72 replies to this topic

[IRRA Retro Racing]

Q: Drilled hub rear tires are not allowed. I understand the intent of this is probably to eliminate the more expensive, higher performance tires. However, there are tires that have holes or slots primarily for realism, e.g. Pro-Track. Are these also disallowed?

A: Any type of drilled hub is not being allowed in effort to control the costs, as they are typically more expensive.

Note; drilled hubs are now allowed.

Q: Is narrowing of rear tires allowed?

A: Yes

Q: Will there be a disparity in performance between the 4002B and the other motors?

A: Based on results obtained at the Chicago race, no motor proved to be more better in performance than any other of the four motors allowed.

Q: Gluing the track by individual racers is prohibited. What about glue on the tires?

A: Glue placed on the tires would be a form of gluing the track and therefore is not allowed.

Q: Lane selection for each main is by random draw. With no qualifying, does this also apply to how racers are placed in each main?

A: Yes, typically the names will be at random or in the sequence in which a racer techs in.

Q: Will there be an incentive to move from the GT Flexi class to the scratchbuilt classes? If so, what?

A: As noted, the class is to develop basic car set-up, driving, and soldering skills. It is anticipated that with the introduction of chassis kits and the exposure to Retro Racing that these racers will get the bug like many have already.

Q: What is the procedure for submitting bodies (or other items) for consideration as approved parts?

A: The chair of the committee should be contacted regarding the item in question and will communicate to the submitter where the item is to be sent.

Q: Also WHY can't you rebuild your own Euro motor? Why do you have to use the refurbishing program?

A: All motors must be sealed, either with the original seal or that of the refurbishing program. Individual motor work is not being allowed.

Q: And why are you allowing Flexi front ends like the East Coast series? Are you just using the tongue portion or can you the whole front end including the wing tips?

A: Only the tongue portion is allowed within the limits set and only up to January 1, 2009. After that they will not be allowed.

Q: ... isn't this just another spin-off of D3, although I do like the body list.

A. Our aim was to be as inclusive as possible for all regions and the rules represent the consensus of what the larger retro racing community wanted. Again, as stated, these rules were developed after a careful review of all of the regional D3 and Retro rules and are for national competition. Should a region wish to adopt them, that's fine but they do not have to change their current rules.

 

(Posted for the IRRA® BoD by Joe Neumeister)

[IRRA Retro Racing]

Q: Can a rectangular brass tube be used for pin tubes instead of a square tube provided the movement of the pin tubes is in the same direction, or in place of, the pan movement provided the movement is either up and down or front to back?

A: This is covered under Chassis-b. "Floating pin tubes inside another tube are allowed".

Q: Do the rear tires have to be covered by the body or can they be revealed provided the axle tube is not showing?

A: For Can-Am, Coupe GT, and GT Flexi, under a. Body Style "No part of the chassis may be seen when looking down on the car from above." The wheels and tires are considered part of the chassis under this regulation.

This requirement is not part of the F1 body rules.

 

(Posted for the IRRA® BoD by Greg Wells)

[IRRA Retro Racing]

Q: When a 4002 or 4002B motor is sent to be refurbished, what services will be performed?

A: The comm is trued and the arm is rebalanced, the magnets are zapped, the arm is spaced, brush hood alignment performed, bushings replaced as needed, new brushes and springs are installed, four can-to-endbell screws are added, motor is resealed, and the motor is run-in on power supply.

Q: Will endbell blueprinting, as long as the seal is left intact, be allowed by the motor owner?

A: Yes, as long as the seal remains intact and the hoods are not moved from the stock location to alter the hood timing.

Q: For the Flexi division, will the Cheetah 11 and new Pro Slot FX frame be allowed?

A: Yes.

(Posted for the IRRA® BoD by Greg Wells)

[IRRA Retro Racing]

Q: How many of the above IRRA® group actually vote or decide on the rules and decide on the replies being made to the questions?

A: The five board members review the questions and formulate the answers and others within the group provide input and insight.

Q: Also will there be membership fees besides entry fees required at events or to be a yearly member of the IRRA®?

