2011 Rules Updates (Page 4 of 5)

I suspect that if a non-sporting use of the Curse comes up, Jay will use his powers as benevolent dictator to ignore those votes.

The Curse has been like a pendulum over the years. For awhile, it was too easy to get cursed and some injustice occurred, as exemplified at Ledges. Then it got too hard to get cursed and some who deserved it didn't get cursed. Now the pendulum is swinging back the other way.

I can see this happening as well.

Ok, I've been pestering Jay for some clarification on modifications to the fuel jugs for ya guys.  The response, and I was told to quote him verbatim...

"The next guy who yaps off about his brilliant fueling workaround scheme, no doubt guaranteed to save .3 seconds per stop, will be docked 50 laps. With that in mind, I might suggest it'd be much faster just to bring 5-gallon cans, not dick around with them, and get on with your life, already."

Looking for some clarification on the new rules re. roll cages.

We have an Autopower-built bolt-together cage which was fine in 2009 and 2010.  By my interpretation of the 2011 rules, this may no longer pass because the roof bars are held with sleeves - they aren't technically a single continuous piece even if I welded those joints.

Also noticed the section on grandfathered-in / waivers has been struck out.  Are we SOL?

Relatedly, does the new rule on crush/crash structures apply to roofs?  If I hack mine off and make a convertible, is it still legal?  We may want to do this on on our new car to have the required clearances around the driver's head.  Besides, who doesn't like convertibles?

For John (I hope this helps) (let me know if I should delete this if it aint!)

Give him  a bit of time - he's getting a zillion emails a day re this sort of thing

On Roll cages:

1 - ask specific questions, like what necoro is asking
2 - take pictures and send them with the questions
3 - provide as much accurate tech info on your cage as you can, like bend radius, tube diameter and tube thickness, what car it's in and such.
- if you have an autopower or such, just saying p/n## for a 19?? is a waste of time. Again, send pictures but DO include the link to what you bought just in case!
4 - Be straight to the point - stories waste his time and don't help the tech question

On pictures:
- Fuzzy out-of focus and dark pics of the deep crevice you tried to weld into are useless
- Pics of the cage like you would take to sell on craigs' are pretty pointless too.
- pics of mount-points that include the spreader plate/box are "the thing" - so are pics of good tube-junctions and welds.
- Door-open and across-the-car scenes help immensely to get an idea of door and shoulder harness bar placement - four points, from car front window, rear window and both sides across car are a great start.
- for Details re questions, take closer shots with adequate light - you can get great close-in shots by using a shop light and don't use a flash, or even use a high-power flashlight - this gives the camera something to focus on and expose properly to.

On other issues:
Read the rules and pretend you are five years old - don't read more into them than is written!
Search the tech forums for Evil Genius or Nick or any other official that might have the answer you are looking for that isn't 100% clear in the rules
Wait patiently and read the forums to see what others are whining about
Ask if your existing "situation" needs repair/redesign, but again - send pics
Ask before you build something really hooptie and be pretty specific
And if the answer is suck-O, Don't whine, just build or rebuild!

I've got a modified Autopower in my MR2.  I'm going to ask Jay to look it over in Miami and give me a ruling.  If we don't get anything before then, I'll let you know how it pans out.

quoted for using the phrase "douche nozzles."

So I just went to a local race supply shop and bought a pair of Alpinestar socks.  On the shop's price sticker it says "Nomex,"  the label on the socks it says "100% Aramid fiber."  They are FIA8856-2000 rated.  Will these work?

-Matt

+1, it is just like calling all tissues "Kleenex".  It is a branding/actual product identity issue.

That's what I suspected, but thanks for clarification guys.

-Matt

Regarding rule 3.28  "...all doors in place..."

How much of a door do we need to be considered a door in place?    i assume doors do not need to actually open (except for the driver's door)?

In other words, if we plasma out the entire inner structure, leaving not much more than a skin, and weld it to the chassis, does that count as "all doors in place"

We'd prefer the original doors, but, if you do a good job of covering up the holes where they used to be you could pass tech...   Notice the 'could' in that sentence, whereas oe doors 'would' pass tech

  -John