Apparently one of the tracks that was "volunteered" for use at the Council races last year had starting pins that were substantially shorter than the typical pins (whether they came that way or were modified, I do not know). How much shorter, I am not sure (I apologize, I heard this all "after the fact" and apparently those involved did not have their rulers out, or at least did not pass on the specifics).
So a poor boy shows up with an apparently well designed Pack winner that has a barge nose on the front which slides up over the top of the "unusually short" starting pin. The pin would hold the car back, but with a bit of the nose crossing the "vertical plane" behind the pin, so to speak. Enter rule 13 from our Council rules:
13. Front Edge: The front edge of the car must rest against the starting peg on the track so that the entire car is behind the peg. Editorial comment: Note the lack of height description of the starting peg.
Apparently the boy, his father, and the officials involved did not consider (or could not come up with on short notice) any quick alterations to the front end of the car (or the pins) to restore compliance with rule 13, so the boy was told (again I am getting this third hand) that in order to pass inspection he would have to run his car backwards!
You can guess the result, an embarrassingly poor showing.
My first thought is what a shame. The boy and his father apparently did not question the ruling and did not make a big "stink" of the backwards race, I am not sure I would have been as even tempered about the issue as they apparently were (something for me to work on, I suppose...)
My second thought (back on point) is that rule 13 needs to be better defined i.e. it needs to describe the starting peg in minimum height dimensions, similar to the 3/8" vertical clearance rule (ours says 3/8", it describes the required clearance in specific, measurable, enforceable terms). If one wants to get creative and use a barge nose, curved nose, cheater bar, whatever, one should be able to know and understand the allowable limits.
Question 1: Is specifying the minimum starting peg height (or reflecting such in the design limits for the front of the car) a step in the right direction? Or am I suggesting a fix in the "wrong direction"?
Question 2: If so, what height? My first thought is to put a set of wheels and axles into a "fresh from the box" (no alterations) block and measure to the height of the block. I believe most pegs I have seen are this height or better.
It may be that the boy in question (sorry to repeat myself again, but this was all 3rd hand) had an unusually high nosed design that would not have met this criteria, I do not know. But for the sake of the boys going forward I believe they need to know specifically what the requirements are, and it would seem that either a standard pin height (if there is one) or "top of unaltered block" dimension would be appropriate.