A: There are no fees besides entry fees and the IRRA™ does not collect dues nor offer memberships at this time.

(Posted for the IRRA® BoD by Joe Neumeister)

[IRRA Retro Racing]

Q: I didn't see bronze, silicone bronze, steel gas welding rod, or stainless steel gas welding rod listed as a frame building material. Are these materials to be considered as not legal?

A: For the purposes of chassis construction material, all bronze rod is considered to be brass rod and thus is allowed. Any type of steel rod is allowed. Please note that "spring steel" sheet is specifically prohibited.

(Posted for the IRRA® BoD by Greg Wells)

[IRRA Retro Racing]

Q. "... a chassis may have transverse hinges (examples: Iso-fulcrum hinges and plumber hinges)... "
Is that Iso-fulcrum as in the old Cox LaCucaracha?

A. Yes, it is.

Q. As a follow-up to Jim Regan's question, how "loose" can a hinge be? As an example, can .047" or .055" be used in 3/32" tubing?

A. There is no limit to the amount of float in hinges or the floating pin tubes. However in no case shall the amount of float be in excess of any of the allowed measurements, such as width.

(Posted for the IRRA® BoD by Joe Neumeister)

[IRRA Retro Racing]

Q: ... so the chassis Mike shows is deemed illegal per IRRA® rules or is it not?

A: The chassis pictured by Mike Swiss in post #47 is legal in the IRRA® Can-Am/Coupe GT classes.

(Posted for the IRRA® BoD by Richard L. Hofer)

[IRRA Retro Racing]

Q. Maximum body height is 1.375", and a half-inch spoiler is allowed above that. If the actual body height is below the maximum, can the spoiler be a little longer to make up the difference, or would this be an improper use of air control devices?

A. The spoiler dimensions are independent of the body dimensions. Therefore, the spoiler cannot be larger than a 1/2 inch high regardless of high the body is.

(Posted for the IRRA® BoD by Joe Neumeister)

[IRRA Retro Racing]

Q: Can the front axle supports be attached to the nosepiece or the pans?

A: Yes, they can.

Q: I have a Can-Am body without a molded-in driver. According to my interpretation of the rules, I cannot leave the area over the cockpit clear, and just make a hole for the drivers head, right? I have to cut out that whole piece, thereby destroying what little aero the body has to offer, correct?

A: Correct. The complete section of the non-window area must be removed. No hole in the area for just a driver's head to appear.

(Posted for the IRRA® BoD by Joe Neumeister)

[IRRA Retro Racing]

Q: Rick posed a question as to whether the chassis shown at the link below would be legal under IRRA® rules.

Rick's Chassis

A: There's nothing in the IRRA® rules that would outlaw what Rick has built as long as it is complies with the width and clearance rules.

It's difficult to pronounce on the legality of a frame on its own, as there are lots of other requirements that apply to the whole car that cannot be seen on the frame. For example, if any part of that rail on the outside of the wheels is visible from above the body the car would not be legal.

It is felt that the frame is not within the spirit of the rules, as this type of chassis was not run in the period and the front wheels/tires should be completely visible. At this time the IRRA® board feels it cannot determine the legality of a car using that frame until the Tech Inspector has passed it at the event.

(Posted for the IRRA® BoD by Joe Neumeister)

[IRRA Retro Racing]

Q: Can a builder use .047" or .055" wire inside of 3/32" tubing for plumber hinges?

A: The 2008 IRRA® Rules do not require that hinges (plumber or otherwise) feature hinge pins of a size matching the hinge tube's ID, so the answer to the specific question above is yes.

(Posted for the IRRA® BoD by Greg Wells)

[IRRA Retro Racing]

Q: I have a question on the wing on the Ti22 Mk1. This car was raced at Riverside in winter of '69... If it were built in scale and well-attached, could it be used with the 1/2 inch add-on spoiler?

A: If the high-mounted wing is firmly attached and a reasonably scale representation of the 1:1 car's wing, then the answer is yes, as it is felt that the wing itself will not provide a performance advantage.

