SAE-Australasia Addendum 2014 - confusion

[Jonny Rochester]

Article 14: Equipment

Looking at the driver equipment list in the SAE International (US) rules, it seams fair I guess. A bit ambiguous on a few items when it says "recommended" then other items need 8856-2000. I can deal with that.

But these are not even our rules. No, we need to be looking at the Australasia Addendum_v4 currently on the SAE-A website. So scratch all that and look up CAMS spec A for pretty much all driver equipment (except spec B for shoes for some odd reason). Means nothing yet...

Then we go to the CAMS website to look up the Schedule D - Apparel. Basically it's the top spec FIA 8856-2000 everything, full underwear and balaclava the lot. Good, but most individuals don't have that and the stuff our uni has is no longer compliant. It's basically a $1000 personal cost to each driver (but for some reason we can still wear Blundstones or leather shoes). We started to organize some gear.

Now (September 16) we get an email sent to one team member from SAE-A saying very sorry, scratch all that. We are revising the addendum to CAMS spec B everything (but CAMS spec C for overalls and balaclava to add confusion).

But not only that, it's a trick. It's the highest spec recommended by either CAMS or FSAE. So to choose (see how much money I need to spend) I need to have 4 documents open at once and compare. The FSAE 2014 rules, the Australiasia Addendum V4, CAMS schedule D, plus this email from Paul at SAE-A.

However this addendum update does not appear on the SAE-A website today, so is this a practical joke?

[Jonny Rochester]

eg: CAMS level B says underwear in not mandatory. But T14.6 says UNDERCLOTHING "All competitor must wear..."

Does anyone have a resurched list of gear according to their understanding of the FSAE-A rules?

[Jonny Rochester]

333
This emailed today. Does not appear anywhere else.

[Michael Royce]

Jonny,
From what I can see from the FSAE-A Addendum and the CAMS Regs, the only difference to the FSAE Rules requirements for drivers' gear are that the Snell M (motor cycle) and K (karting) helmets are not allowed, and all drivers MuUST wear fire resistant underwear (FSAE rules say "recommended").

The big expense could be the helmets. Aussie teams can use AS 1698 helmets. The teams that need to watch it are those from overseas.

[Jonny Rochester]

Thanks for the reply.

All of us have AS helmets, it's not an issue.

Does underwear include balaclava and socks?

[mech5496]

Johny, not sure, but in EU competitions they also require balaclava and socks as well (which makes sense).

[Michael Royce]

Jonny,
FSAE Rules now require ALL drivers to wear a fire resistant balaclava (T14.3) and FR socks (T14.7). Balaclavas used to be only for those that had "long hair", but we got into "discussions" as to whether some young men had a "beard" (i.e. long hair) or a "3 day growth". So for the minimal cost of a Nomex balaclava, it now applies to all drivers. And a few pairs of Nomex socks (one pair for each driver!!) doesn't cost much either.