Duncan Louttit wrote

The rules as laid out currently call for a maximum vertical step in a course of 1mm. This is very optimistic. Many of the courses I have seen have steps considerably bigger. I suggest that this is changed to 5mm to give contestants a better idea of the real courses.

Chris Walker wrote

Wow - 5mm seems a bit excessive to me.

Am I right in thinking that the Formula 1 (Rat Race) course is the only one laid in more than one section? I think the Formulas 2 & 3 are run on a single board with no joins - perhaps I'm mistaken?

Last year's Rat Race managed to fit together to within 1mm. A bigger problem was that, on one of the courses we ran, the track was warped and resembled a mogul field. Nonetheless, I think it's unfair to expect schools to design mice to cope with 5mm steps.

Duncan Louttit wrote

In fact there was a problem with the Rat race course last year. The step of 3mm or so in the left-hand lane caused Creag and Steve's mouse to crash and fail to get through to the final.

Some Formula 2 and 3 courses over the years have been foldable so that they could be transported more easily. These have always had some kind of step or gap. It is better if the schools are prepared for this.

 Jerry Niman wrote

I think 5mm is far too big a step to expect mice to be capable of handling. It shouldn't be too hard to build a track with joints with steps of less than 1mm, but perhaps a 2mm allowance would satisfy most situations.