Definitely agree with Scott. It's pretty insulting and off-putting to be beaten in the design event by cars that don't complete the competition or, in some cases, don't run at all. Something learnt in my last year was that you shouldn't spend the entire year asking "what will the judges think of this?" because in reality (in Australia anyway) the judging has been very strange indeed. I used up all the alotted time talking to a judge and answering his questions (with plots, facts, figures, practical demonstrations, etc.) and the only real feedback i got was that i made a typo on the design board... Spending the year wondering what some judge is going to think only to have him have absolutely no idea is not cool.
As for the topic of this thread, we certainly didn't seem to raise any eyebrows with a 188kg turbo intercooled 4 space frame, but the previous year we made finals with a 220kg version. Go figure.