[EricH]

Early, NOT week 1, if I had to choose. Reasons above, with one minor addition:

Week 1 is the de facto "X isn't tweaked right yet!" week for FRC. Tweaks are then implemented for Week 2. Now, this may change due to the longer time on game design... but there's always something.

Volunteering, I'd go later--there's more chance of teams knowing what's going on, which makes it easier on the inspectors and people of that nature.