Section 8.3.3 Illegal Gearboxes and Chassis

[Leav]

Originally Posted by meaubry

Yes, Deepwater is correct -
The way the rules have been distributed in the past at the kickoff, didn't assure year to year continuity. What was legal one year didn't necessarily mean it would be legal the next.

When purchasing material or parts, there is that risk that must be considered.

I have advocated that rules that do not impact the game, but might impact the way a team functions outside of the time from Kickoff to Championship event, should be posted on the FIRST FRC website - and not included each year in the rule book at the kickoff.

There are plenty of those type of "standing" non-game dependent rules that could be communicated and managed with effective dates for subsequent revisions, regardless of when those revisions occur. All of the rules do not need to be rolled out at the kickoff, and in some cases (like the one you are posting about) it would be good to know what teams could, and what teams shouldn't, plan on doing in advance.

Mike Aubry

]

Mike, I wish you were on the Rule Design Committee.
I'm 100% with you on this one.

-Leav

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by DeepWater

Are any teams worried about this issue of no COTS/MECHANISMS/WHATEVER purchased prior to kickoff becoming a rule this year or in the future?

I believe the various problems with that rule were made sufficiently clear to the rulesmakers last year. I don't expect it to make an appearance again.

[Dasistmeinmoped]

Idea for those AM shifters. great loophole. Locate another team who is planning on buying them, both get a set, then sell them to each other. The fact is AM turns out a nice product that gives teams a chance to compete at a higher level, who without a shop would never have a shot to try something new. Ordering per-season seems like a decent idea to prevent back orders.

[Alan Anderson]

There was serious discussion of a scheme last year where the manufacturer would buy back a gearbox and immediately resell it to a team in order to satisfy the letter of the rule. From what I could tell, nobody had a problem with that violating the spirit of the rule, because nobody could come up with a good reason for the rule to have a spirit in the first place.