Performance of Highly polished wheels on Piantidosi track?

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Mac
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Performance of Highly polished wheels on Piantidosi track?

Post by Mac »

Stan, you may have some thoughts on this.Racing a car set up with a 4 oz. rear weight ,1 oz. front weight,three wheels touching the Piantidosi track.Two cars are set up identical except one car has the wheels highly polished and the other car with wheels that are lighty sanded but not polished.Which of the two cars would perform better?Does wheel traction make that much difference?
Thanks!
Mac
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Stan Pope
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Re: Performance of Highly polished wheels on Piantidosi trac

Post by Stan Pope »

Mac wrote:Stan, you may have some thoughts on this.Racing a car set up with a 4 oz. rear weight ,1 oz. front weight,three wheels touching the Piantidosi track.Two cars are set up identical except one car has the wheels highly polished and the other car with wheels that are lighty sanded but not polished.Which of the two cars would perform better?Does wheel traction make that much difference?
Thanks!
Mac
The high polish increases the risk of the car coming loose and sliding. The result is a significant increase in ET. When that happens then it does "make that much difference."

"Traction" is important only in that it tries to keep the wheels from sliding sideways. Sanding by rotating the wheel against a sandpaper block produces machining lines (tool marks) around the circumference of the wheel to help prevent sideways sliding.

Be careful about the provision that "two cars are set up identical". It can lead to comparisons that produce erroneous results. There are many subtle differences, especially in wheel/axld Cf and in alignment that are not readily apparent.

Related factors (equalized Cf and alignment) and their interplay were discussed in a recent post.
Stan
"If it's not for the boys, it's for the birds!"
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