(Posted for the IRRA® BoD by Greg Wells)

[IRRA Retro Racing]

Q: Can the back end of a Womp or Sprints Plus chassis be used and would this be considered a three-sided motor bracket even if the sides meet at the bottom of the motor bracket on these chassis?

A: IRRA® will be revising the bracket requirement rule in this manner: ""Each car must have a brass rear bracket consisting of at least three sides (vertical or horizontal), with each connected side having a minimum width or height of at least .200". Under this restriction, a cut-off brass Womp piece would be allowed.

Q: There is nowhere in the rules that states that cut lines have to be observed. I assume that as long as the front and rear dimensions are adhered to all will be OK. What do you mean by excessive rake? You already have a .035" chassis rake with minimum tire. Oh, and by the way, if anyone is interested the Norris Industries Ti22 was run with no body material in front of the front winglets. Cutting this body to realistic dimensions would create a rake. Since there is no minimum height restriction can this body be mounted as low as possible?

A: The body can be mounted as low as desired if the wheels are proportional to the correct wheel openings and if the front and rear dimensions are observed. Excessive rake is when the the body is mounted such that the rear is very high and the front so low that the front portion of the body has to be excessively trimmed, typically removing the grill area on most bodies. For the Ti22 it would essentially eliminate most of the front part of the body.

Q: The IRRA® rules require that "Bodies must be presentably-painted."

A: To further clarify this regulation, all bodies must be fully opaque on all sides except for those areas deemed to be windows. Windows can be tinted as they often are on real cars. The term opaque means covered by paint, tape, or other suitable material such that a finger is not visible through the paint or other covering under normal lighting.

(Posted for the IRRA® BoD by Greg Wells)

[IRRA Retro Racing]

Q: Would the pictured chassis be allowed under IRRA® rules?



A: Based solely on the picture, the IRRA® board believes this chassis utilizes a "centerline hinge" and as such would not be allowed under the IRRA® rules.

If two tightly-fastened screws were present so that there was no left to right movement and so that the rear section only flexed with the rails, rather than hinging around the screws, this chassis would be allowed in IRRA® competition.

(Posted for the IRRA® BoD by Greg Wells)

[IRRA Retro Racing]

Q: Regarding the ruling given in post #14 of the "IRRA Rule Questions & Answers" thread, in my estimation this is not a hinge at all. This is a pivot. Please clarify the differences.

A: As far as the IRRA® board can tell from the posted photograph, the rear section of this frame is free to rotate left to right around the pivot point of the screw. This makes the screw part of a hinge in the same way a piece of piano wire would be the pivot in a hinge that has a piece of tubing rotating on the wire (or vice versa).

So, the direct answer is that there is no difference between a hinge and a pivot.

(Posted for the IRRA® BoD by Dennis Samson)

[IRRA Retro Racing]

Q: What is considered a centerline hinge?

A: Any hinge where the rotation axis of the hinge is located on the center line of the frame is a centerline hinge.

Many Eurosport frames have a hinge running on the centerline of the frame from rear to front - that is not allowed, nor is a vertically-oriented hinge like the one discussed above.

(Posted for the IRRA® BoD by Dennis Samson)

[IRRA Retro Racing]

Q: So if I built a chassis exactly like TonyP's, but I cut the pans out in the aero areas, and replaced those sections with aero-shaped Lexan pieces, that would be legal?

Or say I replaced the entire aero pan in Tony's chassis with Lexan, would that also be legal?

Or enclosed the entire bottom of the car with Lexan, is that legal?

A: Lexan is not on the list of approved materials for chassis construction. However there is no regulation that prohibits its use on a chassis in a non-structural manner. Constructing chassis pans from Lexan would probably not be legal, as pans normally are structural components.

(Posted for the IRRA® BoD by Greg Wells)

[IRRA Retro Racing]

At the recent race in Tom Thumb in Columbus, OH, which was run under IRRA® rules, the following F1 chassis was allowed to compete one time only but it will not be legal to run again.





