Lets crowdsource some build restrictions and guidelines
In light of debates about rules and restrictions on cars, it is certainly long overdue to revise the template that RLD serves up when creating a new event. Even though they're meant to be changed, many folks don't because they just don't think about it, especially if you're new to it all.
So lets crowdsource some rules! I think we can put together a good pick list of rules and restrictions that folks can cherry pick when they're posting their event. Think about where you've been caught, had questions, or otherwise gotten smart about how to phrase and outline your rules...and share them!
However, I also think it would be helpful to put rules into some very basic groups: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced. This way hosts can have a better place to start depending on what audience they want to race with.
Those 3 categories will share a lot of the same rules and that's okay. Beginner will probably have a lot and advanced very few...whatever. Again, just a foundation to build on top of. After a bit, I'll try to analyze them (or let AI do some grunt work) and see about adding them to the website template.
I'm sure what we come up with will help but it won't solve all problems and disputes. The goal here isn't to make everyone happy. It's to get ideas and give people a place to start.
Think about...
- What are good restrictions for a beginner race?
- What are good restrictions for an intermediate race?
- What are good restrictions for an advanced pro race?
- What restrictions have you been burned by because they were too broad (or too narrow)?
- What restrictions do entrants bitch about the most? How have you learned to phrase them differently?
Discussion
I gave ChatGPT a bunch of restrictions from races on the calendar and it came up with some good elaboration.
- A range of lubricants are allowed but rules emphasize no dripping or leaking
- Axles and wheels vary but bearings are prohibited
- Family-friendly names and decals are required
Although I do appreciate our AI overlords sus'ed out the essence of it all
- The goal is clear: build for speed within fair limits
Great idea boss. How about...
Beginner:
- Stock only. No drilling or splitting cars.
- 3.25in. long x 2in. tall x 1.25in. wide.
- Only Dry Lubricant allowed.
- Wheel sanding allowed.
- No wheel profiling.
- No added weight.
- No bearings.
Intermediate:
- Stock or Modified entries allowed.
- 3.25in. long x 2in. tall x 1.25in. wide.
- Any retail axle that comes in a 1/64 car or can be purchased online in a kit allowed.
- Brass tubes can also be used with stock/retail axles. Axles can be cut in half.
- No custom axles.
- Added weight allowed to specified limit.
- Any Lubricant allowed (No dripping).
- Wheel sanding allowed.
- No wheel profiling.
- No bearings.
Advanced:
- Stock or Modified entries allowed.
- 3.25in. long x 2in. tall x 1.25in. wide.
- Any axle allowed including customs.
- Added weight allowed to specified limit.
- Any Lubricant allowed (No dripping).
- Wheel sanding allowed.
- Wheel Profiling allowed.
- No bearings.
That's my head cannon.
- Good setlist there, thanks! — redlinederby
- Thank you for reaching out to the community to help! — Chipped_Paint_Racing
- I like your range there. I don't know a whole bunch about building/modifying cars, so for me to set rules would be slightly redundant, as I don't know the extent of what people can do. — LRL_The_Lords_Racing_League
- Wheel profiling .... hold it, not sure what that is ... — SpyDude
- uhh...I may have used a Railwayman term there, old habits die hard. Wheel Profiling is when the wheels are machined to change or restore the geometry. Making conical wheels essentially. — Chipped_Paint_Racing
- why tubes but no custom axles? what is a custom axle? — dr_dodge
- and who/what makes bearings? bearing needs defined or dropped — dr_dodge
- Redline asked for rules to be grouped into stages. Custom axles which is anything goes, is a step above buying axles or splitting them in half and using tubes, it's making one from scratch. I think making axles from scratch is a more advanced rule than brass tubes allowed. Bearings are wheel bearings which can be purchased online and I assume make it bloody fast. — Chipped_Paint_Racing
I'll be keeping my eye on this thread. Thank you for wanting to streamline things. As a host, the rules was the area I really was trying to learn and adjust to.
- Nice looking track. Can't believe you have a water feature. Looks class. — Chipped_Paint_Racing
- Thank you! It was a fun edition. — LRL_The_Lords_Racing_League
While we are on the subject of builds, we have all seen:
"Stock and modified entries allowed"
For those of us new at entering races, we of course 'assume' Hot Wheel Die Cast Cars. But does it mean that 'only' Hot Wheels cars are allowed?
