My wife has a 2001 XJ8L which has had four first-in-class wins. I am being urged to move up from Driven to Competition. The sticky point is the wheels. I am told that chrome was not a factory option, That's a surprise to me since here in SoCal, at least a majority of XJ's wear chrome. So, a set of reconditioned painted wheels and decent rubber will set me back about $1500 and then will just sit in storage over time between meets. Not what I consider a reasonable option. So, I was told I should just enter it and take the point hit. But someone else told me that it's a disqualification. Anyone know and have any idea what the point hit might be (assuming not a DISQ)?

 

Rick have you looked here? https://www.jcna.com/sites/default/f...0v12122021.pdf All competitions in JCNA encourage folks to improve their car and hence "move up". This will show you what Jaguar themselves did with wheels and tires (tyres). I would suggest that your observation while possible accurate reflects dealer modifications and not factory offerings. Not sure who "someone" is but they are dead wrong. You will be disqualified for poor behavior or a non Jaguar engine. Have you read the rule book? Pretty clear and has worked since about 1972. There is a North American chief judge listed in the contacts on the JCNA site. Have you reached out to him? BTW the point hit is in the rule book also. Best of luck.

 

upload a photo and we need to take a look, we dont even know what style of wheels your Jag wears.

 

From a "quick look" at the 2022 Field Reference Deduction Guide, the wrong wheels (which would include a wheel with a non-factory finish such as chrome if chrome wasn't an option) would be assessed a 6 point penalty each with a maximum deduction of 20 points (or 5 each if not assessed on the spare or 4 each if assessed on the spare as well). There could be an additional deduction for a non-factory tire size in addition to the deduction for the wheel itself.

Disqualification does not appear to be an option for the judge or a concern for you (unless of course you chose to be overly argumentative with a judge? ).

https://www.jcna.com/sites/default/f...0v12122021.pdf

Good luck and enjoy whatever you decide to do.

 

Hunter there is one more acid test---what is the finish on your spare? If it is not chrome then the dealer did it---all about the $$$$$. Factory chrome wheels had a chrome spare!

 

QUICK! Chrome the spare!

 

There's a quote you don't see every day! It's all in the context.

 

The spare is painted. No, I did not look at the rule book; I didn't know it was public. A 20 point hit would make it impossible to compete effectively and thus remove any incentive to move up without changing the wheels. Thanks for the comments and observations. I guess I was led astray by the popularity of chrome wheels on this model in this area.

 

So you would take a 20 point hit because the dealer chromed them before it was sold to the first owner?? I could understand the hit if after the purchase of the vehicle, the owner had them chromed.

As stated earlier, please share some pictures of your wife’s car.

 

Don't know much about showing/judging, but I will confirm that if they were factory chromed it would have a chrome spare. My 98 has factory chromed Pentas with a chrome spare on the original tire.

 

Addicted he would take the hit if he moved up a division. As it is the rules for driven class take into consideration that dealers did all sorts of things to "market". Champion class is as the factory delivered the car or intended to deliver the car.

 

That makes sense. Thanks for the clarity.

 

Shame on that dealer....messing up a perfectly good "Champion" class Jaguar.
I wonder how much chrome removal would be.