Derby Talk

By shimming in my post, I'm referring to fine weight adjustments. The tungsten cylinders have a granularity (the finest adjustment that item will allow) of about a half ounce. The cubes seem to have a granularity of about .15 to .2 ounces. The disks (what look like punch-outs) are around .01 ounces,...

As someone who has used neolube, I can tell you for certain that it is indeed used as a lubricant at nuclear plants because of its stability in radiation fields. I'm sure that being a dry lubricant probably has a lot to do with that. It's not in the fuel rods, but many plants in the 80's used neolub...

I have been using the tungsten disks for three or four years as shim, and the tungsten cubes as main weighting for the past 2. I shy away from the cylinders because of the relatively large size makes using lead at that point more flexible. I can easly drill and shape lead to reduce weight, but hitti...

Be very careful of the CA glues, and test thoughly before you use it in a critical application. My experience with CA is that it's amazingly strong in tension or compression applications, but very weak against a shear force. In my unmarried young adulthood, I built RC airplanes and used CA glues ext...

Before the weighing starts, we have someone go by a local supermarket and get a couple of those thin deli boxes. Cut top from bottom, there are two large, very lightweight trays that are an inch or two deep. Plus, graphite hardly sticks to them. Choose your size to accomodate the cars, but not be so...

What does the qualifying race represent if not the gathering of the qualified cars? Why have a race where the vehicle you use to separate qualifiers will have no bearing on the next level of racing? Gee. In my nine years of organizing, I always felt like I was in a room full of people, not a room f...

OK, I've thought some more on this topic. To me the idea that the pack races separate the fastest cars to continue racing at district level (and they should therefore be the same cars) is so basic that I'm having trouble enunciating my ideas clearly. 1) Cory and Stan - your last argument was basical...

Hmmm ... lessee if I've understood your logic ... 1. My car won over the other boys in my pack. 2. I make another car that is faster than my first one to race in the district. 3. It is unfair to the other boys in my pack because this new car would not have beaten them. No, I don't understand :!: Th...

Consider the case of Dale. Dale's car crashed during a practice run and is now "totaled". The crash was not Dale's fault. In fact, Dale took every precaution to keep the crash from happening. Dale and his team had prepared another car, but now they're being told they can't race it next we...

I think a boy should be able to make any improvement ness. EXCEPT put in a new car. I think it should be the one you qualified with. I am not exactly sure why, maybe its from a stand point of if you win some how it will be looked at like you have cheated. Wait what am I saying as long as the boy bu...

We have between 50 and 60 boys. We race by rank, with ranks ranging from 4 or 5 boys to about 20. We start racing about 7 and finish between 8:30 and 9. Next year we are planning on randomizing the whole pack and sorting winners by rank instead of racing just the ranks. The idea is to keep everyone ...

Proponents of timed versus pointed racing can find (or sometimes manufacture or at least conjecture) reasons to support their preferred method. If your boys and parents are happy, you are at least halfway there. I have yet to see a genuine race situation that couldn't be bent to support at least two...

This was on a 40 foot Piantedosi 6 lane track. The Cubmaster and I spend a couple of hours on setup to make sure that the section interfaces and guide strips transition as smoothly as possible before bolting securely. The runs I spoke of were on different lanes and 45 minutes or so apart due to thei...

I meant that no one bumped the track. Not even a little. There was in this instance, no track shift occurred that would explain a time variance. It was there (in different lanes for each car) and then was gone. I think it was a placement issue - one race didn't get optimal alignment on the track sta...

This brings up a question I have been pondering for some time. In fact I found this thread while searching for an answer. Our pack and District allow wheels to be reduced in diameter and tread width, with limits on both. The tread must be maintained parallel to the hub, and no other material may be ...