Derby Talk

I've never dealt with Awana wheels. However, if a car jumps to a 3" lead by the bottom of the hill, I suspect that Awana wheels are lighter than BSA wheels. Superior alignment shows at the bottom of the track. If you can, try putting other wheels on this car. If it still runs great, maybe you j...

If you have a skyscraper that is 50 miles tall and on Jupiter, the difference in Center of Mass and Center of Gravity definitions becomes meaningful as well... (laughing!). Ah well, think Stan covered it pretty well. -T Why use such an extreme example? Since gravity is proportional to the square of...

I knew I guy who had access to a university laboratory and exposed the wheels to a gamma radiation source. Supposedly it will cross-link all the polymer chains and make the plastic harder. Pretty exotic technology - since the wheels barely seem to wear, I'm not sure how much hardening is needed. For...

I have half the tools and twice the clutter.

Well: the Pro Body Tool 2 is designed to work with with or with out slots, some packs specify slots must be used, some would like a lower CG, so mount your weights lower in the body, build a belly pan, be creative, they do not have to be flush. Also please keep in mind that if we made it lower and ...

Nickle plate should be harder and easier to hold a smooth surface after polishing. Also some rules, like the one we currently are forced to race under, require that the axle be "visible in the slot". This would preclude you from using speed axles that are not derived from actual nails - ie...

The rail rider tool looks interesting. Every time I bend nails I get a different result - this should help bring more consistency to us novice builders. I've already ordered one. Not so sure how I feel about the body jig. I've always thought that the body tool placed the axles too low in the body - ...

Then we choose to think outside of the box. 1/4" on the CM with no increase instability is to much to leave on the table. Still, I don't think you have solved the problem. The longer wheelbase car with axles 7/8" from the rear should still perform better than using the slots at 7/8" f...

I think you may have misread my interpretation... the short side slot is already 7/8 " from the end of the block... I am interpreting that measurement as a MAXIMUM spread point, and not an absolute axle location requirement. additionally, the current rules decrease the consistency of cars by p...

I see 3 issues here. 1. Wheelbase. You either use the slot spacing or you extend the wheelbase such that the wheels are at the corner of the car. 7/8" from either end creates a NEW standard that no one currently uses. However, if that were the rule, I would place both axles 7/8" from the e...

Grandpa's site is a great read - I love his pro-Geek stance. One thing to remember is that grandpa's races were run on a track with a 7 foot drop. I think CM becomes less important, and the alignment issues could be quite different with higher speeds. Also, his "ugly car" was only has 3 wh...

Just pointing out a few problems: Figure on page 12 appears to show modified wheelbase. Rule on page 13 prohibits moving the axles. Page 15 says contact patch must be flat. Unmodified wheels are not flat - in fact - light sanding of last years wheels produced a sort of H - wheel. Rule on page 18 say...

Unfortunately, the right answer requires some track testing.

However, our last short wheelbase car ran about the same times with a
turn in of 2" at 3 to 5 feet. This is on a wooden (homemade) track.

The CM was about 7/8".

Narrowing can help make back and forth oscillations smaller, and thus reduce the apparent length that the car must travel down the track. Keep in mind that narrowing the front helps on center rail tracks and most tracks have a center rail. However, there is a brand of yellow plastic track, Super Tra...

My son's car suffered greatly. but he barely missed out on a third place trophy. His last race was Win, Loss, Tie, Loss - The closest race of the day. So I can't say that he did not have fun. I'm not even certain that we could have placed better on a standard track - because most of the "fast l...