30 lbs allowance

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Seeing as how you are from a young team, the simple answer is YOU will know! One of the beauties of this competition is that participants generally break their necks to stay inside the rules. To do that, they also make sure other teams perform the same way. It is one of the reasons we do inspections.
If you think you have no advantage, then you are mistaken. You have five more pounds of advantage over a team that planned and worked and put that extra five pounds in the box or bag when they shipped. They took the time in the build that you did not. Don't discount their time, use yours on the practice day to overcome what others have during the build season. You will feel better knowing that you competed under the exact same time limits as everyone else. If you do well, it will not seem like a hollow victory. If you do not, then you will feel like you did your best under the rules, and someone with a better (you fill in the blank) won.