Steve,
To be quite clear, I wasn't referring to any specific occasion, and particularly not the recent Grande Finals.
However, in the past, there have been people caught with non-compliances that were difficult to put down to accident.
There are some grey areas, as with any set of technical specs, and there will be people caught by accident or intention.
The difficulty is determining what is accident or intent. For example, the Rushes were caught by a non-compliant spring. It would be all too easy to buy a carb with the wrong spring in it and assume it was the right one. On the other hand, they have been in karting for a long time, if only recently in Formula Blue.
Now one might assume 'cheating', if it wasn't for the fact that we have all seen drivers make mistakes like forgetting to do up the wheel nuts, possibly more obvious than checking the length of a spring.
It is only when a definite engineering cheat is discovered, such as the modifications to the 'Christo' engine, that one can say 'cheating', even if one has suspicions.
Certainly performance on any given day isn't a reliable guide. There are some who have accused Copeland of having 'factory' engines rather than being talented. Someone once made this complaint to me, saying that his performance on the track right at that moment proved it. Happily, as he was out testing my kart and my engine at the time, I was able to say it was the driver, not the kart or engine. (and yes, he produced a time 2 seconds a lap quicker than me, a clear sign of something!)
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