Derby Talk

My son has raced his last PWD and I wanted to stop in one more time and say thanks to this forum and posters. This group is a fine example of people trying to help others in an open forum. In the 5 years my son has been a Cub, he has made it to Districts each year and placed in the top 50 every year...

I'm wondering how many people rotate the wheels after races to get a 'clean' DFW back in position. My son's car (3 wheel RR) has probably been down a track more than 20 times so far and now comes Districts. In preparation, we noticed the inside of the DFW had several 'dings' that none of the other w...

Is clear tape around the axle hole a good option to reduce friction? Better than graphite alone? I assume tape is not considered a 'bushing'.
Other options better than clear tape?

I'm trying to nail down the characteristics of Mother's M & A polish and see conflicting reports with sizes ranging from 1 micron down to 0.05 micron.

My son wanted an 'X' car where the front and rear were joined only by an 'X' of wood. This created two pockets of air disturbance and more edges. His times were good but not top of Pack good. Since it was very easy to test the impact of tape, we applied some on the top and and bottom and trimmed to ...

quick tip on open body cars... if you have a test track, see if adding clear plastic tape on the top and bottom makes a difference. For us it helped to eliminate the resistance from the opening.

He is likely overworked, underpaid and has not been infected by the PWD virus like most of us. You did the right thing by asking as you can now race with clear conscious. As rp noted, maybe you should volunteer for the check-in table. Or, volunteer for his role next year and sit on the panel that pu...

Very nice! Do you have a top shot of the car? What type of bore/axle prep did you use this year?

I can attest to Max Velocity's cubes. I have purchased significant amounts from him over the last 3 years and have never had an issue with uniformity/packing ability.

I assumed using it on the metal axle would be good and produce a highly uniform surface but was looking for some first hand experience. Anyone?

You noted using liquid glass on the bore before the wax, do you use it on the axles as well? I assume you would get a similar impact there.

And yes, we do have a way of checking for slotted axles that doesn't damage the running characteristics of the car. (No, I'm not saying what it is here!) Wheels are a LOT easier to catch. We re-vamped a lot of our rules this year in an attempt to keep then simple, but explicit. 3 Cub Dad Good info....

.... The wheel may NOT be reshaped as to reduce its contact surface to the track. I would also go to the coordinator as the rules are not clear. They do actually state what is not allowed (see quote above) so I'm not sure they would exclude lightened wheels. They may not even be aware of the differ...

"You want a positive camber on the front dominate wheel. When the front dominate wheel steers the car into the rail, the rail will keep the front dominate wheel on the nail head. John" I need help with my physics. Why positive camber on the front dom wheel? Would negative camber be a big n...

The topic was raised in another thread concerning axles that are after market axles from a popular retailer (call the company xderby.com). Rules in some Districts state that only BSA wheels (those that come in the box) are allowed. Similarly, some Districts have rules about altered or slotted axles....