• Registered: 2016-04-17
  • Posts: 11

Topic: Car Numbers: spirit of the rule vs letter of the law

I've read the rules. A bunch. Our car is red and gold and we painted black panels on the car to hold our car numbers. Per the rule, white numbers go on a black panel. We tested out some gold numbers on the black panel and are really digging the way it looks, but dammit, they aren't exactly legal.

Will this cause us to fail tech:
[img]Https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BJQSpRgWzQs/V-vlKyUI_eI/AAAAAAAAAyU/tzxGH5rmm_4aOiKKmvBtCgtqZylWJt8UACLcB/s1600/IMG_6056.JPG[/img]

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  • jmas
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Re: Car Numbers: spirit of the rule vs letter of the law

We had spray painted numbers in yellow on a dark blue car and it passed tech.   
Just bring a can of white spray paint or some white duct tape and take the chance.  It looks good in Gold!

  • From: NH
  • Registered: 2010-01-20
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Re: Car Numbers: spirit of the rule vs letter of the law

It depends on who you get in tech. The Spirit of the rule is to make sure the numbers are very easy to see, however too many people can't seem to follow that spirit, so they call out white on black or black on white.

We had black numbers on a green car, and emailed Jay for approval after the new rules were issued calling out the white/black rule. He said it was ok, but we still caught some flack in tech inspection.

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  • From: Birdsboro, PA
  • Registered: 2009-10-26
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Re: Car Numbers: spirit of the rule vs letter of the law

Think about it this way, will your numbers be clear and easy to read from 200' away when you are going 90?  If so, you will likely be fine.

Chris from 3 Pedal Mafia
  • From: Villa Park, IL
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Re: Car Numbers: spirit of the rule vs letter of the law

http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n613/cabinboy63/Jetta/Lemons%20Jetta/DSC_1319.jpg
I ran these at Road America a couple years ago with no problem but I was worried enough that I had a backup plan just in case.

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Re: Car Numbers: spirit of the rule vs letter of the law

I understand the spirit of the rule, vs. letter of the law,  which really means make sure it's legible for the corner workers at 90+ MPH.  I'm pretty sure ours are easier to read by just their shear size even though they aren't black on white.  I made ours almost as big as the door, and IMO if you can't read a number this big, changing the colors woudn't help.


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7 Reply by fleming95 (edited by fleming95 2016-09-28 10:44 AM)

  • Registered: 2009-06-10
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Re: Car Numbers: spirit of the rule vs letter of the law

Do what works - very not this:

http://www.murileemartin.com/Crap/GIFs/CarNumberIII.gif

(and in all the times I've chuckled at this I hadn't seen the sheet of paper in the window with '33' on it behind the driver.  Haha!)

  • Registered: 2016-04-17
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Re: Car Numbers: spirit of the rule vs letter of the law

I laughed. You guys think our car will go 90?

  • From: Boston, MA
  • Registered: 2015-08-12
  • Posts: 265

Re: Car Numbers: spirit of the rule vs letter of the law

We have green on black and very large works pretty well.  Just make sure it can be read easily and bring some white and black spray paint as backup. 
http://www.murileemartin.com/UG/LCT16/0712-DSC_2066.jpg

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10 Reply by mully006 (edited by mully006 2016-09-28 01:27 PM)

  • From: Boston, MA
  • Registered: 2015-08-12
  • Posts: 265

Re: Car Numbers: spirit of the rule vs letter of the law

Edit

Double posted liked a pleb

Moot Point Racing - 1991 Volvo 240 - #496
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Re: Car Numbers: spirit of the rule vs letter of the law

We followed the letter of the law, black on white and 12" tall. We still got flack for them. 

Go big and easy to read.

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Re: Car Numbers: spirit of the rule vs letter of the law

FPRbuzz wrote:

We followed the letter of the law, black on white and 12" tall. We still got flack for them. 

Go big and easy to read.

Yeah, I think 12" is way to small.  I think ours are like 20" tall. 

I also see lots of cars follow the rule of one brake light, with some literally having just one bulb.  We have four stock lamps and two addition LED strips to be sure we get your attention.

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  • From: Houston, TX
  • Registered: 2012-06-21
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Re: Car Numbers: spirit of the rule vs letter of the law

This rule is probably written in black and white (literally and figuratively) just so the judges have something solid to throw at whiny teams when they're told to change their iffy numbers. The spirit of the law is definitely "easy to read from far away while barreling down the straights." High contrast and large size are the important parts.

The rule would probably be less confusing to newcomers if they added a statement like "Other high-contrast colors may be acceptable, but use them at risk of the judges telling you to start over with black and white."

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14 Reply by BoB

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Re: Car Numbers: spirit of the rule vs letter of the law

Its normally pretty easy to see what will be a problem and what won't.  I ran white numbers on a green car for a while without any issues.  It helps the number was vinyl so pretty easy to read.  As long as stranger can easily read the number in dim light from across the parking lot you'll be fine. If it takes them a while to find the number or can confuse it with another number than you fail.

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  • From: Plymouth, MA
  • Registered: 2013-06-07
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Re: Car Numbers: spirit of the rule vs letter of the law

They did not appreciate my creativity in NJ and told be to make it black and white for Thompson

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8734/29931106651_9ed2379a9f_h.jpg


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  • From: Westfield Ma
  • Registered: 2012-10-29
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Re: Car Numbers: spirit of the rule vs letter of the law

^ I can see that getting missed but all they would have to say is the Student Driver car.   We have White on a black field.  Makes changing the numbers easy, seems we get numbers reassigned.

  • From: CT
  • Registered: 2012-03-27
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Re: Car Numbers: spirit of the rule vs letter of the law

Red Lemons Racing wrote:

^ I can see that getting missed but all they would have to say is the Student Driver car.   We have White on a black field.  Makes changing the numbers easy, seems we get numbers reassigned.

To share the secret sauce: Register as early as possible.. that way you get the car number you want.  You can always back out of a race.

Please be mindful that if you know you can't make the race that you withdraw as early as possible.

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18 Reply by Sandow (edited by Sandow 2016-10-04 09:34 PM)

  • From: Richmond, VA
  • Registered: 2013-09-23
  • Posts: 58

Re: Car Numbers: spirit of the rule vs letter of the law

I asked about yellow on blue I got this response:

"Yeah, as long as it's good and big, should be fine. Just imagine that you are an 80-year-old corner-worker with a hangover and bad eyesight, trying to read numbers on a moving car through a cloud of oil smoke. If your numbers pass that test, we'll let them run."

lol...

-Sandow