We request that section 2 of the AIChE Chem-E-Car Competition™ rules be updated to ensure fair competition.

Current wording of this section specifies track layout, but does not specify appropriate course surfaces. In the past, a strong informal precedent was established that the course would be on a hard surface; however, that is not specified in current rules, which leave course surface to the discretion of the host organization.

We suggest that a statement be added after the fifth sentence of section 2, which reads, “The course should have a hard surface such as concrete, tile, or hard wood. Reasonable care should be taken to remove wrinkles in protective tarps and coverings.”

This change would benefit all teams by encouraging more diverse powering reactions, keeping development costs down, and eliminating surprises on competition day.

The possibility for drastic changes in the course surface introduces a complex third variable to the competition. Changes in surface could affect torque requirements, and essentially eliminate a certain class of powering reactions. This effect was seen at the 2016 Southern regional conference, where several cars had wheels and gear ratios that were not suitable for the unexpected surface.

With the addition of this specification, section 2 would read:

The car will start with its front end just touching the designated starting line. There will be a designated finish line. The distance will be measured with respect to the front most point of the car. The goal of the competition is to have your car stop closest to the specified finish line (in bounds) while carrying the specified load. The course should be wedge-shaped with a starting line and the prescribed distance clearly marked in an arc of constant distance from the starting point. The course should have a hard surface such as concrete, tile, or hard wood. Reasonable care should be taken to remove wrinkles in protective tarps and coverings on the surface. The physical site will dictate the exact course layout. See Figure 1 for an example of the course layout. A vehicle that goes outside the course will have its distance measured to where it went out of bounds, and a penalty of 3.0 m will be added to the measured distance. “Outside the course” is defined as having the entire vehicle outside the side tape boundaries of the course. The tape is considered as part of the course. When measuring the distance from the finish line it does not matter if the car goes longer or shorter than the prescribed distance. Note: the site location may dictate an out-of-bounds region past the finish line. Vehicles traveling past this out-of-bounds region will be treated as disqualified for that run.

We, the following Chem-E-Car team captains from the Southern Region, request this change be considered by the rules committee, and implemented prior to the 2017 regional competitions.

Signed: