Greetings Mike,

Standard seals shouldn’t have this problem, as you describe it, unless the wear-and-tear process is “assisted” a bit. During the scrutiny exercise at the 2006 NZ Opens, I saw many seals so “worn”, that I could see the bearings rolling about. (Ooops, have I inadvertently dropped a speed enhancement tip). Now what is the point of the rule of having outer seals if they have been subjected to “Orbit-Re-entry wear and tear”?

Personally I believe that wheels and sails (and battens) should be issued at the races to have all competitors compete in skill rather than “shaving-skills”. However, I believe we’re 2, 3 or 4 years away from that point in International blokart Racing.

In the interim, Bearings and Bearing Seals remain a touchy point.

You can clean and re-lube the bearings – I think that’s OK

Shaving Bearing Seals is NOT OK in my view. Having Cut Seals is equivalent to having NO Seals – in terms of friction. (And that makes a HUGE difference)

Should Bearing Seals be a “PINK” Race Seal Issue? Or should there be a daily Colour coded Race Seal Issue, over multiple day race events???  Making a rule is one thing…. Making it police-able to keep all attendants on even keel is another “belly-of-jelly” (fish).

Have your say at the BAI – International Skype conferences.

In a similar vein, from the recent global meet are the battens.

I believe agreement was reached on one blatantly clear statement in the rules. Modification DOES NOT EQUAL Replacement. I am happy that the BAI-International conference call maintained this “1-Design” ruling. After all, we’re out to promote and compete in a “1-Design” Sports. To clarify this and some other parts of the blokart it would probably be practical to set a “last release date and recent release date” on blokart standard items.

It will prevent both “Fred Flintstone” turning up with granite tyres and/or “Richard Branson”/”Bill Gates” (for Americans) with “the latest” titanium bearings…..

… just some thoughts…

We regularly race on the beach here with fairly fine sand and I tested some complete foils for a while but it’s not standard gear. After all collecting a kilo of sand inside a rim isn’t going to make anybody fast but since we all collect the same amount (roughly) we all remain on an even keel if we just stick to the standard uncut/unassisted-wear gear throughout a race.

Cleaning your gear out after the race or after the race-day is the only option I guess.

I and most probably everybody with beach-racing experience agree that the BEACH is THE place. Location, clean wind(when it’s on-land) and forgiving(No MSPs etc). However, unless you have a huge flat beach, as they have in Belgium, Northern Netherlands/Germany and Denmark and probably some other places I don’t know about, organising races with a 4-6 hour window around low tide makes a very risky business for a Championship committee. Take to a grass, off-road, concrete or desert location and the whole window-thing goes away since you’re not dependant on tides.

In advancing reliable events, within reason, I guess beach racing events will become a novelty.

Best regards,

Jimi