Please critique my draft rules

[kevinlongisland]

(Some text copied directly from the UTRCRC and UROC)

ARC
Official Rules
August 3rd, 2004


Introduction:
The courses will be set up so beginners and advanced drivers will enjoy the event. The courses will start out easy and increase in difficulty throughout the event. As much as possible, multiple gates will be available to navigate through a section, allowing all level of driver to compete and have fun.

The competitors score will be the sum of all points issued minus the sum of all bonus points earned throughout the entire event. Lowest total score wins. There are no limits on vehicle design or motive of power. No limits on wheelbase, vehicle track width or height. No limits on tire type or size at this stage. Note that course will be designed with a 1/10, 1/8 scale RC truck in mind.

Starting Position:
Position in the starting lineup for each event is chosen randomly. All subsequent sections the first to start will be the one with the lowest score in the previous section and the second to start will be the next lowest and so on.

Reposition:
+3 Repositioning your vehicle incurs 3 penalty points. Drivers should attempt to get out of any situation their trucks have gotten into.

Gate By-Pass:
+6 You may choose to by-pass any gate at any time during your run. However, you must attempt a gate and receive at least 1 penalty point before you choose this option. The maximum amount of penalty points a driver can receive on any gate is 6.

Gate Bonus:
-2 for clearing a gate. Clearing a gate is considered driving through the gate completely and driving on all 4 tires under control at least one foot past the gate.

Reverse:
0 There are no penalties for reverse, I encourage drivers to analyze obstacles and set up along the best line.

Gate Marker:
+2 points for a gate marker offense. This includes any contact with the gate marker, or driving over the gate marker (straddling). A straddle is defined as having the vehicle’s tire touch the ground, rock, or tree outside of the gate.

Rollover:
+1 Any rollover incurs penalty points, whether the vehicle lands on it’s wheels or not. This is to encourage driving the obstacle carefully. The truck can be repositioned at the point of the rollover or anywhere behind that point.

Time Violation:
There is a three minute time limit for each gate. At 3 minutes you will be assessed 1 penalty point and you will receive 1 additional point for each minute beyond 3 minutes. At 5 minutes, the driver will be assigned a total of 6 penalty points total for that gate and allowed to continue past the gate.

DNF (Did Not Finish):
At anytime during a section you may elect to withdraw from that section. At that time you will receive a score equal to the highest individual score received by all the drivers on that section plus 1 additional penalty point.

Vehicle Breakage:
If your vehicle becomes damaged, tire bead failure, vehicle failure, etc. during your attempt, you have a one-minute time limit to repair any occurrence. This must take place where the vehicle lays. If you cannot remedy the problem within the time limit you will be assessed a DNF score for that section.

Bonus Gates:
Some obstacles will feature Bonus Gates that designate more difficult routes through an obstacle. The gates will be designated by different colored markers or chalk. Bonus Points will be issued for each bonus gate a driver completes.

[toyofast]

The scoring is always up to how each group likes, we, ORCRC tend to use multipule of 5's to keep it more simple.

Your reverse scoring..... We, ORCRC, allow up to one(1) wheelbase length of using reverse, any more and it allows the driver to make lining up to the gate easier and easier. Like you said, plan it out in advance...having free use of reverse doesn't really promote thinking ahead too much.

Time limits.... Rather than per gate time limits, ORCRC sets a total time limit for each course of 10 minutes. Take as long as you want at each gate but you only have ten minutes to clear all 10 gates that are in each course. The time limit of 10 minutes is only exempt when having two parts on one course, then normaly each part has a 10 minute limit. The 2 part courses tend to be tougher on the lesser equipped rigs.

Vehicle Breakage... This falls into the total time limit for the course. Your given 10 minutes for that course, spend it as you like. If your rig breaks you can try to fix it but your time doesn't stop so most just go for broke and hammer down to make it as far as they can.

We added a bonus gate at our last comp and went really well... only one rig made it through. I highly suggest having this option for a hard course with the more advance rigs/drivers.

[Grizzly4x4]

Looks real good Kevin, I do agree that free use of reverse might not be a good thing. Keeping reverses to within a wheelbase length does seem to werk good.
Great job, hopefully they will werk out fine.