Events which do not involve driving are considered static events. Their purpose is to evaluate the car in a close up environment. Teams must prove their ability to document, show, and sell their car while making it clear that they have a deep understanding of their design. All of these events are judged and some are interactive with the judges.

Before a car may compete in any dynamic events it must pass tech inspection. There are three parts to this process: rules compliance & safety inspection, fuel & tilt tests, and brake & noise tests. In safety inspection the car is examined by judges as laid out in the rules. Some rules are vague to allow freedom of design, but every judge views these differently so watch out. All of the rules are in place only to enforce safety - keep this in mind and tech will go a little smoother. The fuel and tilt test are the easiest of the tech inspection trio. The fuel tank is filled at the filling station and the car is placed on the tilt table. A tilt of 45 degrees represents a 1-G turn; to pass, the car must not leak any fluids. A tilt of 60 degrees represents a 1.5-G turn; to pass, the car must remain on the table with all four tires. Brake and noise testing is where many teams got hung up, some couldn't pass at all. For noise, the car must remain under 110 dB at a specified engine speed. For brake, the car must lock up all four wheels without killing the engine or sliding sideways. These events should be no problem, but a few simple tests are required before competition to ensure this.

The events with the most amount of opinion based points are design and cost. Up to six predetermined judges (determined by the pre-event design paper) spend 15 to 20 minutes looking at the car and interacting with the team members. The will pick at the design ideas they do not like and find ways to ask questions that nobody has answers to. Many of the judges are looking for formula car designs and anything complex and flashy. The best way to be prepared is to surround the car with technical posters and learn a lot of vocabulary. The cost judging on the other hand is relatively painless riddled with manufacturing questions not related to the team's car. Most of the points come from the cost report submitted prior to competition. The advice for this event is to follow their cost report style exactly as laid out on the web and to manufacture a car for under $10,000.

Presentation

The presentation is the only event that does not involve judge interaction throughout the event. A limited length business style presentation is given followed by a brief question and answer period. The best advice for this event is to leave all engineering out of it and make it an advertising pitch to business people that would manufacture and sell the car as a money making product.

These are the reasons 140 schools drive to Pontiac every year. These events test the car's safety, integrity, and design. Each event tests a different aspect of the car and points are based purely on times, not judges. These events are run rain or shine, and no modifications are made to rain times. The most imperative thing to do for the dynamic events is to practice every possible hour, in every possible weather condition, on every type of course.

The skid pad event tests the car's ability to hold 1-G+ corners and the driver's ability to drive smooth and focused.

The acceleration event tests the car's . . . acceleration. The engine must be tuned well and the drivers must be able to shift quickly and control the engine speed.

The autocross is a single lap course encapsulating everything from hairpin turns, acceleration stretches, changing radius turns, slaloms, and high speed turns. The car must handle instant accelerations and changes in direction, while the driver must be able to read a new course without practice. The average speed for the course runs around 30-35 mph with peaks of 60-70 mph.

The endurance event is worth almost 1/3 of the entire competition points. It is similar to the autocross course, but it is 13 miles long with a driver change half way. This event tests the car's ability to perform for more than two minutes. It also tests the driver's ability to adapt to the course and to stay focused for an extended period of time. Generally over 1/4 of the teams do not finish the endurance event and receive no points.