This is our first year trying a new design, and since it's my second scout, I felt like taking it as an opportunity to "up our speed game". My oldest of two boys, started as a Tiger, and just crossed over in the fall, my youngest is a Tiger this year. My oldest and I built 4 cars each, together, over the last 4 years. When it was his first year, I did my best to "study up" on the pwd thing. I bought the book "How to build the Ultimate pwd car Speed Secrets" from the scout store, and dove in. I built my car each year a couple steps ahead of him, so that we could learn from my mistakes. Once my car was built, we used it only for a "Father vs. Son" race after the local race was over.
All 8 of our cars over the last 4 years, were basically the same car (three tubed 1/4 tungsten holes from the side) with different body shapes. The weighting in the tubes changed some, but they were basically the same car. We kept his cars to a skill level that he could help "hands on" every step of the way, and based his car on the amount of dedication that he was willing to put forth. He did really well over his career, never suffering a loss in a Den or Pack race, and finishing as high as 3rd in the District one year. And last year, he had learned enough about the band saw, drill, measurements, weight, & paint, that he built 95% of his car himself, with me there just to answer questions. Now that he's topped out of the Cubs, he still want's to build one with his brother & me, & race it against me & in the siblings race, which I'm very happy to hear.
But to where I am now. After wanting to deeper my understanding of some of the things that 've seen over the last few years, I decided to research them. After many, many, hours on the net, and the majority here, I now feel that I have a very good understanding of many of the things that once baffled me, like camber, toe, notched frames, proper tuning techniques, better weight placement, etc. That being said, the 1/4" bar car with a 3.5oz. canopy, sure looks like a great design, that might not only be faster, but will be much easier for Tiger scout skill set build. Just some good placed cuts, and some well placed/drilled holes. Then paint & wheels & tires. No wood filler to "bodywork" to cover weight holes is a nice step to be able to skip at this stage IMO. Anyhow....I am currently building/learning/trying to get familiar with one of these new bodies. The body below will not be used, purely a learning/mock block to get us real close. Here are a couple questions that I haven't had much help in finding the answer too...
With the canopy positioned this way (parallel with the CL ) and all the way to the rear, here are the numbers...
Overall weight - 4.8oz (body is 1oz. & weights total 3.88oz)
COM - 3/4"
FWW - .7oz (18g)
With the canopy positioned this way (perpendicular with the CL) and as close to centered over the rear axle line as it can get, before interfering with the axle tips, here are the numbers...
COM - 5/8"
FWW - .5oz (14g)
My question is, is the gain in COM and FWW, good enough reason to turn it sideways? And more specifically, is the weight more stable evenly spread side to side, or running as tight to the CL as possible?
My 2nd question, is a rider of the my first question...The two 3/16oz. tungsten weights will be mounted up in the car from the bottom, and as close to rear of the car as possible (to even the weight over the rear axle line, the best I can), should they be located at the outer edges? Or side by side, riding tight to the cars parallel CL? (not enough room to run them in line on the CL).
I hope these aren't "bad" questions, and any all input/direction is appreciated....
