Update #8

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by Tristan Lall

However,...

I've said it before: instead of chewing on the rule and complaining that you don't like the taste, just swallow it already and be done with it. It serves no constructive purpose to insist on reading the "guidance" with lawyerlike precision and finding ways to show it to be flawed. If, on the other hand, one accepts it as a given, it's easy to find ways to justify its wording.

(For example, consider each of the infinite number of assumed corners on the curve. Recognize that a six-inch bumper segment is required on both sides of that corner. That automatically yields the description of a bumper covering the whole curve plus at least six inches of straight line on either side. Simultaneously recognizing that the assumed corner is nearly a straight line gets away from the problem of prohibiting "hard stuff" in the part of the corner between the sides.)

I'm a little disappointed with the way the bumper rule evolved over the course of the season so far.

Evolved? As you point out a sentence or so later, <R08> has not changed since the manual was first released.