VCR Racing & Rules

Paragraph 2: VCR Racing & Rules

Paragraph 2.1: VCR Class Rules Descriptions

The following VCR classification rules table (revision 1-6) provides the technical inspection (tech inspect) rules for All VCRs and British VCRs trophy racing. (Note that no moving weights or propulsion are allowed.) Innovative designs are encouraged that remain within "Critical Dimensions" maximum limits.

All registered VCRs must pass tech inspect before trophy racing. The main issue can be weighing less than 10.0 lbs on US Postal Service (USPS) quality scales. The USPS type scales used for BNM VCRs weigh in are accurate to 0.2 ounces.

Paragraph 2.2: British National Meet VCR Scheduling & Registration

The 2015 British National Meet (BNM) was held from 5/27 - 5/30/15 for British cars. The event was held in Hot Springs, AR on 5/28 & 5/29 and Hot Springs Village (HSV), AR on Saturday 5/30. The annual BNM Saturday car show is held in the Ponce de Leon Center ("Woodlands") parking lot at 1101 Desoto Blvd in HSV The VCR racing is held inside the air conditioned Ouachita Activities building (across from the Woodlands Auditorium at the Ponce de Leon Center.

2016 scheduling date and times will be provided when 2016 dates are provided on the BNM website. The website address for the event is: http://www.britishnationalmeet.com For scheduling of the various events, refer to: http://www.britishnationalmeet.com/Events.html

The BNM valve cover racing has 2 classes (1) British Valve Cover trophy racing and (2) All VCRs trophy racing (British VCRs can be registered a second time to compete in this class if desired). In competitive racing, one person can register only one VCR, along with its' racing number, for racing in a class. There is a $5 registration fee for the British VCRs class and a $5 registration fee for the All VCRs class. There are 3 trophy awards in the All VCRs class and 2 trophy awards in the British VCRs class.

Example BNM Valve Cover Events Scheduling

The 2015 BNM valve cover racing activities were scheduled on 5/29 (Friday) and 5/30 (Saturday). Note: Following dates applied to 2015. They will be updated when 2016 dates are available.

The 5/29 & 5/30 Events Scheduling was:

#5/29 Friday 10:45 AM - 1:55 PM

(a) Early $5 registration and tech inspection.

(b) Practice VCR racing (highly recommended).

#5/30 Saturday 8 - 9:50 AM

(a) $5 Registration and tech inspection.

(b) Practice VCR racing (very limited times).

#*5/30 Saturday 10 AM

(a) All VCRs "self seeded*" single elimination trophy racing starts.

#5/30 Saturday 11 AM

(a) British VCRs "self seeded*" single elimination trophy racing starts.

(b) Results identify the All Marque Challenge VCR racing winner

* "self seeded" implemented during registration by participant drawing a numbered tile that is used to place them on a preprinted numbered "Seeded Single Elimmination Bracket" chart.

The VCR events location is the same 1101 Desoto Blvd Ponce de Leon Center where the British car show is held. The two day VCR events activities ares held inside the air conditioned Ouachita Activities Building (across the drive from the Woodlands Auditorium).

Paragraph 2.3: Typical VCR Racing Conduct

In competetive races, VCRs are run in heats of two cars each. The cars are launched with their front wheels on the starting line. The first car with its front wheels across the finish line, within its' lane, is the winner. If neither car makes it to the finish line, the car traveling the furthest in its lane advances to the next round. If a VCR interferes with a VCR in the other lane, the interfering VCR is disqualified. The competing car immediately becomes the winner. (Note: There is wood or PVC piping used for lane marking. Contacting the lane marking by itself does not disqualify a VCR, unless contact or interference is caused with the other VCR.) Winning cars advance to the next round until the trophy winning VCRs are identified.

Village VCRs competitive racing is conducted with one starting line coordinator to verify the correct VCRs are racing against each other and to lift the start gate for the racing start. Only the person who registered the VCR (or designee) can position it on the launch ramp. For racing coordination and statusing purposes, the launch ramp right lane is defined as the "RED" lane and the left lane is the "BLUE" lane. Competitive racing is conducted with 1, 2 or 3 finish line judges at the discretion of Village VCRs Coordinators. The finish line judge(s) will use "signalling paddle(s)", one side red and one side blue, to signal the starting line people and observers whether the RED lane or BLUE lane VCR won. Note: During racing, unforseen events could occur and the finish line judge(s) could call for a race rerun between the same 2 VCRs.

2.4 Village VCRs Portable Launch Ramp & Run Out Area Description

A portable launch ramp was built by Dave Kariker for use at VCR workshops and as needed at Village VCRs competition and exhibition events. To accomplish portability objectives, the ramp was built in two halves for planned transportation by a pickup truck and SUV. Portability by two people is achieved by use of hardwoods and a roof sheeting panel. With strategic use of carriage bolts and wing nuts, the launch ramp is quickly assembled and is pictured to the left and below with measurements.