However, it needs to be noted that the front end design of this F1 chassis is not in compliance with the IRRA® chassis rules for the F1 class. Here is the relevant section of the current IRRA® rules:

"k. Maximum chassis width excluding axle tubes and axles: 1-5/8" (41.28mm). A realistic suspension representation may be allowed to exceed the maximum chassis width rule if the suspension members are a minimum of 0.050" (1.27mm) above the tech block surface at all points and do not have any non-suspension parts (i.e. chassis pans, hinges, etc.) attached to them."

(Posted for the IRRA® BoD by Ron Hershman)

[IRRA Retro Racing]

Q: At what point on the chassis does the .050" clearance end? Gear side of axle bracket or motor side of axle bracket?

A: It ends on the motor side of the bracket. Please note that the following section also defines parameters:

f. No part of the chassis, motor, gear, or other component may hang below the main chassis rail(s), which may not be bent or bowed vertically for the purpose of lowering the midsection of the frame below the level dictated by the clearance specifications.

(Posted for the IRRA® BoD by Joe Neumeister)

[IRRA Retro Racing]

The following has been presented to the board regarding the JK Spec Class:

Q: Can the main rail be cut in the U to make the bracket easier to fit?

A: Yes, it can be. The chassis must stay a monorail. The rails must be soldered in the original slot location and stay straight and parallel to the motor (up to the bracket). The U section does not have to be used.

(Posted for the IRRA® BoD by Joe Neumeister)

[IRRA Retro Racing]

Q: At a recent race, during each lane change, one driver took his car to his pit box, did his normal maintenance, then ran his tires across a glue board. He returned to the track and ran the tires on the track in the braking zone of the deadman on his lane, leaving two visible glue lines in the braking zone about 6 inches long. Is this allowed under the IRRA® rules?

A: No, this practice is not allowed under IRRA® regs, which currently state: "Drivers are prohibited from gluing the track before or during any races." Additional wording will be added at the next rules revision to specifically state the procedure mentioned above is not allowed.

(Posted for the IRRA™ Board by Greg Wells)

[IRRA Retro Racing]

The JK Spec Class is intended for those new to scratchbuilding and/or race competition. The JK Spec class is for non-expert/non-pro racers and eligibility for the class will be determined as follows:

• For large IRRA® events it is up to the organizer and/or raceway owner

• For local events it is up to the regional director/board

• The criteria that will be used to determine eligibility for entrance is to be announced well in advance of the event.

An example of the criteria that could be used nationally as well as regionally is that those racers having had a podium position in any other scratchbuilt class during the prior 12 months would be ineligible to run in the JK Spec Class.

This information has also been posted to the IRRA® website.

(Posted for the IRRA® BoD by Joe Neumeister)

[IRRA Retro Racing]

Q: First, can we use axle bushings instead of tubing in the front uprights for the axles?

A: Yes.

Q: Can the position of the axle height be modified for .050" front track clearance?

A: Yes.

Q: Also, since the rules state either the standard or hypoid motor bracket may be used, can we modify the standard bracket if that is what was in the kit, to accept the hypoid setup?

A: No.

(Posted for the IRRA® BoD by Joe Neumeister)

[IRRA Retro Racing]

Q: Why weren't all the classes changed to .050" clearance?

A: We had input from several raceway owners wanting to raise the clearance due to conditions at their tracks or to ease tech inspection. While it could be easier to have just changed all the classes (except perhaps GT Flexi) to the same front end clearance spec, we felt that there were many, many cars already built to the existing specs for Can-Am, GT, and F1 and to change it would place an undue burden and perhaps cost on our fellow racers. Someone who has good chassis building experience would probably not find this a problem but others might. Also, there are a number of commercial chassis with the .015" front clearance.

(Posted for the IRRA® BoD by Joe Neumeister)

[IRRA Retro Racing]

Q: On the last two JK Spec chassis that I built, the chassis as provided, uncut, measures 3.140" wide across the width of the pans at the rear. Since it is within the rules to run the car without cutting the pans off for hinging, is it then OK to file or sand the outer edges of the pan to satisfy the width rule of 3.125" or will this be overlooked?

A: Filing and/or sanding the uncut JK Spec main chassis plate to reduce width to the specified 3.125" specification will be allowed.

(Posted for the IRRA® BoD by Greg Wells)