Proposed 2020 $2000 Challenge Rules

These aren't public yet, but I figured the forum would appreciate a sneak peek. Again, the goal here wasn't radical change, just some cleanup.

The password is "miata"

$2000 Challenge Rules

In reply to Tom Suddard :

Nitrous use still not allowed during autocross 

In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :

Man you DID NOT want to be in that insurance meeting.

In reply to Tom Suddard :

I'm sure it was exciting.

Also a little disappointed to see stolen parts need to be in the budget at FMV after your statement on "pocket sized" junkyard items.  It's probably for the best, though.

Oops! Knew I missed something. Check again. 

Parts acquired through the “pocket discount” at junkyards that charge a gate fee are not considered stolen, and must be budgeted at the cost of the entry fee.

So that map sensor that came out of pull a part in my boot is budgeted at $1.....

Just trying to better align the event with reality....

Tom Suddard said:

Just trying to better align the event with reality....

Well done, young Suddard.  Well done.  Now i need to align my morals with the Pocket Discount rule.  ;-)

Every time I try to pay my local yard for a pocket full of relays and such the cashier laughs and says that's so sweet you didn't steal them so just go ahead and take them. 

Are we allowed to FMV trade parts for other parts we currently have in our inventory? 

Patrick said:

So that map sensor that came out of pull a part in my boot is budgeted at $1.....

I thought it was just a rock in my boot 

In reply to Andy Neuman :

Yes, just clarified.

In reply to Tom Suddard :

My oldest brother has a different story about pocketing parts.  probably 1962-ish (my bro was 7 or 8 at the time), Dad takes my bro to George Wise Junkyard in Clarksville MD (IIRC), and of course he hands my brother a bunch of light bulbs, fuses, nuts and bolts etc, to purchase using the pocket discount.  Bro doesn't know, it's his first time at the JY.  So they get to the "office" and George says "Whatcha got?"   dad shows him the starter and George says $5.  then my brother dumps his pockets.  George says $1.   Dad gives George $6 and they get in the car to head home.

about a mile down the road, Dad pulls over and beats my brother's ass while lecturing him about the pocket discount.   through his tears my brother manages to say:

"Are we so poor that we have to steal from the junk man?"

Tom Suddard said:

Every time I try to pay my local yard for a pocket full of relays and such the cashier laughs and says that's so sweet you didn't steal them so just go ahead and take them. 

I'm curious... do they call you "honey" or "darlin'" during the aforementioned transaction?

There is a discrepancy regarding build books...

You will be required to turn in your build book at registration.

 Each team must turn in their build book no more than 10 minutes after the conclusion of concours judging,

Turning in build books at registration doesn’t always work. For example, if anyone uses the Stampie rule, they would have to modify their budget to account for borrowed parts DURING the competition

That's not a discrepancy.  That's for teams who elect to grab their build book for concours use/display, it has to be turned back in

Cooling systems may be modified as much as you’d like, but must only contain water.

No antifreeze allowed?

Correct. No reason to risk an oil-down for such an easily-fixed issue. Plus think of the money you'll save!

The antifreeze rule sort of sucks for us northerners, we absolutely can see freezing temps overnight in the days leading up to and right after the challenge. 

I'm not sure dumping the "water" before towing home is a great solution, even worse for folks who drive to the challenge and home.

I do not like or agree with that one and ask you to reconsider.  Nowhere i run do they not let you use coolant.  I think it's going to turn off the gastropod type daily drivers from showing up

edit: as robbie said as well, it's easy for us to see freezing temps on the way down or back.  

I have seen it before at certain tracks during competition events, but TnT nights are always excluded. It is a NHRA thing I believe. I have been told it is actually harder to clean up coolant vs. oil, and coolant does more damage to the VHT/rubber layer faster than oil.

Having said that, running the split lanes is advantageous in this situation. Maybe require the slick tire guys to run water only, as a further protection of their lane and their ability to run the best possible surface, but not make a blanket requirement for all competitors. I will third Robbie and Patrick in the fact that "no coolant" will be a hassle for competitors traveling from the north, myself included.

P.S. I was going to ask about a possible exemption for King of the Heap cars, but I see that the Lemons exemption has been removed. Carry on

Core charges must be included in your budget. If you return the core, the refund is considered a discount on a part’s purchase, not recoup.

We discussed this and I thought everyone agreed that cores on used parts (Junkyard) would be exempt but cores on new parts wouldn't be. 

In the Rain Outs and Other Excuses section: the concourse "no score" value should be a zero not an 'o'. Dont you guys have editors...

Just picking nits to help out down the line. The other items have been noted above.

The no antifreeze rule is terrible.I literally have never owned a vehicle that I have ran straight water in..... ever. October can easily be freezing temps here and November is always that way. What am I supposed to do, flush my coolant system in the hotels parking lot the day of? And then again after the challenge?

Patrick said:

That's not a discrepancy.  That's for teams who elect to grab their build book for concours use/display, it has to be turned back in

Still conflicts with the Stampie rule. 

Parts borrowed at the event must be added to the budget

Can’t add anything to the budget if it’s already been turned in.