2016 Event Operation and Rules Changes Summary
1.
Inspections will be on Monday and on
Wednesday. Teams who have not passed the
first inspection by 4:00 pm Wednesday are not eligible for points in remaining events.
2.
Re-inspection for teams that have passed the
first day inspection or the 4:00 pm Wednesday inspection can continue to
compete Thursday-Saturday.
3.
Internal Combustion and Diesel Utility Class
Teams must pass Emissions and Noise to take first, second or third in
their category. 4.
ZE Teams must travel more than 10 miles and
must be able to pull a load of at least 200 pounds to take first, second, or
third place.
5.
The real motivation for these rules is to not
allow a team to win first, second, or third place with a sled that does not
meet minimum requirements of their category.
Unfortunately teams have taken home trophies without ever running
because there were too few sleds in the category. 6.
Fuel in the IC and DUC categories will be topped
off (and possibly drained and topped off) before each event. There will be no draining of fuel tanks prior
to any event by teams. The real motivation here is to discourage dangerous
draining of fuel in the lab prior to an event.
7.
IC fuels in 2016 will include 87 octane which is
commonly used in snowmobiles. We will use
92 octane, low EVP fuel in emissions to avoid vapor problems.
8.
Universities may bring one each of an IC, DUC,
and a ZE class snowmobile.
9.
The performance standard for an IC spark ignited
snowmobile is 10 seconds or less to go 500 feet. Currently the standard is 12 seconds to go
500 feet which some teams barely met this year. This can easily be part of the
first day inspection process.
10.
In keeping with the goal of clean and quiet
snowmobiles will have only one mode. Two
modes increase complexity for teams and judges.
11.
Minimum Emissions Score will be 175; the
Yellowstone Best Available Technology (BAT) limit. Teams below this level will
not pass emissions the event.
12.
Maximum Soot Level for IC and DUC: 50
mg/Kw-hr. Previous level was
100mg/Kw-hr. Teams above this level will not pass emissions the event.
13.
Noise Event will be the SAE Steady State Test at
35mph outlined in the J1161 test procedure.
The target SPL is 67dBa. A
snowmobile that has passed this standard will be used as a control sled since
environmental conditions affect sound pressure levels. Teams must be equal to or lower than the
control sled SPL to pass the Noise Event. As we have done in the past, the
Noise event will be run in approximately a 4 hour window of time.