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Re: Numbers

To: "Rocky Entriken" <rocky@tri.net>, "Andy Hollis"
Subject: Re: Numbers
From: "Charles" <golden1@britsys.net>
Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2003 16:10:24 -0400
Can we compromise on adding wording that markings are not competitor
protestable then? If we need this specific a rule for a few, then we need to
prevent weenie protests of it from affecting finish order. I'd really hate
to see people walking around impound with a ruler. That provides a defacto
exemption for people like us, as long as timing doesn't have a problem
reading our markings.
----- Original Message -----
From: Rocky Entriken <rocky@tri.net>
To: Chuck <golden1@britsys.net>; Andy Hollis <awhollis@swbell.net>; autox
<autox@autox.team.net>
Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2003 3:27 PM
Subject: Re: Numbers


> Comments in text below
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Chuck" <golden1@britsys.net>
> To: "Andy Hollis" <awhollis@swbell.net>; "autox" <autox@autox.team.net>
> Sent: Monday, April 28, 2003 9:01 PM
> Subject: Re: Numbers
>
>
> > Andy, I understand the frustration, I've expressed it myself, BUT, IMHO
> > there still needs to be a "spirit of the rule" exemption available.
>
> No. There is another word for such "excemptions." It is "loophole."
>
> > I can
> > say with certainty (I tested a number of single and multicolor
> combinations
> > before selecting the one we now use)
>
> Which makes YOU the commendable exception. Ah, that everyone created their
> numbers with such an intent to make it the best possible, then this
> discussion would never be happening. Unfortunately, you are not the
majority
> example.
>
> > that there is no single vinyl color
> > that is as visible as our multicolored ones (white with orange and
yellow
> > border) on our blue car, and even though our typeface is not a single
> > uniform width stroke, there is no mistaking what they say from a couple
> > hundred yards away.
>
> Does not have to be uniform width as long as the narrowest part of the
> stroke is at least 1.25". What you don't want, to offer an example. is a
> zero that is 2" wide at the sides and a 1/4" pinstripe top and bottom. At
> speed 100 feet away it is not a zero, it is an 11.
>
> > The fact is that any graphic design book will tell you
> > that non uniform width serif fonts are MUCH easier to read quickly than
a
> > sans serif font like Helvetica. That's why you'll seldom see san serif
> fonts
> > used in publications save maybe the telephone book where it's used to
save
> > ink.
>
> This is true for large blocks of type, as pages in a book or the text font
> in a newspaper. It is not true for single or few letters. This is why you
do
> not use Olde English for your text font in a book, but it is effective
> perhaps for a title (and even then, you use the florid uppercase only for
a
> first letter). Many newspapers use serif fonts for text, sans serif for
> headlines. It's the difference between reading 1000 words and reading 10
> words.
>
> Serif fonts do indeed read well, but so also do sans-serif in the right
> place. Note that most "small print" or "agate" is sans serif, because when
> the letters get small, you remove all the excess frou-frou (serifs) to
> improve legibility. Your 6" letters on the car may appear to be a
> quarter-inch tall relatively when viewed from 100 feet away.
>
> Very big type works either way. Moderate size (9-14 point) works well with
> serif faces. Small size (8 pt and below) seems to work better with
> sans-serif. From the point of view of timers, numbers are, or should be,
> "very big" while class letters are more "moderate" but should not be
> "small" -- speaking here not of actual size but how they are seen from a
> distance. We read a book or newspaper 18-20" away and it stays still. We
> read car numbers from many feet away and they move.
>
> > Don't "punish the masses for the sins of a few!"
>
> Unfortunately, it is the sins of a few that screw it up for the many. Not
> just in what needs to be applied in graphic design, but the often-true
> situation that trying to read that bad number gets the timers behind and
> they then mess up the car (with the good number) that follows. Can you say
> rerun? What seems a rule for the benefit of timers is ultimately a rule
that
> makes the event run smoother which is to the benefit of the competiors.
>
> --Rocky Entriken

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