This is not a NEW change...it is a better explanation of the rule that was there. In looking at the pictures of way too many cars that did not obey the rule from the old handbook it was decided that it needed to be make a lot clearer. Kirk came up with the Idea of showing correct and incorrect roll bars.

Nearly if not all of the changes are just to clarify the rules that were there and make sure that anyone that reads the handbook can understand and 'hopefully' follow the rules.

I believe this is all of the "rule changes" and like I said nearly all were just wording to make it clearer. The roll bar one about the top of the tires not counting as the front support is really the only thing that was changed I think.

ELECTRATHON AMERICA HANDBOOK CHANGES.
RULE CHANGE SUGGESTION FOR WORDING 5/27/17

THE HYBRID GRAPHICS ON PAGE 15 AND RULE 1.1 DONT MATCH.
CHANGE RULE 1.1 TO
Minimum Track (distance the tires are apart) is 2 feet center to center on at least one axle. LEAVE THE GRAPHICS.

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ROLLBAR
RULE 4.1MAKE IT CLEARERSLIGHT CHANGE IN WORDING MAY DO THIS
4.1 A roll bar must provide roll over protection for the drivers head throughout the full range of it possible movement both from the top and the sides. So the roll bar must be tall enough as well as wide enough for the protection of the driver. (See drawing)

RULE 4.4
Just leave out a front tire or

So that it reads of the roll bar to the top of the highest structural point

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VEHICLE BODY RULE 5.8
CHANGE TO The vehicle must have a fixed floor pan of solid-rigid material that prevents any part of the drivers body from contacting the ground

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SAFETY BELT RULE 18 HAD A COUPLE OF ITEMS

18.2 ADD MORE DESCRIPTION AND WHAT WE ACTUALLY DONT WANT:
The seat belt, shoulder harness, and crotch strap must be securely attached to the vehicle frame member or equivalent using mechanical means like bolts and nuts not zip ties or tape. The belts must be capable of lifting the entire vehicle from the ground with the batteries and driver in place.


18.4 ADD THE FOLLOWING SENTENCE.
The shoulder harness must be attached to a structural point at least 3 inches below the drivers shoulder without interference from the seat or other items.

18.5 ADD ANOTHER SHORT SENTENCE
The seat belt, shoulder harness and crotch strap must be able to hold the driver in a position that does not allow any excessive movement. The shoulder harness must be installed so that it cant slip off of the drivers shoulders while driving. It must prevent .

RULE 28.1 ADVANCE BATTERY CLASS
DROP LITHIUM PLOYMER FROM THE ACCEPTED LIST OF

Ok. Thanks. That's what I needed to know.

With the change to Rule 1.1 to specifically indicate a common axle, are sidecars still eligible? They're still described in the new rule book on Page 15, but this, Rule 2.1 and the Vehicle Inspection Check List essentially cancel this out.
Properly implemented they might be viable, but poorly implemented versions would be very loose under braking.

There is not a change to rule 1.1 this is just a clarification to the rule because of confusion for 4 wheel cars. This is to say that at least one axle has a minimum track of 24" but if there is another it can be any width (if less that the 48").

Yes 'sidecars' like the one shown on page 15 are still allowed. The 'center' wheel should be somewhat to the side of the car away from the outrigger wheel so that the outrigger wheel has enough weight on it to make it stay in contact with the ground which has always been a rule. The only advantage I have ever seen to this type of set-up is it you race on an oval track with all left or all right turns. In the NW all of our races are on road style track of Indy, go-cart, or parking lots so I have never seen and advantage to building one like this. Barclay Henry of PacLite racing out of Grants Pass Oregon did this with his tricycle at the 2009 testing grounds race. He slid his rear axle all the way to the right so that he had more stability on the left turns. His batteries were not fully charged at the beginning of the race so he only took 3rd but his system might have been able to outdo the others with good batteries. His car is pictured on the front and rear cover of the last handbook. Front cover it is the yellow car.

You would still need to have breaking on two tires on the same axle. In Barclays case the rear axles.

So again there is not a rule change to 1.1 just a clarification.

Not like the roll bar rule that many team and regions have not followed for years. This rule is the same except that since wheels often come off in a roll over it was decided to make the rule 4.4 drop the top of the front tires and just have the highest structural point. When you look at pictures of cars from Blue Sky design kits many of them do not pass this rule or the old one either. For those cars you need to raise the roll bar of put a halo over the driver. Because to see over the top of the body with a motorcycle helmet on you have to raise your head higher or as high as the roll bar and you are not under the line discussed in rule 4.4 even if we left the top of tires in the rules. When you see a picture of a car being driven and the drive's head is above the roll bar it is asking for an injury in case of an accident and roll over. So for this rule many cars will need to be modified to be legal and as a past president and board member I hope this rule if finally enforced this year. If we ever have a bad accident in a sanctioned event the insurance would go up dramatically and many of the races we have will be canceled and whole programs will die.