Rule about 3/8" underbody clearance

Discussions on race planning, preparations and how to run a "fair" and fun race.
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2kids10horses
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Re: Rule about 3/8" underbody clearance

Post by 2kids10horses »

graceman,

You stated that you had never seen a car that tried to deliberately take advantage of the low clearance for speed. I have noticed some photos posted on this board, and the WIRL board, and the PDDR board where the cars are definately below 3/8 inch.

The aluminum tracks don't have solid center rails, so super low clearances are possible.

Our Council has Pack, District, and a Council race. There is no way to know in advance what kind of track you may encounter. It would be a shame for a kid with a car designed for his Pack track (aluminum) get DQ'ed because it won't clear the center rail on a wood District track.

Likewise, it is equally unfair for someone who races on aluminum Pack tracks, and deliberately designs for the extra clearance, to race against a 3/8 clearance car on that aluminum track when the rule specificly states that all cars must have 3/8 inch clearance.

If it is merely a case of sloppy building, they should try to fix it at/before check in. But, really, the rules should be clearly stated and distributed when the boys are given their kits.

It's not that hard to check clearance. I used a 3/8 drill bit as our depth gauge.

We are using the tungsten underbody plates this year, and I wanted to be sure we're 100% legal. And we do race on wood at Pack. Who knows what we'll race on at District, and if we make Council, it's aluminum.

Last year at Council, there was a car that failed the 3/8 inch clearance! He told the organizers that "it didn't matter" on the Council track since the center guide is hollow, and it wouldn't rub.

But, I disagree. It's a speed advantage.

(I don't know how the dispute was settled. I was annoyed that someone would try to bend a clearly stated rule. I left the area and let the officials handle it.)

Balance all that with I do agree we want the boys (especially at the Pack level) to have a good time racing their cars, and not be DQ'ed. I'm the CubMaster, and when we gave out the cars, I also distributed the rules, and I also went over the rules, discussed what each rule meant, and why we have it. I did the same thing last year, and fortunately, we had no problems. Our race this year is in two weeks.

Cheers! And, by the way, a BIG THANK YOU, for providing this forum!

2kids10horses
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gpraceman
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Re: Rule about 3/8" underbody clearance

Post by gpraceman »

2kids10horses wrote:The aluminum tracks don't have solid center rails, so super low clearances are possible.
Depends on the manufacturer. On a Best Track and maybe on a track with Beta Crafts plating (depending on how the sections are secured) a very low hanging center is possible. Not so much so on a Piantedosi track since there are screw heads that limit how aggressive you can get.
Randy Lisano
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Awana Grand Prix and Pinewood Derby racing - Where a child, an adult and a small block of wood combine for a lot of fun and memories.
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Re: Rule about 3/8" underbody clearance

Post by Teeeman »

We were lucky and didn't have many belly draggers.

Ours were but we fixed them (laughing!).

Our inspection plate is .370 inches... and our wood track needs most of it at the transition hinges.

We don't have much choice for the boys' sake but to caution them to abide by the rule.

We also were very, very easy-going about the plate... so long as a car could scoot enough across it to make at least 3 of the wheels roll, then we passed it. That was "good enough" based on what I learned with our cars to clear the track.

We were not out to DQ folks just for the sake of it, our track requires it sadly.

The District track will not require it I hope...

but we will try to make the playing field level and enforce the rule for District (whereas at Pack I might have been forgiving...).

We passed 2 cars with wheels where the bumps were removed completely but not all the way around the wheel... by our rules these were not legal, but they were so borderline we cut some slack (these cars didn't seem to be true menaces to the rest of the field).

Had we then had a borderline car that seemed ready to win with similar violations it would have been tough to pass them but once the precedent was set we would have had no choice.

-Terry
"I dunno..." - Uncle Eddie, Christmas Vacation
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