Category: Rules

Information concerning track, racing, and class rules.

The Crash

In the final race of July 30’s “Under the Lights” event, a significant crash occurred as drivers exited Turn 4 on the SR3 Oval in Segment 5. This crash impacted literally every driver in that segment.

During the crash, the deslotted car in the Blue lane passed under the scoring gantry on its lid, triggering a lap for the driver in the White lane. While still spinning, the car was hit at full speed by the car actually in the White lane, causing that car to de-slot and come to a stop on the Orange lane. That car was then plowed into by the car in the Orange lane at full speed.  All of this occurred before the race director halted the race and cut the power.

A lot of very impactful things happened as a result of the Blue lane car deslotting:

      1. The Blue lane did not get their lap.
      2. The spinning Blue lane car triggered an early record lap for the White lane driver.
      3. The White lane car crashed hard into the slowly but still spinning Blue lane car and de-slotted, coming to a stop in the middle of the Orange lane.
      4. The Orange lane and Green lane cars both picked up a lap during the crash.
      5. The Orange lane car then slammed into the White Lane car and also de-slotted with an “Out-of-body” experience.

All the above things happened before the power was cut and the segment halted.

As the HOPRA rules below have long supported, the expectation of most drivers present was to allow the Blue lane car to regain its “missed” lap by placing the crashed car behind the scoring gantry, near where it de-slotted, and restarting. Which, as you can see in the video, was attempted.

However, the Orange and Green lane drivers disagreed with the expectation that the Blue lane car should be allowed to regain the lap it had lost.

The general consensus was pretty much a toss-up, and the track owner decided not to count the lap, and the segment and race continued. Of course, the Blue lane driver and others were not pleased with the decision.

The track owner’s reasoning was that allowing the Blue lane car to get the lap back essentially negated any negative impact on the crashing driver while significantly negatively impacting all the other drivers.

Key HOPRA Rule on Missed Laps / De-SlotsFrom HOPRA Racing Rules and Procedures (section covering de-slots and lap counting):

      • The only penalty for a de-slot (car coming out of the slot) is the time lost while a marshal replaces it.
      • A driver shall not be penalized a loss of lap(s) if their car misses the lap counter due to a de-slot or improper marshalling.
      • A driver shall not gain a lap if another car passes over their lap counter for the same reason.
      • Recognition of a missed (or extra) lap must come from an official marshal or Race Director.
      • If a car misses the counter, the Race Director adds the deserved lap to the driver’s total during or at the end of the segment.
      • If a track marshal verifies a missed or added lap, they notify the Race Director to correct the count.

In short, missed laps caused by de-slots or marshaling errors are corrected (added back) rather than left as permanent penalties. The time cost of being off-track is considered sufficient.

The keywords in the HOPRA rules are “The time cost of being off-track is considered sufficient.” In this case, there would be no time cost. Only the laps lost and the distance lost by all three of the other drivers who did not crash.

I’m sure this type of incident has been encountered before and will certainly happen again. To avoid future frustration and anger, a specific rule will be created to properly address this type of situation going forward.

View the video on Rumble here.

Just before this final race got underway, I was thinking to myself how much fun it has been racing with the Thursday Night “Under the Lights” bunch.

It is not fun when folks leave Stewart Raceway angry and/or frustrated.

Platform Rules Update

We’ve really only been running three different builder classes in the last couple of seasons.

I’ve tried to simplify the rules for each of the major “builder” classes we run, and I’ve removed other car class rules that may have been confusing or conflicting.

For the time being, the following classes can be considered “active” racing classes, and their rules have been revised:

I’m not going to go over the specific changes here. The main purpose of the changes is to make sure everyone is clear on the platform rules and that we keep things competitive, but as low-cost and simple as possible.

Please review each class carefully and configure your stable of cars accordingly. I don’t think anyone recently racing at Stewart Raceway violates any of these revised rules, but please carefully review them at your earliest convenience to be sure.

Of course, we can add any new class to “active” status. I propose adding at least one of the Jag Hobbies platforms to the mix. The NC-2, RS-6, or the PR-5 come to mind.

Please feel free to comment, make suggestions, or ask questions.

MegaG+ Traction Magnet Measurements and Maximum Downforce Limits for Lites and Modified Classes

I took some measurements of a set of MG+ 1.7 IROC cars with Modified paper bodies, but other than that, stock out of the box cars with rear tire upgrades, including various sizes of Super Tires and a couple with Viper low-pro MG+ tires.

The average change in downforce when flipping a traction magnet is roughly .7 grams of downforce, which is reasonably significant. The measurements of the orange car are a bit suspect, but the others are fairly consistent. The Yellow lane car measurements were a bit of a surprise, but we’ve seen up to 6.3 in tech recently, which would definitely indicate a high-downforce orientation of N30 magnets in a Modified chassis.

MegaG+ 1.7 “Modified” IROC Set (stock rear axles, super tires, low-pro VSR tires)
Yellow Blue Orange Green White Red
VRP Meter (grams) 5.8 5.2 5.8 5.1 4.7 4.5
Flipped 6.6 6.1 5.7 5.9 5.4 5.4
Change 0.8 0.9 -0.1 0.8 0.7 0.9
Average Change (grams) 0.7
Gauss Readings Gs Range VRP Meter before/after flip (grams) Change
N30 (Stock) 2700 – 2800 5.5 6.8 1.3
N42 3200 – 3290 7.5 8.8 1.3
N52 3400 – 3600 9.7 10.8 1.1

The above N30 measurements were from one of my Modified platforms with N30 mags and a VSR replacement rear axle assembly with double-flange (.250) hubs and VSR PST Silicone soft Rear Tires (.432).  Some run the Lo-Pro VSR tires in both the Lites and Modified classes, which are slightly taller (.445). Aftermarket parts are only allowed on the Modified version of this car, so we shouldn’t see “Lite” cars with downforce much greater than 6 grams on the VRP meter and “Modified” cars with downforce not much greater than 7 grams on the VRP meter.

