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Section 4, par. g says, "Prior to conducting a scorable run, the participants must place the unused eraser of the #2 pencil they have been given on the Startline of the device. The vehicle must be placed behind the StartLine against the eraser."

Later, par. j says, "On the word “Go” the participants will remove the pencil from the track."

So, it seems the pencil will be placed on the track with the eraser on the start line and the vehicle behind and against the eraser. My question is: what would be some possible orientations of the pencil for this to be accomplished? Is it better to place the pencil perpendicular to the direction of travel or parallel? Would either way work? Also, do all unused pencils have a standard, common length? It seems this could be an issue if not carefully planned. For example if the roller coaster started out on a steep incline in preparation for a jump, the pencil might tend to slide down if placed parallel with the track. If you planned to wedge the pencil against the side of the track to keep it in position, length of the pencil might come into play. So, just thinking out loud about this, would perpendicular placement be better?

I had same issue. Mine started on steep track and if you pulled directly perpendicular sometimes the eraser would also pull the ball slightly. Fixed by having a 1 cm track almost horizontal leading into ramp.

Adding onto this... does the marble have to fit within the 80 cm height? Or just the track it sits on? I went safe and made it so the ball is within the 80cm. Theres a section that talks about stopping the time when the ball leaves the device dimensions. But maybe those who have had an event could clarify.

This feels like a silly question, but can’t you just hold the pencil with your hand, at any comfortable orientation? Or does the pencil specifically need to be incorporated into the “ready” position (like Scrambler was, for instance)

Good point! It doesn't say you can't be holding the pencil at start. I was assuming the pencil had to be placed on the track and be capable of holding the vehicle without touching the pencil until it was removed. So it might be possible to place eraser end of pencil against start line and while keeping a hold of the pencil, place the vehicle against the eraser and then simply remove pencil when it is time to go. Would take a steady hand!

We always assumed the pencil would be in hand, and this is how we ran it at regionals and it was fine