Car Construction
Car construction rules
are important for safety reasons and ease of play. Although the SFVISBF has a few mandatory rules (listed below), we leave
the ins and outs of car construction up to you, as finding out what works best is part of the fun. There are no exact weight
or size restrictions, however, keep in mind that cars must be transportable to and from the race locations.
Car Construction Rules:
1.
All cars must have 4 or more wheels.
Your car must have 4 or more wheels
that actually are used in the stability of the car. Things like bicycles that have training wheels or faux wheels are not
allowed. Skate boards, luge boards and their wheels are not allowed as well. Trikes simply don’t
work well; they have been ran with poor results. Trikes are unstable, prone to washing out, flipping and do not fare well
in collisions and friendly bumping that occurs in every race, thus no trikes. This exclusion can and should apply to most
lean-steering cars. Lean steering cars simply cannot react quickly enough and are thus prone to accidents. You
can put it to a vote and if the drivers are cool with it then you can let it fly.
2.
Cars cannot have a motor or drive train of any kind.
No gas motors, no electrical,
no solar powered, no shifting counterweights, pedals, etc. Nothing. Get it? Gravity is the only source of power and speed
attainment that is allowed. Do not get any clever ideas; you can’t be clever because you’re in the SFVISBF.
3. All cars must have a braking system of some kind.
You have to have the ability to stop your car at the finish line at least. Braking systems are up to you, simple
scrub brakes to 4 wheel disc brakes have been employed, budget and ingenuity will determine what works best for you.
Braking systems must be on a minimum of two wheels. Single wheel brakes are not acceptable.
Types of acceptable braking systems: You must have at least one of these on
your car.
Scrub (a plate or pad applied directly to the wheel)
Drum (a drum with a set of shoes that grab the drum)
Disc (a caliper and
rotor set up much like a car)
Band (similar to a drum brake, utilizing a band around
a braking surface)
Bicycle (drum, disc, V, U, Y, center pull, caliper, coaster)
Types of unacceptable braking systems: You will not be allowed
to run with these systems.
Drag (utilizing the ground as the braking surface)
Feet (no Barney Rubble, stay home)
Anchor (a heavy object cast from the
car to create drag)
4. Vehicle weaponry of any kind is forbidden.
No spikes, no Ben-Hur chariot style spinners, nothing that shoots or drops stuff, no oil slicks,
flour tossers, Paintball guns, ketchup shooters etc. Nothing. You may have bumpers on your car, nerf bars around the wheels
etc. It’s just you, your car and the road, that is all that is allowed and all that you will need. Vehicle weaponry
is enticing but the ensuing arms race would escalate until someone lost an eye or got a punctured lung etc. It’s better
not to delve in these areas.
5. Cars can be excluded because they are grossly
too big, heavy, have spikes or other weapons, or are obviously unsafe.
We have a
tech inspector. The Tech inspector’s job is to make sure that everyone’s car is safe, they check for sharp objects,
braking systems, and other unsafe things. If the tech inspector wants to look at your car, you need to
pull it out and show him. If the tech inspector deems your car unsafe, you can’t race. Refusal to let the tech inspector
check your car, you don’t race.
Other things that you should not have: Sharp edges, giant Rat-Fink style break
levers, wings, fins, or other protrusions that could potentially gash or impale other drivers in a wreck. Look at your car
and think, “Would I be ok if that thing hit me?” If no, then you need to make changes.
Cars will not
be excluded just because they are markedly faster, tougher, or cooler than your car. Nor should a car be excluded just because
you don’t like the driver, we’re big kids: child-like, not childish. When in doubt, a group vote determines the
eligibility of a given car.
6. No deliberate weighting of one’s car
is allowed.
A driver should be able to load their car unassisted into a
truck or van, if you can’t it’s too heavy. A car should not be so big that it requires a special vehicle to cart
it around in, no car chassis etc. Cars should not be excluded just because they are markedly faster, tougher, or cooler than
your car.
You can no longer add weight to your car; it must be run at its natural weight.
