Any recommendations for car design? Help appreciated...

[davet]

I would not put toe-in on the non-dfw. I suspect no matter how much toe-in either wheel has they are both going to go to the rail. That would not be good. The slightest amount of Negative Camber and toe-out should be the best. The non-dfw would then be helping the dfw do its job even if it is in a very small way. I think it is Derbytalk member "sporty" who detailed this set-up and it would be in the Search function.

This makes more sense than my idea of toe-in for the non-DFW. I was thinking toe-in if the non-DFW wheel was barely contacting the track. I would do what Speedster says over my idea and do the slight toe-out but maybe a deep bend would still be good in case it does contact the rail.

[Speedster]

derbypain, per one of your previous posts, you are making it fun for a lot of us too. After 31 years of applying the Laws of Physics to the Pinewood Derby, each year on Derbytalk I learn something that will make these little cars go faster. I love this hobby. I love your enthusiasm. Please keep learning and sharing your knowledge. Buy a "Best" track so you can tune your cars.
By the way, Valentine's Day is February 14th. I'll bet your wife would love to have a romantic dinner with you. Flowers would be a plus. This might be a day when the words "Pinewood Derby" are not mentioned. Just a suggestion from a senior citizen.
Cheers,
Speedster

[derbypain]

I would not put toe-in on the non-dfw. I suspect no matter how much toe-in either wheel has they are both going to go to the rail. That would not be good. The slightest amount of Negative Camber and toe-out should be the best. The non-dfw would then be helping the dfw do its job even if it is in a very small way. I think it is Derbytalk member "sporty" who detailed this set-up and it would be in the Search function.

This makes more sense than my idea of toe-in for the non-DFW. I was thinking toe-in if the non-DFW wheel was barely contacting the track. I would do what Speedster says over my idea and do the slight toe-out but maybe a deep bend would still be good in case it does contact the rail.

My son and I plan on doing some different axle bends and having some fun on the 4ft board until I find us a test track. Thanks again.

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[derbypain]

derbypain, per one of your previous posts, you are making it fun for a lot of us too. After 31 years of applying the Laws of Physics to the Pinewood Derby, each year on Derbytalk I learn something that will make these little cars go faster. I love this hobby. I love your enthusiasm. Please keep learning and sharing your knowledge. Buy a "Best" track so you can tune your cars.
By the way, Valentine's Day is February 14th. I'll bet your wife would love to have a romantic dinner with you. Flowers would be a plus. This might be a day when the words "Pinewood Derby" are not mentioned. Just a suggestion from a senior citizen.
Cheers,
Speedster

Much appreciated and sound advice.... On top of that I have an wedding anniversary this coming weekend (17 years married and 25 years together) so next two weekends with early Valentines next weekend will be very little getting done. Luckily for my son and I the planning portion of a build seems to be more consuming that the actual build. In talking with all of you the ideas of design have been flowing so we are making great progress. I am sure more questions will come sooner than later. Thanks in advance for chiming in if you are able and available.

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[Speedster]

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY !!!
I'm retired. I'm always available.
Our race is this weekend. We're competing in the "Sponsor " race this year. We're hoping to take the Traveling Trophy away from Tri-County tire. Time will tell.

[derbypain]

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY !!!
I'm retired. I'm always available.
Our race is this weekend. We're competing in the "Sponsor " race this year. We're hoping to take the Traveling Trophy away from Tri-County tire. Time will tell.

Thank you Speedster! Please let us know how the race goes.... Please add any pics, times, and details. Best of fortunes!

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[derbypain]

I meant to ask you guys on the gap between the car body and wheel hub with bent axle in place what distance do you recommend. I was assuming the normal. 025" to. 03" (credit card width) but thought I wound double let check.

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[Speedster]

This year I pushed the DFW in with the special pliers the Vendors sell and stopped when it would go no farther.
After I tuned the car I left it alone so I have the gap caused by the pliers. It is more than a credit card distance.

That brings me to our Pack 217 race that was held yesterday. We have a brand new 4 lane "Best" track, Champ timer, push button start, and Grand Prix Race Manager Software. Everything worked flawlessly. More on the Software later. We ran elapsed time with the slowest time removed. There were 24 Girl Scouts raced and I can tell you there were no bathtubs, Swiss Army knives, or anything else that didn't resemble a car, light in the front and heavy in the back. I'm the inspector and that was a HUGE plus for me with all the other excitement of the day. We announced the Ford race coming up at the start of the Girl Scout races. We had 11 Sponsor cars racing, one of them being driven by Reverend Claudia, Minister of Unity of Toledo Spiritual Center. She and I built the car. I worked her hard on polishing wheel bores and we talked about the Physics of the Pinewood Derby each time we met to work on the car. Doc. Jobe's big Green book was always on the table when we worked on the car. That race brought in $1100.00 for our pack. Rev. Claudia won the race and set a new track record which held the rest of the day. Back to Randy's Software. When she set the new track record the crowd started to Cheer and she didn't know what was going on until our Pack leader directed her attention to the big screen. She got a Big Kick out of it that the Software would do that for her. What a lovely person she is.
Super GREAT day all the way around. I'm sorry it's over.
Cheers,
Speedster

[derbypain]

This year I pushed the DFW in with the special pliers the Vendors sell and stopped when it would go no farther.
After I tuned the car I left it alone so I have the gap caused by the pliers. It is more than a credit card distance.

