phile
10-05-2004, 03:36 PM
For those of you who think that I am pushy about numbers on cars (and I am), check out what the new SCCA rules will be:
===========
A. All vehicles must display numbers and
class letters on both sides, which must be
readable by Timing & Scoring, Course, and
Grid workers at all times.
B. Only one set of numbers and class letters
may be visible while the vehicle is running.
C. Class shall be represented by the uppercase
abbreviated form rather than be spelled
out. Ladies classes shall be indicated by the
letter "L" following the class letters. (Example:
"BSPL" instead of "B Street Prepared Ladies").
D. Numbers and class letters should be
positioned next to each other. All letters and
numbers must be on body panels, not on windows.
All numbers and class letters must use
the same typeface and the same color, and
this color must provide adequate contrast to
the background color (see Appendix F for
examples).
E. Numbers must be a minimum of 8" high
with a 1-1/4" stroke. Class letters must be a
minimum of 4" high with a 3/4" stroke. In all
cases, the height of the class letters must be
between 25% and 75% of the height of the
numbers. Stroke width must be at least 10%
of the height. (See Appendix F.)
F. The "1" on two-driver cars and the "L" on
Ladies class cars are subject to all of the above
requirements with regard to placement, color,
size, and stroke.
============
If you make your numbers to these specs, you will also have numbers which will pass Met Council's somewhat simpler specs.
About contrast: Studies have shown that "color contrast", like blue numbers on a red car, is essentially worthless. You need contrast in the monochromatic reflectance of number and background. The all-time champion is not, as you might assume, fluorescent colors, but is in fact black numbers on white background. A fairly close second place is white numbers on a black background.
Silver, grey or other medium colors on backgrounds or numbers are not optimal. On a car of any color you can't go wrong with a large white piece of magnetic or static-cling material with a black number on it. If you like to swap cars a lot, and all your buddies have steel cars, a set of white magnetic panels with black numbers are going to work for you no matter what color the cars are.
The absolute worst numbers caused by an artistic statement is mirror-vinyl. This stuff has no color of its own. It is whatever color it happens to be reflecting at the moment. Happily, this fad seems to have passed, and I have not seen any of these for some time.
Remember that the goal here is not to make a digit say "look how pretty I am" but to make it scream something like "I am a SEVEN, dammit". Plain, bold, sans-serif fonts are best.
One variance from the SCCA specs that makes sense to me is that I find using a lower-case "t" for street-tire class makes it look a little more logical, for example "GSt" or "BSPt". This is obviously not required, I just think it is a little more clear.
I use the same magnetics on the Triumph and on the Lotus. Of course the Lotus requires a bit of two-sided tape for this. Of you have decent paint (obviously not a factor on my Lotus) you want to make sure you have a good coat of wax on the car before applying tape.
So make the timing folks smile and say "damned good numbers!", not "what's that damned number?". The run you save will be your own.
I realize that we have new folks that show up and don't know the drill. But I think our patience with bad numbers ought to extend only to a person's second or third event. By then you should get your permanent numbers assigned and make up some convenient, visible, numbers. It costs very little to make these things, and you don't have be Leonardo da Vinci.
===========
A. All vehicles must display numbers and
class letters on both sides, which must be
readable by Timing & Scoring, Course, and
Grid workers at all times.
B. Only one set of numbers and class letters
may be visible while the vehicle is running.
C. Class shall be represented by the uppercase
abbreviated form rather than be spelled
out. Ladies classes shall be indicated by the
letter "L" following the class letters. (Example:
"BSPL" instead of "B Street Prepared Ladies").
D. Numbers and class letters should be
positioned next to each other. All letters and
numbers must be on body panels, not on windows.
All numbers and class letters must use
the same typeface and the same color, and
this color must provide adequate contrast to
the background color (see Appendix F for
examples).
E. Numbers must be a minimum of 8" high
with a 1-1/4" stroke. Class letters must be a
minimum of 4" high with a 3/4" stroke. In all
cases, the height of the class letters must be
between 25% and 75% of the height of the
numbers. Stroke width must be at least 10%
of the height. (See Appendix F.)
F. The "1" on two-driver cars and the "L" on
Ladies class cars are subject to all of the above
requirements with regard to placement, color,
size, and stroke.
============
If you make your numbers to these specs, you will also have numbers which will pass Met Council's somewhat simpler specs.
About contrast: Studies have shown that "color contrast", like blue numbers on a red car, is essentially worthless. You need contrast in the monochromatic reflectance of number and background. The all-time champion is not, as you might assume, fluorescent colors, but is in fact black numbers on white background. A fairly close second place is white numbers on a black background.
Silver, grey or other medium colors on backgrounds or numbers are not optimal. On a car of any color you can't go wrong with a large white piece of magnetic or static-cling material with a black number on it. If you like to swap cars a lot, and all your buddies have steel cars, a set of white magnetic panels with black numbers are going to work for you no matter what color the cars are.
The absolute worst numbers caused by an artistic statement is mirror-vinyl. This stuff has no color of its own. It is whatever color it happens to be reflecting at the moment. Happily, this fad seems to have passed, and I have not seen any of these for some time.
Remember that the goal here is not to make a digit say "look how pretty I am" but to make it scream something like "I am a SEVEN, dammit". Plain, bold, sans-serif fonts are best.
One variance from the SCCA specs that makes sense to me is that I find using a lower-case "t" for street-tire class makes it look a little more logical, for example "GSt" or "BSPt". This is obviously not required, I just think it is a little more clear.
I use the same magnetics on the Triumph and on the Lotus. Of course the Lotus requires a bit of two-sided tape for this. Of you have decent paint (obviously not a factor on my Lotus) you want to make sure you have a good coat of wax on the car before applying tape.
So make the timing folks smile and say "damned good numbers!", not "what's that damned number?". The run you save will be your own.
I realize that we have new folks that show up and don't know the drill. But I think our patience with bad numbers ought to extend only to a person's second or third event. By then you should get your permanent numbers assigned and make up some convenient, visible, numbers. It costs very little to make these things, and you don't have be Leonardo da Vinci.