[Al Skierkiewicz]

OK,
In the past, inspections at the Champs were just like everywhere else. Although we strive to make inspections consistent, teams are still showing up at the Champs with severe issues. I estimate about 25% of the teams need moderate to severe rework to become compliant. Even with all the training, new inspectors do not catch everything at the regional level. We find undersized wiring, poorly constructed and mounted bumpers, illegal motors, illegal pneumatics, sharp edges and metal that can contact the floor. Add to that list ball intrusion, unsafe kickers, and bumper height for this year's rules and game changes. I hope that the my Inspection thread is helping correct some of those problems but (if you can believe it) many teams do not look at Chief Delphi as a source of information. Nor do these same teams read the Q&A or Team Updates.

The four division LRI's (myself included) are just starting to discuss possible workarounds for the new schedule. Our volunteer coordinator has thus far managed to book 40 inspectors, including the LRI's. Will that be enough? I don't know yet. As to starting inspections on Wednesday, many inspectors are still in transit at 6PM, myself included. Whether it is practical will be investigated in the coming days. Inspections this year are running more like 20-30 minutes each excluding WPA and Jaguar CAN firmware checks. Make our lives easier if you are using CAN, be prepared to demonstrate that each CAN connected device has the right firmware upgrades at every event! This requires a serial interface be connected to the black Jag and that you show each CAN address and firmware to the inspector. If you haven't installed the latest Jag firmware, it is a must do before you compete.