RPM Act and the EPA
 

I haven't seen a thread on this yet, I have barely started seeing YouTube channels talking about it so I don't want to give details I'm not yet versed in but wanted to bring attention to you guys if you haven't seen it. Apparently the EPA is coming after race cars. Sema has setup a petition page to send to your local politicians on the issue.

https://www.sema.org/epa-news

I've done almost no research on this but from what I've heard they were coming after registered vehicles with "off road" parts and tunes on them. Not actual non registered and insured race cars that are actually only used "off road".

I'm no expert on the ins and outs of this, but apparently an exemption for emission controls has long existed for street cars that have been converted for racing use and are no longer street driven. Think spec Miatas: sold as an emission controlled street car, now a race car never to see the street again.

EPA allegedly wants to eliminate this exemption, which would require any vehicle that started 'life' with emissions equipment to retain it, regardless of use.

If this does happen, it would be a huge problem for the aftermarket that supports racing. Even if it doesn't happen, EPA has been going after manufacturers of parts that defeat emissions devices sold "for off road use only" that clearly end up on street vehicles. The big targets have been in the diesel community so far, but companies like DIY Autotune need to be treading very carefully...

The "pops and bangs", "crackles", spark-cut launches in public don't help much either.

^ this

By what i understand of it, the diesel guys who sell "off road" coal-rolling tunes and exhausts are the big prompt for the bill.
But hood dumps and "senditbrah" attitudes are seriously not helping.

Did someone recently teach all the mouth-breathers how to do "pops and bangs" and "crackles"? I swear it's gotten markedly worse in the last few months here in the Bay Area. I saw some clapped-out shitbox just driving normally across an intersection and it sounded like he was going over a dozen railroad crossings.

I keep waiting to hear a "pop pop pop CLUNK" sound as someone's engine gives out.

From my understanding as it stands, it would affect 99% of peoples street cars here based on build threads.

Here's the other side of the argument: https://blog.ucsusa.org/dave-cooke/t...o-ruin-our-air

I'm inclined to agree with the linked article. I don't like that the EPA could come after "us", but SEMA is trying to manipulate the situation for their member's benefit, not ours. Taking away the EPAs ability to go after the coal rollers doesn't seem to have much to do with " saving race cars".

Relevant quotes from the UCS article linked above. See article for sourcing.

"The most obvious reason we know SEMA is not just trying to protect the racing industry is that less than 5 percent of the past motor vehicle enforcement which would have been limited under the RPM Act is for cars. By far, the biggest category of vehicle affected by the passage of the RPM Act would be diesel-powered trucks, which I’m pretty sure are not the “dedicated racecars” SEMA claims to be defending."

"SEMA claims to care about hobbyist racers, but all it would take to protect racers and the racing industry would be clear guidance from EPA on converting a motor vehicle into a competition-only vehicle. EPA already has such rules in place for imported cars and off-road dirtbikes—having Congress direct the agency to find a similar path for decertification of a motor vehicle to exclude it from highway travel would have been the obvious strategy."

This is clearly an opinion piece and not straight news, I found it enlightening. I didn't know the <5% thing, though I'm not surprised, and I didn't know that there was already guidance like what would be necessary for actual race cars. I'm always suspicious when some dues-collecting group starts playing Chicken Little (looking at you, NRA). Seems there's good reason to keep doing that...

I'd give up my Miatas to see the intentional coal-rollers be taken off the road/fined/arrested.

Wouldn't bother me one bit.