per CAMS regulation.

Seriously.

If you can't see the astounding prophetic power of my previous rambling then read it again.

Yep. There is a very grey rule about style of race numbers in the general regs in the CAMS manual. Funnily enough, the Superkart Regs don't contain any reference to it.

But even if this regulation wasn't a funny shade of grey, this latest in a long line of banal and petty attempts to undermine HyperRacer is a little different. The previous features under scrutiny were unique to Hyper Racer. Creative and funny looking numbers, are not.

If Hyper have to change the appearance of their race numbers, so will just about everybody else. I don't know if everybody else is going to like that.

What's more, if such pettiness and hair-splitting is called for, then we need to have a good look at the procedures for red flagging races and re-gridding, and many, many more. Because I am sure (as are many others) that the applicable regulations in that area have not been adhered to. That would burden some good, hard-working volunteers who do the best with what they have.

Can of worms, anyone?

Perhaps it's time for those who have problems with Hyper Racer to admit the problems are entirely their own. If they don't, the misuse of authority to take strikes at Hyper Racer could cause some collateral damage which the sport cannot afford. Besides, CAMS can sniff an agenda a mile away.

The article was meant to be poking fun at, among other things, Jon's obsession with detail in design. Reading it in the reflection of Saturday's nitpicking, it's just plain sad.

By the way, for those who didn't know, the name STASI is actually the nickname for the former Communist East German secret police. They harrassed and intimidated anyone who opposed the communist regime. A communist regime is one which forcibly prevents free market economy and freedom of choice.

If anyone would like me to prophecy their future I take Visa, Mastercard and cash.