Of course, different VRP magnet meters can vary by up to +/- 5%. So, the maximum downforce for each class is as follows:

      • MegaG+ 1.7 Lites: 6.30 grams
      • MegaG+ 1.7 Modified: 7.35 grams

If a car’s downforce measurements exceed the above before racing, resolve the excessive downforce by using larger tires/hubs, or flipping a traction magnet. If a car has downforce greater than the above after a race, the car is disqualified from any races completed.

Note: If you're looking to get more downforce out a chassis, reduce the size of the rear tires (lower rear of chassis) to get more downforce. Lowering the chassis too much will result in slower top speed and usually slower lap times. It's a trade-off between speed and handling, find what works best for your driving style.

We may encounter modified-rules cars exceeding this maximum downforce limit due to unforeseen tire and/or hub sizes, or other factors. We’ll address that if/when it arises.

Please feel free to comment or discuss this addition to our MG+ rules here on the site or at our next event. Keep in mind, any rule can be changed if a majority of drivers/teams support it.

MG+ “Lite” Rules
MG+ “Modified” Rules

MegaG+ “Modified” Class Review

This simple class has proven to be a great success. Its rules are simple, the paper body transforms the car’s handling, it has faster lap times, and it is generally an enjoyable car to drive.

I know the paper body is only available from Stewart Raceway, but I’m sure others could figure out how to make one. In fact, Webster Motosports makes a slightly different style of body, which seems to work pretty well, too.

Our current MG+ Modified class is not all that “modified,” which begs the question: should we allow more mods in this class?

There are quite a few additional modifications that could be made:

      • Independent Front Ends from Viper
      • Aftermarket Rear Axle Assembly from Viper
      • Aftermarket Front and Rear Tires from Viper
      • 22T Crown Gears and Gear Bosses from Viper
      • Aftermarket Replacement FF-N20 Motor and/or Shoe Hanger Assembly from Jag Hobbies
      • Neodymium 45 or 52 Traction Magnets from Harden Creek

I’m sure there are other hop-up parts out there, but the point is that this car could be much more “modified” than we’re currently running it.

I recently tested the replacement motor assembly from Jag Hobbies and found it pretty slick, easy to install, and a nice upgrade to the stock motor. The chassis I used to test it was doing laps in the 5.8 range with its factory motor. After replacing it with the new Jag motor and hanger assembly, lap times dropped into the 5.4 range. It’s not a tremendous upgrade, but knowing there are alternatives is nice. There are also “hotter” motors out there that could be allowed.

To be clear, I am not pushing changes to our current rules for this car. I think a heavier and independent front end would be a simple but effective performance upgrade. Another modification we could allow is the high-downforce configuration using the stock N30 traction magnets. This rapid mod involves flipping one traction magnet to go from low to high downforce, which results in an additional 2 to 4 grams of downforce.

Again, I’m not advocating changes; I’m happy with the current rules. However, if enough teams/drivers want to change the rules, it isn’t out of the question.

Feel free to chime in via a comment below.

Time To Start Racing Again!

Yea, it’s been too long!

Again, congrats to George Peters on dominating the 2022 NASCAR MADness Series that ended August 6. George has likely completed his media tour and press appearances by now so it’s time to kickoff another series and start racing again. What we do next will depend a lot on interest and driver availability.

One series that I’d like to do before the end of the 2022 season is an ALL IROC Championship series. The first round of the IROC series is currently slated for October 1, 2022 and will consist of four events, four individual races each event, and will include oval and road courses, sometimes on the same race day. The total points winners of the series will take home mondo trophies for being the best Sportsman and Expert “drivers” competing in the series. This series may be run contiguously or  not.

Another series I’m interested in is a weeknight oval course program that could include any type of car we currently run. The racing format will be a bit different than what we’ve been doing. Only one platform (car) will be run at each event. The nightly schedule will include:

    1. Qualifying (best average time of three laps)
    2. Scratch Race 1
    3. Scratch Race 2
    4. Scratch Race 3
    5. “B” Main
    6. “Last Chance”
    7. “A” Main

The twist in this series is that all races after qualifying are reverse staggered starts. This means, if you are the fastest qualifier, you start in the last staggered position in the first Scratch race. If you win the first Scratch race, you again, start in the last staggered position in the second Scratch race, and so on. If you qualify for the “A” Main after the three Scratch races, you start the “A” Main in a reverse staggered position relative to those drivers who who qualified behind you.

Yes, you can sandbag if you’d like. But doing so will cost you valuable points. This series accumulates points from each heat, meaning sandbagging may garner you a better start position in the next race, but you’ll also lose points doing so. You decide how and where you’ll get your points but points are the name of the game in this series.

The primary intent of this racing format is to make things as competitive as possible between all skill levels on race days. Heat/segment points are combined on race days but overall event points are scored separately between Expert and Sportsman drivers–two trophies awarded at the end of the series.

We’ll dial-down the laps for all races to make race nights short and sweet and only one car contested at each event.

Please let us know your thoughts and opinions on these two ideas for our next racing adventures. We’re open to any and all ideas, suggestions, and any comments you may have, of course.

Okay, shut up and drive!