No ballast. This means, no lead weights, no weight-lifter weights, jugs of water, no sandbags etc.
In addition you cannot
load your frame rails with lead shot, sand, water, sleeve more metal inside them, or anything else just to make your car heavier.
Nor can you weld three frame rails together when we all know one will do.
Do not build your car with excessively thick
tubing or solid stock. Nor can you have an electric horn, lights or sound system, they take batteries, batteries have lead
in them, they are weight. Don’t try and clever with this one.
A car with low rolling resistance and a good areo
package will carry the day; you do not need a 500 lb behemoth to get to the cones first. Do not try and cheat, if you get
caught cheating we will destroy your car. This is a safety issue. If you watch the races, you’ll see in crashes little
objects flying this way and that, those objects are often times weights that have been ejected from the car. A ten-pound weight
going 40+ mph can pack a wallop. Also, heaver cars will not be able to manage turns well nor will they be able to stop. Do
you want 400, 500, or 600 lbs of car and driver plowing into you if they can’t stop? No you don’t.
7. You must have a loop on the front and rear of your car so we can tow it.
You will need a loop front and rear so you can attach a tow strap to you car and someone can attach a tow strap
to you. This is a logistical concern. We have 30-40 trucks and vans going up the hill, it’s a mess. You can tow 6 cars
and 6 drivers up the hill with one truck that will make the set up time between races much shorter. More races, closer together
means less interaction with the locals and thus less chance for things to go wrong. You’ll need to have a tow strap
in your car that is secured so it won’t fly out or unfurl during the race. Every car must have this.
8. No bullshit.
The no bullshit rule is left to
be vague for the guy that is looking for a loophole in the rules to gain an unfair advantage. Just because every possibility
was not covered does not mean you should go on and do it. We reserve the right to DQ your car for any reason. We will be fair,
Veteran drivers keep in mind your long tenure does not confer any special treatment, everyone is subject to the rules, please
follow them. Just stop being a pussy and race. You should be doinbg this for fun, not for a win.
Race Rules
Official
Race Rules:
1. There shall be no entrance fee to race.
Racing is free and no individual driver will be charged an entrance fee to race at a SFVISBF
soapbox race. You may pool and or collect money to pay for promotional materials (i.e., flyers, posters, videos, etc.) but
no one will pay to simply enter a car and race.
2. Car set up at starting
line
Line up your car at the starting line in accordance with your number
in the lineup.
Your number will be determined by a playing card from a deck at the meet point before the
race.
You get in line, you draw a card, there's you number.
Cars must be lined up straight and the driver must keep
their car in place by holding down their brake. You cannot have an outside holder as a holder can easily become a pusher,
and pushing is forbidden. You should not have your feet out at the start, as you may get hurt.
3.
You cannot have a pusher, nor can you do a “wheelchair start”.
There
are no push starts in SCISR. No one may assist your car by pushing, nor are you allowed to roll your wheels wheel chair style
to gain speed. Gravity and gravity alone is your only source or speed. Each racer must apply their own brake at the starting
line and release it upon the completion of the 3-2-1 count down.
4.
All cars shall race at the same time.
There are no time trials, no elimination
heats etc. If you broke things up into heats and the police came and broke it up you’d have half the drivers not being
able to race, no fun. Everyone races all at once, all together; this is the SFVISBF way, it is what makes us hardcore and
all other soapbox crews pussies. Racing a stopwatch is boring, too much time is taken up in elimination heats, all the action
at once, the most intense experience you may ever have, did I mention it was more fun this way? Well it is.
5. Starting the race and releasing the brake.
Once
your cars are in line the call to race will be given. Before the call, give a “Ready on the right, ready on the left”
call to make sure everyone is ready and focused. Everyone should have their brake applied and ready to race. The countdown
is done by a selected driver to call a 3 count. The count is 3,2,1 letting go of your brake upon the utterance of “1”.
Not 3,2,1 then go, you go upon the utterance 1.
6. Rubbing is Racing.
During the course of the race the adage “rubbing is racing” does apply. It is legal
to hit other cars.
You engage in this rough trade at your own level and at your own risk.