That brings me to our Pack 217 race that was held yesterday. We have a brand new 4 lane "Best" track, Champ timer, push button start, and Grand Prix Race Manager Software. Everything worked flawlessly. More on the Software later. We ran elapsed time with the slowest time removed. There were 24 Girl Scouts raced and I can tell you there were no bathtubs, Swiss Army knives, or anything else that didn't resemble a car, light in the front and heavy in the back. I'm the inspector and that was a HUGE plus for me with all the other excitement of the day. We announced the Ford race coming up at the start of the Girl Scout races. We had 11 Sponsor cars racing, one of them being driven by Reverend Claudia, Minister of Unity of Toledo Spiritual Center. She and I built the car. I worked her hard on polishing wheel bores and we talked about the Physics of the Pinewood Derby each time we met to work on the car. Doc. Jobe's big Green book was always on the table when we worked on the car. That race brought in $1100.00 for our pack. Rev. Claudia won the race and set a new track record which held the rest of the day. Back to Randy's Software. When she set the new track record the crowd started to Cheer and she didn't know what was going on until our Pack leader directed her attention to the big screen. She got a Big Kick out of it that the Software would do that for her. What a lovely person she is.
Super GREAT day all the way around. I'm sorry it's over.
Cheers,
Speedster

Nicely done Speedster! What a great record breaker day and feeling to have contributed to so many. It is never fun when a day like that ends but at least it creates a great set of memories. Thanks for sharing. Michael

So I take it with the record you took the traveling trophy from Tri-county tire? ️

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[gpraceman]

I'm glad that the race went well and the software was a help.

[davet]

Congratulations Reverend Claudia!

[Speedster]

Thank you everyone for your kind comments.
Yep, the trophy is now at Unity of Toledo Spiritual Center. We have it for a year. I am forever grateful I did not underestimate the competition. Three of the donor cars were very fast. The Jerusalem Township Fire Department, while running lane one, beat us by .002 of a second. Lane one seemed to be the fastest and lane three seemed to be the slowest. Rev. Claudia was running in lane 2 when she got beat by the Fire Department running in lane 1. I was perspiring the entire race. I could not understand that because other people were complaining it was cold. The race was held in Jerusalem Elementary School.
This was Reverend Claudia's first experience of a "Pinewood Derby" ever in her life. She was overwhelmed when she walked into the school. I had instructed her on staging the car, stalling to be last on staging the car so no one else could bump it, staying at the front watching the car until everyone else had their car on the track, and not letting anyone else pickup the car to hand it to her after it reached the BRAKE track. She was a MASTER in every operation.
A lot of my fun was with Randy's software. Rev. Claudia is very computer literate unlike yours truly. She would ask me, "How can you time the cars that close, how does the software know I set a track record, and on and on and on. I gave the most intelligent answer I possibly could, "How the Heck do I know". The Big Trophy was sitting in the Sanctuary this morning and she talked about her experience with her first Pinewood derby and a little bit about me working with the cub scouts the last 31 years. She will remember her Pinewood Derby experience forever, I guarantee it.
Just a few more words if I may. A lady that attends Unity of Toledo is a Program Director for the Girl Scouts--A BIG GUN. We both have talked about the Derby for the past year. Because of Randy's notifying us of Fords involvement, she is organizing hundreds of Girl Scouts for Derby workshops and races and has asked me to lead the education. What an honor. I immediately said yes. More to come under another Topic.
Cheers
Speedster

[whodathunkit]

Say congrats on that speedster!



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[davet]

Thank you everyone for your kind comments.
Yep, the trophy is now at Unity of Toledo Spiritual Center. We have it for a year. I am forever grateful I did not underestimate the competition. Three of the donor cars were very fast. The Jerusalem Township Fire Department, while running lane one, beat us by .002 of a second. Lane one seemed to be the fastest and lane three seemed to be the slowest. Rev. Claudia was running in lane 2 when she got beat by the Fire Department running in lane 1. I was perspiring the entire race. I could not understand that because other people were complaining it was cold. The race was held in Jerusalem Elementary School.
This was Reverend Claudia's first experience of a "Pinewood Derby" ever in her life. She was overwhelmed when she walked into the school. I had instructed her on staging the car, stalling to be last on staging the car so no one else could bump it, staying at the front watching the car until everyone else had their car on the track, and not letting anyone else pickup the car to hand it to her after it reached the BRAKE track. She was a MASTER in every operation.
A lot of my fun was with Randy's software. Rev. Claudia is very computer literate unlike yours truly. She would ask me, "How can you time the cars that close, how does the software know I set a track record, and on and on and on. I gave the most intelligent answer I possibly could, "How the Heck do I know". The Big Trophy was sitting in the Sanctuary this morning and she talked about her experience with her first Pinewood derby and a little bit about me working with the cub scouts the last 31 years. She will remember her Pinewood Derby experience forever, I guarantee it.
Just a few more words if I may. A lady that attends Unity of Toledo is a Program Director for the Girl Scouts--A BIG GUN. We both have talked about the Derby for the past year. Because of Randy's notifying us of Fords involvement, she is organizing hundreds of Girl Scouts for Derby workshops and races and has asked me to lead the education. What an honor. I immediately said yes. More to come under another Topic.
Cheers
Speedster

Wow, awesome story. I could feel the tension as I read it. I get so nervous at my boy's races and he always seems so cool. It's like I'm jumping up and down inside but trying to look calm and not too interested on the outside.

That's cool that you've been recognized for your expertise in the field by the Girl Scouts.

[derbypain]

Speedster,

I appreciate your efforts regarding Girl Scouts and Cub Scouts... To be honest I have been a little down that I don't have but one car to officially work on with my son. However if derby becomes a more widely accepted part of Girl Scouts I just happen to have a little girl that is 3 1/2 that just sparked my excitement of how we could get this going so that I can have similar excitement I have had with my sons. This derby work is truly one of the top things that has brought my sons and myself true bonding... I hope to have this type of bonding in many things with her. But the thought of more derby building with her would be a great privilege to teach and grow with her as well. Keep up the great ambassador work of spreading the knowledge of such a great tradition.

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