NEHA

I was looking through the Rules/Regulations PDFs and was wondering what the rules are regarding a completely stock convertible car going up the hill. I couldn't find anything in the docs... totally illegal because of lack of rollbar?

Yup! we require "Factory Roll protection" or a roll bar in any car. If it is not above the drivers helmet, and/or is largely decorative in nature, it ain't passin' tech with our guys
If you lay out the green for an aftermarket bar, get the crossbrace with the harness bar,(The bolt-in one is OK, and keeps your back seat in play) and be sure to get one (like most Autopower and Kirk) that is upgradable to a 6-point cage.

Awesome, thanks for your reply!

I still think you have a valid question (did I say that out loud?)... where does it say it in the rules? I know the intent, but where is the language?

PS - Let's get with Jim B. and see if we can get that house again for Okemo!

aahh yeah. Last mention I see is in 2005 tech rules. Did it accidently get cut? or is it listed someplace other than crash protection? Brian

Good Catch, guys!

here is the '04 language:
E. Collision Protection
1. Roll bar required in all cars without a steel roof or factory roll protection

Rant mode on!Cut'n pasted direct, same as in my '05 rule proposal. For which, I was accused of lying in the meeting, by someone who should have f/n well known better. Chicanery example #3975 (rant mode off)
Apparently, it dissapeared in an editing glitch )IMHO) caused by excessive fiasco factor.
I spect we can all agree to play it this way, because, among other things, the current rule only makes sense when this section is restored, and that's the way most folks remember it - because that line has'nt changed since the rules were recodified c. 1980.
And an apology from me - I did'nt catch this because I was trying to forget the whole ugly episode.

Any reason this
Should not be restored due to an error?

As near as I can tell it was an oversight but it may also a legitimate change.

In 05 E1 reads
E. Collision Protection minimum requirements;
1. Roll bar required in all cars without a full steel roof. Roll bar should be equivalent
in construction to cage specs

but in 06 we replaced E1 and E2 with new text.

The new text requires a roll cage in all cars so it was probably thought that the roll bar provision was obsolete but the new text also specifies exceptions to the roll cage rule. The new text is

E. Collision Protection minimum requirements;
1. Roll cage required in all cars with the exception of: ...

The exceptions listed are relate to breakout times and the grandfather clause.

So it may be a legitimate rule change and no one noticed the loop hole. On the other hand the proposals I see for 06 change E2 not E1. However anything could have been changed on the floor and I don't think I have a record of that at this point.

To fix this in the 09 rules would require a change to E. We could renumber the rules and add the original E1 back in. How we get this approved I leave as an exercise for the reader.

I think this is an oversight be the group. We know the intent is that no roofless car is heading up the hill without rollover protection, so we need to correct the language in the rules to reflect the intent.

I think was wasn't clear. I definitely think it must be corrected. I'm just not sure if it was an oversight from a rules change or I made a mistake during editing and no one caught it. Doesn't really matter at this point.

I'll create a new version of the tech rules with the fix. We'll then have to notify each of the clubs. I hope they will each say "Duh!, We don't even need to vote on that change." and that will be it.