Derby Talk

At this year's race we are going to allow the boys to vote for their choice of Best in Show award. Each boy will be given an official ballot (something that won't allow for stuffing the ballot box) and will be allowed to vote before the races begin. The poll closes when the race starts. My question...

joe wrote:...Still, once in awhile it tips to the right on a rough spot, but is arranged to slide to the finish on graphite impregnated side plates of tungsten. Sort of an insurance policy and still is fast enough to beat most cars in case of a "tip."

Classic.

I'm with blcrow33. The start event should not be based on something as variable as the first car to break the sensor beam. If possible, align the sensor so the pins break the beam. We moved our beam and sensor so that the pins break the beam as Randy describes. Our sensors used to be a few inches d...

I staged the car the exact same way (as close as I possibly could) and using the ESS I ran 7 consecutive runs of 2.893 seconds. Each run was the exact same time. I then ran 7 more runs, staging the car the same as before and using the manual start lever. The times ranged from 2.894 to 2.908. So wit...

Our council added this rule to what most people thought were already good rules. "The derby officials reserve the right to determine a cars eligibility or ineligibility to race if an unfair practice is discovered that is not covered in the rules". Whatdaya think? If it's not covered in th...

We use the belt sander for narrowing the front. Mark the desired width with a pencil, then sand down to that point. Our cars are thin enough that it doesn't take much time or pressure for the extra material to be removed.

Bubba

Great idea to take that sanding mess outside !! Ohhh, I wish we could work outside these days :cry: One question - why leave the basic block so thick ? Please give us an idea of the balsa (I assume that is what it is) weight when you are done if possible. I took the pineblock and cut it straight do...

Do people usually glue the body onto the chassis, or would you insert some kind of pins, etc. ? What I am thinking is making the top removable, so you could rework both separately. We've tried a few different ways, mostly just to try different things. Early on we built rail car frames and super glu...

Yeah, what Dan said... :wink: The thin cars you describe have at least two obvious advantages, one being increased ability to concentrate the weight where you want it, the other being a lower profile requiring less air to be moved out of the way and less energy wasted to move the air out of the way....

As you can see I'm not "expecting to regulate or prescribe the level of adult / cub involvement for all teams" at this point... I'm weighing the pros and cons of making this a cub meeting project, hand out the boxes and seeing what comes back... or something in between. I'm sure there is ...

The point of this post was to find out where others draw the line, not debate wether I draw the line at the right place or for the right reasons... I was seriously interested in finding out what others do so I can make adjustment to where I see our program going in the future. As for the poll... if...

yah but how did he do it? I would love to build one but dont have any idea how to start. Sorry dudes, been away from the board for a little while... Here's a pic of the build. http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o88/BubbaForShort/MotorFast02.jpg It's a direct drive version with a high speed motor. R...

...My first thoughts are: bigger motor & upping to voltage while bypassing the oink & wag phase. I may or may not have built a car recently utilizing a small hi-speed motor I found at Radio Shack that runs 18,000 rpm when powered by two 9V batteries in series. :shhh: I think it was about 4 ...

Today my Son brought home a walking, oinking, electric pig that his school is holding a race for. Like a good experienced PWD Dad, I've read the rules which basically allow anything except rocket motors or mounting it to a R/C car chassis. Internal modifications are allowed and encouraged, the ques...

The contrast between the 6th grade textbook "theory" and what we have become "in practice" was stark and was not lost on my son. (BTW he also wanted to know who was gonna pay for all the "free" stuff everyone's being promised... go figure). Smart kid... You must be awf...