Mielenkiintoisia poimintoja IIC 2008 kisan säännöistä

[jarkko]

Alla joitakin mielenkiintoisia poimintoja ensi viikolla Las Vegasissa ajettavan IIC-kisan (International Indoor Championships) säännöistä:

Handout Brushless Motors: Koneet eri valmistajilta eri luokissa
Each racer will receive 1 motor with their registration. You will have the option of purchasing a second motor for the event, this price will be $60.00.
The handout motors selected for each class are as follows:
Amateur 17.5 Provided By Team Orion
1/12th 17.5 Provided By Speed Passion
13.5 Foam Provided By Hacker
13.5 Rubber Provided By Novak
World GT ( =1/10 mattoauto) 13.5 Provided By LRP

Batteries:
NIMH: We will be following ROAR and EFRA guidelines for this event. The maximum capacity for NIMH cells will be 4600mah.

LIPO: For LIPO batteries we will be following ROAR rules:
Only ROAR approved LIPO batteries will be permitted. Batteries must appear on the approved list to be used during the IIC at all, this includes practice.
All LIPO batteries must be charged inside a LIPO sack during the event.
All LIPO packs will be voltage tested at pre-tech to ensure they have a voltage of 8.44v maximum on our equipment. If you arrive in tech and your battery is higher than the maximum permitted voltage you must discharge the battery until it meets the maximum reading of 8.44v or less before you will be allowed to run your heat.

**UPDATE**
As we all know the Hot topic for discussion at the IIC this year is to heat or not to heat the Lipo’s.

Some people say it’s simple just let us heat them well it’s not that simple, right now our hobby is in the middle of one of it’s biggest technology changes that it’s seen in the last 15 if not 20 years, in the last 3 years we have been introduced to brushless motor technology, and in the last year lipo batteries are making there way into the race scene.

The technology is moving so fast it’s hard to keep up and much harder to up date and enforce the new rules that need to be implemented for all the new products that come out almost every month.

I have learned in the last five years that making a rash decision is fatal especially when it comes to teching any big event, so things need to be thought trough before making a decision.

Anyone that has participated in the IIC in the last three years knows we try are hardest to make it fair and equal for you the racers and also the manufacturers who support this event.

With that said this year the IIC will allow the warming of lipo’s with a heating pad type device.
The max temp for the Lipo’s will be 110 degree’s this temp will be checked in pre tech.
The max voltage will still be 8.44 volts that will also be checked in the pre tech area.

It is still up to you guys to make the right decision when charging and discharging this new technology. One extra tenth of a volt will not win the IIC but one fire might end it.

Bodies:
Ultra light weight bodies will not be permitted in any class.


Ride Height:
Sedan Foam - 4mm
Sedan Rubber - 5mm
1/12th Scale - 3mm
World GT - 4mm


Minimum Weight:
Sedan Foam 6 cell - 1418g
Sedan Foam 5 cell - 1343g
Sedan Rubber 6 cell - 1525g
Sedan Rubber 5 cell - 1450g
1/12th Scale - 865g
World GT - 1133g

Punaiset korostukset ovat allekirjoittaneen. Olisiko näissä jotain poimittavaa meille seuraavalle sisäkaudelle?

PS. säännöt kokonaisuudessaan täällä
http://www.intchamps.com/rules.php

[Mr Cale]

Ihan mielenkiintoisia poimintoja LiPo-akkujen osalta. Äkkisältään ajateltuna tuo jännitteen mittaaminen ennen erää on hieman_yksinkertaisempi_tapa valvoa jännitteitä, kun EFRAn suunnittelemat luokitellut laturit. Toki lisää häsläystä ennen erää, mutta eiköhän tuohonkin rutiini synny ja homma muodostuu sujuvaksi. Tuo lämpöjen mittaus on taas sen verran epätarkkaa puuhaa, että se vähän epäilyttää. Jollain tapaa tuotakin on toki valvottava...

Mitä meidän tulevaan sisäkauteen tulee, niin FTT-sarjan osalta tuosta ei hirveästi voi mallia ottaa.

- LiPot ei vielä käytössä
- Moottorit ei vaihdu vielä ensi kaudeksi
- Miten määritellä "ultra light" -kori? ;)
- Minimimaavara on yleensä käytössä mattojen suojelun takia. Jos liian matalat turistit on koettu ongelmiksi, niin tuolla tapaa voidaan asiaa toki korjata.
- painorajat tuntuu aika korkeilta. Niissä seurataan kuitenin meillä EFRAa ja tulevan kauden painot selviää marraskuun alussa

[jarkko]

Protoformin Dale Epp selvensi korien paksuuksia hiljattain RCTechin palstoilla näin:

By Dale Epp:
The subject of rc touring sedan racebodies and lexan thickness has been a bit of a grey area for a couple of years it seems. Judging from the number of questions I receive every week (from racers and race promoters) regarding this whole topic it would appear there’s a fair bit confusion still out there.

I'd like to try to explain my perspective on the topic for those of you who may still have questions. (Forgive me for going into such detail - it's the only way to keep it all in context impo).

