Question regarding wheel mod-eliminating round bump molds
Posted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 12:26 pm
Hi. This is my first time posting the the forum Although I have been active in our pack for several years as a den leader, this year I became the assistant cub master and have a much greater level of participation in our derby.
We had our preliminaries on Saturday, and I found what I thought to be a car running illegally modified wheels according to our council bylaws. The wheels in question had been altered on the outside edge so that the little dots that run around the circumference of the wheel were removed and the outside of the wheel appeared to my eyes rounded off. My thought was that if those little dots were no longer visible that meant the wheel had been illegally modified because that created a smaller tire contact area and less friction.
But I'm now afraid I overstepped my bounds in that there was an illegal modification with the tires, considering the vaguness of our rules.
The background is the car in question had apparently also been raced last year (another violation) and it won all of its heats and the entire derby last year. At the time it puzzled me because it was significantly faster than the #2 through #5 place finishers, which were all very closely lumped together timewise. I know that we had lax inspection in place last year, and that the person running the inspection would have had no idea what to look for, so there’s no way of knowing if it was legal last year or not. At the preliminaries on Saturday I watched it race no fewer than 15 times against good competition and it did not lose a race.
The father of the scout has been notified about the wheels and has already agreed to change them, however, his position is that the mods were within legal limits, and the wheel profile and contact surface area were not changed. I don’t see how that could be if the bump of ridges has been removed, but am in the right or wrong in thinking that doing that in itself constitutes an improper change of the wheel? Below is how our rules read:
WHEELS CANNOT BE MODIFIED
b. NO wheel bearings, washers, bushings, or springs
c. Wheels may be lightly sanded to remove mold projection
NO OTHER WHEEL CHANGES ALLOWED!
No beveling, tapering, thin sanding, wafering or lathe turning.
WHEEL PROFILE MUST REMAIN AS SUPPLIED BY THE OFFICIAL BSA KIT.
d. Wheels must be completely visible
e. Axles must use slots provided in the block of wood. They may be polished
f. Axle slot must be visible. Do not cover or fill groove completely. Judges must be able to see the center of the groove. Axle Guards will not be allowed.
g. Only the axles that come with the official BSA kit, or from item #17007, (replacement wheel and axle kit), or from the allowed
I would appreciate any feedback given. If I was wrong to make them change their wheels, I’m sick about it.
Thank you!
We had our preliminaries on Saturday, and I found what I thought to be a car running illegally modified wheels according to our council bylaws. The wheels in question had been altered on the outside edge so that the little dots that run around the circumference of the wheel were removed and the outside of the wheel appeared to my eyes rounded off. My thought was that if those little dots were no longer visible that meant the wheel had been illegally modified because that created a smaller tire contact area and less friction.
But I'm now afraid I overstepped my bounds in that there was an illegal modification with the tires, considering the vaguness of our rules.
The background is the car in question had apparently also been raced last year (another violation) and it won all of its heats and the entire derby last year. At the time it puzzled me because it was significantly faster than the #2 through #5 place finishers, which were all very closely lumped together timewise. I know that we had lax inspection in place last year, and that the person running the inspection would have had no idea what to look for, so there’s no way of knowing if it was legal last year or not. At the preliminaries on Saturday I watched it race no fewer than 15 times against good competition and it did not lose a race.
The father of the scout has been notified about the wheels and has already agreed to change them, however, his position is that the mods were within legal limits, and the wheel profile and contact surface area were not changed. I don’t see how that could be if the bump of ridges has been removed, but am in the right or wrong in thinking that doing that in itself constitutes an improper change of the wheel? Below is how our rules read:
WHEELS CANNOT BE MODIFIED
b. NO wheel bearings, washers, bushings, or springs
c. Wheels may be lightly sanded to remove mold projection
NO OTHER WHEEL CHANGES ALLOWED!
No beveling, tapering, thin sanding, wafering or lathe turning.
WHEEL PROFILE MUST REMAIN AS SUPPLIED BY THE OFFICIAL BSA KIT.
d. Wheels must be completely visible
e. Axles must use slots provided in the block of wood. They may be polished
f. Axle slot must be visible. Do not cover or fill groove completely. Judges must be able to see the center of the groove. Axle Guards will not be allowed.
g. Only the axles that come with the official BSA kit, or from item #17007, (replacement wheel and axle kit), or from the allowed
I would appreciate any feedback given. If I was wrong to make them change their wheels, I’m sick about it.
Thank you!