Higher speed courses
will spread the group out quickly, but keep your contact with other cars to a minimum unless you want bad accidents, just
a suggestion.
Lower speed courses contact is less likely to create bad accidents, not saying it has not happened though,
be warned.
Realize that the bar for aggressive driving will rise as your drivers gain more confidence; by the end of
our first season the races were more akin to a running demolition derby than a race. If a car is passing you, it is the best
policy to let them pass.
Deliberately cutting off faster cars can cause wrecks and tempers will flare, best not to do
it.
If someone is faster than you just let them pass, they earned it. If you’re coming up on a car, shout “On
the left/right!” so they know you’re coming.
7. The first
heat is the trophy heat.
The first race of the morning is the trophy heat.
It is this first race that determines the 1st place winner, 2nd place,
3rd place, etc. All proceeding heats are “for fun” heats and trophies are
not exchanged. After the first race of the given session, line up and placement for proceeding races are less important as
the trophy has been won, so go have some fun and mix things up a bit.
8. Outside
interference by bystanders is strictly forbidden.
We have enough to worry
about with out some idiot throwing water balloons at you. A water balloon can really mess someone up at 50 miles per hour,
so don’t do it.
9. Winner is first car to pass the traffic cones/ traffic
cones denote the finish line.
The first car to cross the finish line (traffic cones) shall be declared the winner.
The cones are ubiquitous
orange things you see all over the place. The cones you use for the finish line must be gotten through surreptitious means.
You cannot go out and buy traffic cones, understand this. When you pass the cones, begin braking and pull to the right.
Drivers doing their best “Dukes of Hazzard” impression by executing brodies in the raceway will cause needless
wrecks. Brake, look to the right, move to the right, get yourself out of the way as other drivers finish the course.
We
have had many more wrecks after the cones than before, thus this rule should be followed to the letter.
10. Awarding of trophies.
1st
place winner shall keep the winning trophy until the next month’s race where they present it to the next winner. The
last place car gets the chicken trophy.
The chicken trophy is passed along just like the winner trophy, perhaps
with more fanfare.
Each winner is welcome and encouraged to put some decorations
on the trophies; we recommend macaroni and gold spray paint.
11.
Awarding of Race Completed stickers and VULGR t-shirts.
Drivers that get their car past the finish line in the first heat get a race-completed
sticker.
Stickers go to the car, not the driver, one sticker per car per session. If you crash, you have to drag your
car to the end if you want a sticker. You cannot truck it down to the end, you crashed, and you push it.
A driver that
completes two separate sessions, not two races but two different trophy dashes in different months gets a SCISR DRIVER t-shirt.
The reasoning for this is if you race once you’re a fool, if you come back after a month and race again, then you know,
thus you’re a driver.
Once awarded a SCISR shirt, you will be 'qualified' to race in the SFVISBF races.
12. No bullshit.
Again, the no bullshit rule is
left to be vague for the guy that is looking for a loophole in the rules to gain an unfair advantage. Just because every possibility
was not covered does not mean you should go on and do it.
Just stop being a pussy and race.
Safety Gear
Drivers must wear a full-skull helmet, gloves, and any other protection they
deem necessary.
You cannot race without a helmet. More protection can’t hurt; it has been the difference
between severe injury and walking away from a wreck.
Any part of the car you’re
driving that can come in contact with your body in a collision should be padded or you should wear some padding. Leather Jackets,
welding jackets, riding leathers, sports pads, chin guards, all used to useful effect. Only a fool would race without a helmet,
there are dumber ways to die but not much.
Higher speed courses you’ll need safety glasses as the high speeds
will cause your eyes to water, not to mention a pebble flicking into your eye at 50 mph
will smarts really bad.
Protect yourself; you’ll be better for it as you can race again. Not that we enforce this,
but being fit does help keep your bones in place when you go skittering across the pavement.
Most stunt riders, and
extreme sports practitioners spend some time in the gym, fitness can’t hurt. Big fat slobs are of course welcome, you
can even smoke while you race, we really don’t care.