Since starting in this business back in 1992 the normal gauge of lexan for rc “race” bodies was .030 lexan/polycarbonate. Lets call them REGULAR WEIGHT (RW) Yes - there were exceptions – on occasion where we pulled heavier bodies for oval racers and by the end of the decade we were pulling .020 thick bodies for 1/12th scale. ( a 1/12th on-road body is smaller, lower, and has a shape that gives rigidity and integrity to a body pulled in .020 – the lexan is not stretched severely either)

Approximately 5 or 6 years ago Mark Pavidis did some pretty thorough testing with .020 lexan sedan/touring style bodies – for Protoform. He found that the cars definitely reacted positively to the lowered center of gravity (especially on carpet) however there were numerous negative aspects to the .020 bodies to deal with. I refer to these as ULTRA LIGHT WEIGHT (ULW) bodies.
1 - The bodies would distort at hi-speed giving an inconsistent feel. Occasionally the fenders would tuck under – requiring extra time and effort to support the bodies inside and shoo-goo critical areas.
2 - They were more difficult to paint. A super fine touch was required or the exacto blade would cut of weaken the body. Future a-mains sprinkled with one-color paint jobs was inevitable if the ULW bodies became popular. Just not professional looking impo.
3 – The bodies were prone to damage even off the racetrack. Just stacking them up after production would end up putting wrickles is the bodies at the bottom of the stack. We only could assume that shipping damage was inevitable as well.
4 – Although the .020 bodies were intended for the “serious” racer, we pretty much knew that they would end up in the hands of many a novice racer who was looking for the “hot set-up” and had just spent his last 20 bucks. These same guys would tear them up in the first night of racing and would be disappointed or angry (at Protoform) We were just not interested in giving ourselves a “black eye”, so to speak.
5 – We assumed the general quality of the racing would probably suffer as well due to new “body issues” like body tuck and turn marshals possibly doing further damage if they were not being carefull.
6 – Added expen$e for the average non-sponsored racer. With the shortened service life of the .020 body, he’s simply need to buy more.
With the “pros and cons” all tallied up – the cons were ahead 6 to 1 so we unanimously decided the .020 ULW sedan body was not something we wanted to produce or sell - ever. It was simply bad for sedan racing in our opinion and we just never wanted this "negative stuff" associated with Protoform Race Bodies. We resisted all requests from sponsored racers to have “special” bodies pulled for them on the sly as well.


Approximately three years ago it became apparent that some of the race bodies produced in Japan were lighter than the ones we produced – anywhere from 20 to 30 grams lighter. Some of our sponsored racers asked if there was a way that we could produce something of a similar weight. In an effort to remain competitive in the racing world we found a source to supply us with .025 lexan. Our first test bodies resulted in an approx 30 gram savings and non of the negative side effects of the .020 bodies. When we felt confident that we could produce these in volume and still feel confident about the quality. We gave a few select sedan body styles a new part number and designated then as “LIGHT WEIGHT” (LW) racebodies. We've had good success with them and to this date have not received even one complaint about “body tuck” or the other negative aspects associated with the .020 bodies. (even though I'm pretty sure there are probably a few that have had a issue with them at some time)

As most of you know a couple of years ago Parma decided to produce their Alfa and Mohawk sedan bodies on the ULW .020 format. Since then these bodies have totally dominated carpet racing and became a “must have” component in order to being competitive in pro level carpet/foam sedan racing. However, those same six negative aspects (mentioned above) that we predicted 5 years ago also became a part of the foam/sedan racing scene.
Please understand – this is not an attack on the fine folks at Parma. I have the utmost respect for Paul and Mike @ Parma – something I can’t honestly say about most other rc racebody manufacturers. They simply had a different perspective on the issue and did what they thought was expedient. They had every right in the world to do what they wanted to do. My main issue was this: Why do something that is hurting carpet/foam sedan racing at a time when it’s in decline? The class needed a transfusion of good ideas at this juncture of time.

Because the rc sanctioning bodies have stated that they don’t want to be involved in setting rules or standards concerning body weight or lexan thickness, it seemed like it was an issue that needed to be worked out by manufacturers and race promoters..

The good news is that this has been happening.

Parma has decided that they would pull they new generation of Global Body Spec bodies (for carpet/foam) in only “RW” .030 lexan. We at Protoform have followed suit and only offer the carpet/foam specific R9-F body in a “RW” .030 thickness version.

The promoters of the IIC Race in Vegas and the US Indoor Champs in Cleveland have already stated that there will be no more UTRA LIGHT WEIGHT (ULW) bodies allowed in competition. (Although Scotty may have inadvertently called them LIGHT WEIGHT bodies in his rules package. Honest mistake)

We will continue to produce the majority of our sedan bodies in RW and will continue to produce select rubber-tire-specific styles in both RW as well as .025 LW (with a separate part number).

If you should have any questions in regard to this specific topic please feel free to post them here. Any body manufacturer is free to respond – whether it be Parma, Ride etc. Personally – I will not be able to respond for at least the next 4 days.( I’ll be at the GoodGuys Street Machine Nationals in Columbus – woo hoo!)