IE: Can you submit a Matchbox, Maisto, Johnny Lightning, or other 1/64 scale die cast car?
I ask because I have a few Maisto corvettes I think look cool, but haven't tested them for speed yet, and wondered if they would even be allowed to race in an event. Will I be using them to race on my private course for fun, or will they have an opportunity to be taken apart and modified for a corvette race in the future at some hosted track?
- Unless 'Hotwheels Only' is listed then it's any castings allowed. — Chipped_Paint_Racing
- Agreed. Unless brands are called out by name, then any 1:64 diecast brand is valid. — redlinederby
- I've used a couple maisto castings for race cars — dr_dodge
- stock and modified seems a useless term, too — dr_dodge
- I've a Maisto Muscle Machine, GT40, the wheels are locked to axle, I don't think it would run well. — Chipped_Paint_Racing
- you install HW wheels on a tube axle — dr_dodge
- Yeah I could but the cars too nice and it took me a while to find it in black, if I ever get another I'll see what I can do with it, they may be a little to big for regular track. — Chipped_Paint_Racing
simple enforcable car classes, host can always add rules, but make the default 3 classes,
the last class is for hosts who want to just race and see creativity, not be track teching/enforcement
(bearings nneed defined)
dr
- For intermediate you stroked out the option to buy retail axle kits? Stock cars aren't welcome in intermediate even if someone thinks the car is fast enough without drilling? Maybe have unlimited as a class beyond advanced? — Chipped_Paint_Racing
- Bearings are bearings that go in the wheels. — Chipped_Paint_Racing
- where do you find them? whats a bearing car look like — dr_dodge
- I stroked it out because if you can run tubes, the bought ones are just tubes, so it becomes redundant — dr_dodge
- Me too Doc, what are bearings?? Post a pic please. — alva1370
IMHO... the work needed is mainly around the clarification of the definition of the terminology used... not class breakdown...
What are the terms noobs always ask about... what are the terms we think we know but aren't clear...
When a race host selects a criteria for his race, the definition should pop in the form for that criteria.
I.E. Host selects stock wheels. Wheels: Stock or Modified (Create the definition) Any wheel that comes on any hot wheels car only. Comes from any source, etc. Axles may be cut to harvest wheels.
Then Host selects Axle type: Stock or modified or custom (Create the definition) Stock uncut only, FTE allowed or not. Stock axles may be tubed or not, etc. No pins or yes pins, etc.
It should be done for each selectable criteria.
Selectable Criteria. Definition.
Tire type Stock, modified, coned, sanded, etc.
Axle type Stock, modified/tubed, custom
Weight Source Lead, Tungsten solids, no putty, etc.
Weight limit +/- spec +/- any grams etc
Lube type What is Dry lube, wet lube, drippage issue, not allowed types, etc
etc.
etc.
- modified/tubed, custom, again, what is a custom axle? — dr_dodge
- I get what you mean, but the copy and paste rules are only meant to be a guide, it could t hurt to have it broken down into 3 sections then have more concrete terms like you suggest so hosts know exactly what they are amending or removing and so does everyone else. I think there is a glossary somewhere I've read it before though it's not as detailed as you have went, more of a general noob guide. — Chipped_Paint_Racing
- @Stoopid - Good concept here, I dig it. Some version of that personalization could be handy in the form. — redlinederby
Wheel bearings. With access to a lathe or CNC machine they can be fitted to a diecast car wheel. Bit extreme but not outside the realms of possibility.