Critical ramp measurements for the people designing and racing VCRs include the launch space length and lane width. The ramp provides 30" of launch space which is enough for the maximum overall 30" VCR components length limit. (Note: If you race on other ramps, the launch space is frequently around 24" that you may need to account for.) Each lane width on the ramp is 18" wide which is adequate for the maximum allowed wheel track measurement of 15". The ramp slope is approximately 27 degrees and the bottom of the ramp is mitered to minimize the VCR transistion impact to level ground. However, there is still a transition that the designer has to account for with front tire size selection and axle placement to avoid potentially hitting a valve cover leading edge on the level surface. In trophy racing, a thin metal sheet is typically added to the bottom of the ramp to further minimize transistion impacts between the ramp and level surface.

When the ramp is used for competition racing, there should be either a 20' or30' level and relatively smooth runout area with marked 36" wide lanes and a clearly marked finish line with a soft stop barrier. For workshops and exhibition racing, adjustments can be made.

2.5 Selected VCR Racing Design Considerations

Winning valve cover races is the primary objective for most VCR racing participants (although looking great can be a close second). This paragraph addresses racing design aspects and leaves "looking great" design cosmetic decisions to the VCR builder.

In simple terms, the winning VCR from an incline launch ramp will be the one that goes the straightest, has the least rolling resistance and has the most inertial mass at the start of the 20' (or 30') run out area. (All VCR builders are assumed to have added/subtracted weight as needed to be just under the 10.0 lb wight limit.)

Web page Sections 3.0 & 4.0 provide VCR building examples and adjustable steering so it is considered a "given" that serious VCRs will previously have been adjusted to travel straight on the track. There are potential design comsiderations on VCR directional stability. One is the axle widths chosen; wider tends to be more directionally stable and second is the wheelbase chosen and again the longer wheelbase tends to be more directionally stable. Pictured to the left is a VCR built using an in-line 6 cylinder engine valve cover which helps achieving a longer whell base and more favorable weight distrubution.

This leaves 2 major variables to winning: (1) which VCR has the greatest inertial mass at the start of the level area and (2) and the least amount of rolling resistance.

The greatest inertial mass is basically determined by the VCR that has the most weight at the highest point on the sloping launch ramp. In design terms, this means every VCR's front valve cover/wheels are at the launch gate and the longer the valve cover/wheelbase (up to 30") the higher up more of the VCRs weight is on the ramp. It also means the higher the back of the VCR is (up to 10") the higher up more of the VCRs weight is on the ramp. The rule of thumb is to concentrate as much of the VCR weight to the back and as high as practical without unbalancing the VCR. In other words, the VCR with the most weight at the highest point on the launch ramp incline will have the most inertial mass at the start of the level run out.

On the level run out, the least amount of rolling resistance is the main design consideration. For this discussion, use of inline skate wheels and/or scooter wheels with "608 ball bearings" is assumed.

Selecting wheels tends to be a cosmetic design decision, however, with smaller wheels in front and larger wheels in back, you can raise the rear of the VCR and have weight higher on the launch incline ramp ( see above discussion). There is a large selection of inline skate wheels ranging in sizes from 68 mm to 110 mm. There is a limited selection of scooter wheels from 100 mm to 125 mm. Wheels selection is part of the design tradeoffs when considering where your axles are located for final VCR height and wheel positions relative to the valve cover ends.

Inline & scooter wheels tend to be sold with 608 ball bearings installed. This is not always a good situation when they do not give you enough information about the bearings installed. For example you definitely do NOT want bearings packed with grease as they are slower than "oiled" bearings. Bearings can have non-removeable or removeable metal shields (608ZZ) or removeable rubber shields (608RS). Avoid non-removeable shields (608ZZ) unless they come "oiled". Avoid 608 bearings packed with grease unless you are ready to remove the packed grease when you want a faster VCR. The other 608 bearing consideration is the ABEC "quality rating" of 3, 5, 7, 9 (higher is better). There are a limited number of wheels sold with no bearings which allows you to separately buy the exact bearing configuration you want. As a practical matter, you may want to buy the wheels you want that include bearings and later change them out for the exact bearings you want. Example wheels and bearings are shown to the left.

In VCR racing, the VCR that runs the straightest -with the least friction - tends to win the races. There are differing opinions on whether a VCR needs to built "square" from the beginning to run straight or can be adjusted to run straight afterwards with a steering adjustment turnbuckle. In any case, this is part of the VCR building and racing strategy to be considered.

The Central Arkansas Corvette Club (CACC) also does valve cover racing. You can read their expanded discussion of the above topics by "copying & pasting" their webpage address into your browser window: http://www.centralarkansascorvetteclub.com/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=795536&module_id=144479