I hope this is helpfull.

Best regards - Dale Epp – Protoform Race Bodies

[Vesa]

1/12 autojen osalta olen moneen muun kanssa sitä mieltä, että nykyinen 800g painoraja on ihan liian alhainen (tosin siihenkin on päästy viime kaudella  ), tuo 865g on ihan ok, tai 850g ehkä parempi. Makuasia, kunhan ois yhtäpitävä EFRA:n uuden mahdollisen painon kanssa.

[CAi]

Kaksi osanottajaa Suomesta, joista toinen joutui peruuttamaan osallistumisensa tänään. Eli Christeriä ei nähdä Las Vegasissa!

[copter]

Asiasta ei tietenkään tässä vsiheessa ole vielä mitään varmuutta, mutta olen käsittänyt että EFRA olisi siirtymässä ovikiilojen suhteen myös tuohon 865g painorajaan ja sen seurauksena muutos tietysti tulee myös Suomeen. Olen tästä keskustellut muutaman kisaajan kanssa viime viikkojen aikana ja vastaanotto on ollut hyvin positiivista.

Lajiryhmä seuraa tilannetta.

[Timo Levänen]

Tuloksia, livekuvaa ja ääntä, huomaa aikaero 10 tuntia http://liverc.rccars.com/liverc.php

[CAi]

4 assoo foam finaalissa!
Herbert 2.
Hohwart 4.
Levänen 5.
Blacstock 9.

[Juho]

Nyt kun on päästy takaisin Suomeen kisoista niin voisin vähän kommentoida noita sääntömuutoksia.

Hiilettömät toimi stanuluokissa hienosti, normaali palaneen moottorin haju puuttui kokonaan :) Kaikki autot myös kulkivat yhtä kovaa, ainakin melkein. Jenkeissä perinteisesti huijataan riittävästi stanuluokissa. Hiilettömien kanssa huijaaminen on ainakin toistaiseksi huomattavasti hankalampaa.

Paksut korit oli kanssa plussaa. Jenkkien foamikisoissa on perinteisesti ajettu Parman ultrakevyillä (n. 70g) koreilla, joita yleensä menee meikäläisenkin ajotaidolla pari kolme per kisa. Vain kaksi korimallia oli sallittu, Protoform ja Parma eivät valmista näistä koreista kevyitä versioita, joten niitä ei sen kummemmin tarvinnut katsastaa. Kumirenkailla ajettiin samoilla koreilla kuin Suomessa ja muualla maailmalla.

Foamiluokassa ajoin Reedyn lipoakuilla. Helpottaa muuten harrastamista huomattavasti, kun akun voi ladata jo edellisenä päivänä tai kuukautta ennen kisaa ja suorituskyky pysyy samana. Katsastus sujui erittäin hyvin, kaikki lipoilla ajaneet tulivat katsastukseen ilman koria (jenkeissä katsastus on muuten aina ennen lähtöä). Katsastusmies mittasi yleismittarilla jännitteen ja jos akku tuntui käteen lämpimältä tarkastettiin vielä lämpötila. Lämmittämisestä saatu hyöty oli niin pieni, että 90% porukasta ei akkuja lämmittänyt. Maksimilämpötila olisi voinut olla hieman matalampikin, esim huoneenlämpö + 10C niin akkujen lämmittämistä ei olisi tarvinnut miettiä ollenkaan. Lipoa ei myöskään tarvinnut purkaa, eikä pelätä että se räjähtää silmille. Lipot ladattiin suojapusseissa, mutta tietääkseni yhtään lipoa ei syttynyt edes palamaan :)

Sääntöjä oli selkeästi yritetty viedä harrastajaystävällisempään suuntaan ja siinä mielestäni myös onnistuttiin. Stanukuskeille oli tällä kertaa myös oma luokka, johon ei saanut osallistua jos oli minkäänlaisia sponsoreita. Yleensä jenkeissä stanun a-finaali on täynnä tehdassponsseilla ajavia ja tavalliset harrastajat jättävät kisat väliin, koska eivät usko mahdollisuuksiinsa. Uusi amatööriluokka taisi olla harrastajamäärältään kisan suosituin.

Lipojen sallimista kannattaisi meikäläisen mielestä harkita Suomessakin, ainakin stanuluokissa, joissa ei ole niin kriittistä ovatko säännöt samanlaiset kuin muualla maailmalla. Helpottaa elämää aika paljon kun ei tarvitse hommata uusia (nolla)kennoja joka kisaan, ei tarvitse olla 200 euron purkulaitettta jne. Lipojen käyttöiästä ei vielä hirveästi kokemuksia ole, mutta sen pitäisi olla moninkertainen NiMh kennoihin verrattuna. Suurin ongelmahan lipoissa on se, että jännite vastaa kuuden kennon akkupakettia. Tämä voitaisiin stanuluokissa kuitenkin helposti kiertää moottorisääntöjä muuttamalla.

[CAi]

Normi korit + lipo OK!