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Rolf
Posts: 90
Registered: 5-1-2007
Location: Oslo, Norway
Member Is Offline
Mood: Not Set
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posted on 16-6-2013 at 11:34
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Scaleauto rules
Hi guys,
See you have a Scaleauto series in Holland. I do run a Scaleauto series in Oslo.
Do you by any chance have the regulations in English? I'll get the main bearings via google translate, but some of the details is rather blurred out
by the auto translation.
I’m especially interested in how you have solved the introduction of the new and heavier chassis. Do you allow both the old and the new or only the
new one?
We allow both chassis and my experience so far is that the old one is faster, mostly because it gives you more room for playing with the weight
balance. The down side is that the old one is not so stiff and can more easily be twisted.
I did like your weight table. It will probably not rule out all the differences between the different cars. The Jag for example is probably newer
going be the fastest car on the track. But would be nice if you could share your experience with the weight table.
Cheers
Rolf 
I'll sleep when I'm dead
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tamar
Posts: 804
Registered: 5-1-1989
Location: Gouda
Member Is Offline
Mood: A new beginning 
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posted on 17-6-2013 at 01:06
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Weights and balances
Hello Rolf, long time no see
How's live up there in norway?
Must have an English version somewhere on my laptop, as our earlier versions were based on the Oeps/Worlds sprint tech rules....but can't seem to
find them quickly.
Yep Dutch is an awfull language to write regulations in, English is much stricter and shorter.would be fun to see what Goole or babel fish produced in
a Dutch Norwegian translation.
But I can give you some clearer answers to your questions.
Old and new type Chassis
Under the current set of rules both types of chassis are allowed.
Although very popular the Scaleauto class is still young (approx. 2-3 years).
We did not want to force all those with an old chassis into buying the new type and visa versa.
Since the old chassis will be phased out by Scaleauto eventually we simply measured what the average weight difference was between old and new and
added that to the minimum total weight.
Which we set at +5grams.
Whether the old chassis is faster is still debatable. The word is not out on that one. Yes you have the possibility to shift those 5grams around, but
5gr is ± 4% of the total chassis so the margin is small. Should the old chassis prove to have a performance edge the question will have to be if and
when to outlaw these.
I.M.O. all parts that improve the handling over the stock set-up should be generally available, which the old ones will not be as Scaleauto has ceased
their production.
Dutch Scaleauto weight table
The purpose of the weight table is to keep the whole range of Scaleauto bodies competitive.
Its a crude tool, there are many more factors besides the weight that determine the performance of a slotcar, but its better than nothing.
Base reference for the weight table is the smallest shortest and lightest RTR car in the range the Porsche RSR and the Porsche GT3. We then looked at
what the other models might need to achieve a similar performance with the parts available from Scaleauto.
For the 2010 season the range was limited to the Porsches, the Jag and the M3GTR. Coincidentally the Jag and the M3 just happened to get very close to
the Porsche GT3 body weight (55gr) when raced with the Scaleauto lightweight kit (Lexan/PETG windows and interiors). With the RSR and its narrower
track and the other cars at 5gr+ this evened things out pretty well.
It is true that the Jaguar was never the most popular car, mostly due to the fact that only one team ever raced the car, in one livery...and its
performance in both ALMS and the LM 24hrs were not exactly "inspirational"
So very few slotracers stuck long enough with the Jag to realy get all the potential performance on the track. Over here one guy did (Joop Brand) and
he's been very competitive with it, even won one of the races last year.
By 2011 the range was extended with the SLS, which initially was allowed to race with a full lightweight kit, but it soon became clear that this gave
the Benz a bit too much of an edge over the other cars. A fact also acknowledged by Nick who homologated the SLS for the OEPS sprint races with the
stock plastic windows and allowed only the lightweight interior.
This restored the balance of performance even though it meant that the SLS would be at least 5 grams overweight compared to the then allowed minimum
weights of 190gr total and 55gr for the body.
New additions, recalibration of the rules
In the fall of 2012 the Audi R8 and the new (heavier) chassis type were added to the Scaleauto range. These new additions prompted a recalibration of
all the weights and materials used in the rules for the 2013 season. As it turned out there was a flaw in the old rules to begin with.
If you substract 55gr(min bodyweight) from 190gr(min total weight) you end up with 135gr for the running chassis. Upon remeasuring and weighing all
the parts we found that a stock chassis actually weighted in at 140gr.
Those few who did get their cars down close to the 190gr had only managed to do this by using lightweight nylon nuts & bolts, cutting the axles to the
bare minimum width etc. etc.
A lot of extra work, with zero netto result if everybody else started to do this as well.
It was a development we did not want so we corrected the base mimimum total weight and upped it with the extra 5 grams due to the new chassis.
An other development we wanted to kill was the trend of slotters buying lots of motors just to get a really really fast one, preferably a Sprinter 2.
(which at times were hard to get at all)
So for the 2013 season we went with one type of motor (the Endurance type was selected as all newly produced Scaleauto's had these mounted as
standard) Racers can buy max. 2 motors per season at reduced cost from the organisation. Which keeps them registered to their name and under parc
fermé conditions in between races.
Conclusion
So Oslo....these are the results of the Dutch jury. A set of rules that aims to keep the whole range compatible and competitive. Rules that aim to
keep the cars at a tech level that is accessible for novice racers and still challenging enough for the experienced.
Some of the rules are determined by exact measurements, some (like the minimum bodyweights) are more or less (well experienced) judgement calls.
Keeping a keen eye on the availability of the used materials (new releases of parts and cars) and the data from the races (Qualifying performance
over one lap as well as the full race distance results)
will tell when and if further recalibration is needed.
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