by gascarnut » Thu Aug 01, 2019 12:27 pm
Having had a bit of time to take a good look at the cars ahead of Round 4 this weekend, I want to bring up a few things for discussion.
As much as these Proxies are intended to be fun competition between friends, I think that the rules need to be respected. I checked all the cars, just out of interest, and this is what I found:
1: The second body rule requires "Drivers head, shoulders, arm, steering wheel and dash, and a roll bar". One car was entered with no roll bar, and 3 do not have a dash.
2: The 3rd rule stated "Entrant's name must be noted on underside of the car...": There are four cars with no name underneath
3: the 4th rule requires "Car numbers (note the plural) must be unique...: There is one car that carries only one number.
4: The 6th rule states "Clear window material must be present...": There is one car with no screen, and it is not missing, it was probably never installed.
5: The 3rd chassis rule requires "1.0mm minimum clearance": There are two cars that already are very close to not clearing 1.0mm after only 3 rounds, so by the end of the series they will in all likelihood not conform.
6: The 4th chassis rule States "Guide must be entirely under body and not visible when viewed from above.": There is one car that does not comply.
7: The 2nd Wheels rule states: "Wheels must have period inserts or look reasonably period for the car - no BBS wheels or blank insert wheels please": This can be a little subjective, but there are four cars where this could be a matter of discussion as to whether the wheels used are "reasonably period".
8: The first tires rule requires "the maximum track; front and rear, may not exceed 62.0mm measured outer-sidewall to outer-sidewall.": I set my calipers to 62.05mm and checked each car. There is one car where the caliper would not fit over the rear wheels. On direct measurement, it comes in at 65.6mm. There are two cars where the calipers would not fit over the front wheels. The actual measurements were 62.4 and 62.6mm on these. All others fitted inside the calipers with no real force needed.
Now I have not named any specific cars here, as I do not believe that anyone was trying to gain an advantage. However, I think it demonstrates three things:
1: Some rules need to be reconsidered in the light of practicality - such as the dash, roll bar and windscreen rules.
2: Some rules need to be more tightly enforced - such as the clearance and width rules.
3: Some rules need better definition - such as the inserts rule - if we want to maintain high cosmetic standards.
Thanks for reading - any opinions?
Dennis