- has anyone ever used them? why "ban" something thats not a problem" — dr_dodge
- I've seen them mentioned before in various race threads so assumed they had been tried before. If they aren't banned and I can source ones small enough, (smallest I can find with a quick look on Google so far is 2.5mm diameter for the inner race) then I would certainly try them in the future as I could get them fitted easy enough I believe. They may not be all they are cracked up to be, the amount of times I've seen 'no Bearings' mentioned I honestly belived there had been a few cars before that blew the competition away. — Chipped_Paint_Racing
- vis a vis racing rules, aren't "bearings" referring to the white inner pieces found with original redline wheels, those without an external hole for the axle to fit and attach to ? — Chris_Hood
- That was my initial thoughts, but why would they be disallowed in races? — Chipped_Paint_Racing
- With some digging I managed to source bearings, not sure if they will sell them to me or not though, might be the sort of place who won't sell to individuals for small orders. — Chipped_Paint_Racing
- Bearings have been used on extremely complex and fast builds. I first saw them used at D64 years ago. There is no comparison to ones that do not have bearings. The white piece on old Redlines are bushings not bearings. There is a legit reason why this is a rule. — DXPRacing
- Thank you, I knew there was no way the Redline 'bearing' kits you can pick up would make a car fast and the rule was against real bearings. I would love to see some video of a car with bearings Vs one without but Google is letting me down badly. — Chipped_Paint_Racing
- https://youtu.be/UnBJTPDOp18?si=hyL0fPNn91xMnp1n — CaShMoneyBoyS
- If you’ve never seen a bearing build; check out the link — CaShMoneyBoyS
- Thank you for the link. Very interesting. Installation was different than I thought it would be. I thought a micro bearings installed in the centre of the hub which had been milled out to accept it. . — Chipped_Paint_Racing
- so, obviously what is it? is a bead/spacer a bearing? technically the wheel is the bearing. the only true no bearing car is that key fob thing...lol — dr_dodge
- I'd say a wheel is fixed from the inner to outer diameter. A bearing has moving parts between the inner hub and the outer rim. — Chipped_Paint_Racing
I forsee a distinct downturn in creative possibilities in the near future given the strict nature of some of the aforementioned suggestions. Hopefully, some hosts will stick with using their own rules as opposed to just following some template. Creativity and attempting innovation are the two main reasons why I'm in the hobby in the first place. I think that templates maybe, just maybe, be helpful for a newbie host as a suggestion. Otherwise, it seems superfluous to me and any use otherwise could suggest a move to a strict "class" or "tier" system not just for rules, but for the racers themselves. One begets the other eventually.
- I agree, less rules, more racing — dr_dodge
- I feel this is largely for the new folks joining the hobby, especially those new to hosting. It's always good to start with something rather than nothing. If you're veteran then you've got your routine down and have already suffered bumps along the way. — redlinederby
- But I will say, I avoided "anything goes" races when I was racing. The spread in skill was just too vast. Give me a blank canvas and I don't know what to draw. The challenge of playing within boundaries was the fun part. — redlinederby
- I'm all for opening the rules up, I was treating it as a thought exercise as I thought the original template that most hosts seemed to be using was very restrictive, fastest car I have built to date has a homemade axles and yet none of the hosts seemed to accept them. I'd be more than happy to see open/unlimited class races pop up :) — Chipped_Paint_Racing
The way I see it
Beginner: Stock racing or just rip it open tournaments, mayhaps learning basics like sanding wheels and applying graphite but not actually opening up the cars
Intermediate: This is where majority of the hobby sits in. Here where you actually drill open the cars, adding weight, wheel swapping, polishing axels, and custom paint.
Advanced: Now this is where if you really wanna get down with customizing you have the folks who Frankenstein builds, stretch out their cars, or even add little gizmos or gadgets to their cars.
- This is the way. — SpyDude
- I think much the same. — Chipped_Paint_Racing
- This is a great reply. Keep It Simple for each category and you'll see a lot more even racing — EnZedRacing
Doesn't it all boil down to the host declaring what they want to see in a race? They can, like they already do, use the existing label definitions that are setup. Then clarifications like they currently do in the details section stating the items they want to adjust/change/add?
If adding drop down menus for adding a race is simple, and it helps everyone, great! But will it bring more questions and changes to things that already work most of the time?
We all know a host can enter the data they want like "Vans Only", or "Cars that look like Toasters", or any other criteria they want in their write-up. Shouldn't this area still be used as the host's area to adjust/add items that meet the race details? IE: No Axle Tubes or Bearings Allowed
I think we are still going to have racers asking questions, it is just the nature of being new.
- a toast race, hhhmmm... — dr_dodge
- ..frantically searches online to get a casting early for the upcoming Toaster Race. — Chipped_Paint_Racing
- "Let's Get Toasted!" Casting is the Toaster Van. — SpyDude
- I'm in! — Chipped_Paint_Racing
- are cheech and chong cars included? does baked count? — dr_dodge
- that is an interesting race concept. need a street track...smokey bridge?...I do need a theme for the (noir) bridge concept...hhmmm... — dr_dodge
Here are the restrictions that come in the template currently. Pretty basic but as we've established, open to a lot of interpretation.