Organisation, specifications

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Organisation
Specifications

Design your specifications for your hill and to keep racing safe and fair.
Try to find a safe hill that can be used year after year. Decide on your specifications and try not to change them unless it is absolutely necessary. This allows racers to get to know their hill and start planning their next attempt at the trophy on their way home.

When writing your specifications, be specific
Scrutineers and competitors do not go to a derby to spend half the day arguing about what constitutes a "sitting position"
Perhaps you could get an English teacher to help write specifications in language that is easy to understand.
If a desired specification is too difficult to describe, you could use a drawing or leave it out.

Open Classes
If you have tight specifications consider having an "Open Class" so that enthusiasts with existing trolleys, outside the specifications, can give them a run.

Too many specifications interfere with innovation and discourages entries.

Essential Specifications Protective clothing
Every derby should specify that;
"Helmet, shoes, gloves must be worn. Legs and arms must be covered.
All safety gear must be presented at scrutineering"

Optional Specifications

The following is a list of specifications that have been applied or suggested at various trolley derbies. No derby had all of them. Most have very few.

Drivers shall not race in a head first position A very sensible specification. Highly recommended, but how do you word it correctly? "The driver may not race with his nose in front of his toes"? That would fix it.

The driver must race in a sitting position What is a "sitting position"? I don't know. The scrutineer pleased himself, depending on whether or not you were a local. Be specific with your specifications. Not recommended.

The brake must be a foot operated pedal pushing a piece of car tyre onto the road In its simplest form this is reasonably effective. With good design it can be very effective.

Must have brakes on both rear wheels Reasonably effective. Positively dangerous in wet weather or under hard braking. If you apply this specification you may be discouraging the building of trolleys with better brakes than you have specified.

Brakes must be effective Quite a common spec for all but the slowest hills. How does the scrutineer decide what is "effective"?

Brakes must be able to hold the trolley on the start line At least this is easy to scrutineer

No dangerous projections A hard one for scrutineers as it is so open to interpretation.

Trolleys must have a minimum of three wheels Fair enough.

Trolleys must have four wheels in contact with the ground Some derbies specify this for reasons only known to themselves.

Wheels must not exceed 270 mm in diameter This is quite an old specification and wheel availability may have changed. Do not pick a maximum wheel size that makes life difficult for the constructors. e.g. One derby specified maximum 300 mm wheels when there were virtually none available between 260 mm and 305 mm. After the scrutineer passed a trolley with 305 mm wheels because it was "only 5 mm" the entrant had a 45 mm wheel diameter advantage over the opposition and cleaned up the prizes with his out of spec. trolley.

Wheels must have solid rubber tyres Strictly speaking, "solid rubber" tyres are not readily available in New Zealand. Many of the tyres that will be passed by the scrutineers are not rubber and if the scrutineers cared to cut them open they would find that many of them are not solid either.
The specifications should read "No pneumatic tyres" if that is what they really mean.

Width restrictions Red Bull Trolley Grand Prix used maximum 1.5 m

Length restrictions Red Bull Trolley Grand Prix used maximum 3.0 m

Weight restrictions One derby used to restrict trolleys to 68 kg
Red Bull Trolley Grand Prix used maximum 80 kg
US Soapbox maximum weights include the driver

Height restrictions Red Bull Trolley Grand Prix used maximum 2.0 m

Ground clearance restrictions OK if it is necessary to clear an object, like the boards covering a cattle stop at Kaiti Hill. Some derbies have started using 50 mm
Not recommended. See Ground Clearance Specifications

Chassis to be one continuous wooden board
OK for "Soap box" classes

No metal to be used in the body or chassis, Fastenings excepted. OK for "Soap box" classes

Must clear the ramp (provide a description of the ramp) Some derbies have a starting ramp. It is very entertaining when a trolley gets stuck on the ramp with its wheels in the air. If you have a ramp, please advise entrants of the angle of the ramp to the ground so that they can design their trolley to clear it. Don't fail trolleys that don't pass this spec. Everyone enjoys a good laugh.

Too many specifications interfere with innovation and discourage entries.

Comments and additions for this page are welcome

Drivers shall not race in a head first position	A very sensible specification. Highly recommended, but how do you word it correctly? "The driver may not race with his nose in front of his toes"? That would fix it.
The driver must race in a sitting position	What is a "sitting position"? I don't know. The scrutineer pleased himself, depending on whether or not you were a local. Be specific with your specifications. Not recommended.
The brake must be a foot operated pedal pushing a piece of car tyre onto the road	In its simplest form this is reasonably effective. With good design it can be very effective.
Must have brakes on both rear wheels	Reasonably effective. Positively dangerous in wet weather or under hard braking. If you apply this specification you may be discouraging the building of trolleys with better brakes than you have specified.
Brakes must be effective	Quite a common spec for all but the slowest hills. How does the scrutineer decide what is "effective"?
Brakes must be able to hold the trolley on the start line	At least this is easy to scrutineer
No dangerous projections	A hard one for scrutineers as it is so open to interpretation.
Trolleys must have a minimum of three wheels	Fair enough.
Trolleys must have four wheels in contact with the ground	Some derbies specify this for reasons only known to themselves.
Wheels must not exceed 270 mm in diameter	This is quite an old specification and wheel availability may have changed. Do not pick a maximum wheel size that makes life difficult for the constructors. e.g. One derby specified maximum 300 mm wheels when there were virtually none available between 260 mm and 305 mm. After the scrutineer passed a trolley with 305 mm wheels because it was "only 5 mm" the entrant had a 45 mm wheel diameter advantage over the opposition and cleaned up the prizes with his out of spec. trolley.
Wheels must have solid rubber tyres	Strictly speaking, "solid rubber" tyres are not readily available in New Zealand. Many of the tyres that will be passed by the scrutineers are not rubber and if the scrutineers cared to cut them open they would find that many of them are not solid either. The specifications should read "No pneumatic tyres" if that is what they really mean.
Width restrictions	Red Bull Trolley Grand Prix used maximum 1.5 m
Length restrictions	Red Bull Trolley Grand Prix used maximum 3.0 m
Weight restrictions	One derby used to restrict trolleys to 68 kg Red Bull Trolley Grand Prix used maximum 80 kg US Soapbox maximum weights include the driver
Height restrictions	Red Bull Trolley Grand Prix used maximum 2.0 m
Ground clearance restrictions	OK if it is necessary to clear an object, like the boards covering a cattle stop at Kaiti Hill. Some derbies have started using 50 mm Not recommended. See Ground Clearance Specifications
Chassis to be one continuous wooden board	OK for "Soap box" classes
No metal to be used in the body or chassis, Fastenings excepted.	OK for "Soap box" classes
Must clear the ramp (provide a description of the ramp)	Some derbies have a starting ramp. It is very entertaining when a trolley gets stuck on the ramp with its wheels in the air. If you have a ramp, please advise entrants of the angle of the ramp to the ground so that they can design their trolley to clear it. Don't fail trolleys that don't pass this spec. Everyone enjoys a good laugh.