LightninBoy Family 2013 - Council Results Added

[LightninBoy]

Pack race was tonight. We did good having the 1st, 2nd and 4th fastest cars of the evening.

Here are the cars, fastest to slowest from left to right



I'm actually proudest of the slowest car, which was my 5 year old's car who raced in the sibling group (not old enough for scouts) and took first amongst the Siblings. Don't let the block fool you ... its actually mostly balsa on a 1/4 inch pine frame. And the balsa is hollowed out. So I was able to add a lot of weight and get the COM under 1 inch. Then I glued some paper on it and gave it to the 5 year old to decorate. I thought it would be fun to challenge the idea of "looking fast", and was pretty successful given that only one non-family car was faster.

The black car - "Drago II" - is my car. It was (accidently) the fastest car in the pack, but doesn't really count cause it was mine.

The middle car is my Bear's and was the fastest car of all the scouts.



The 5 year old had full artistic license, but when I saw him reach for the eye sticker I insisted that he put that in front so we could remember which side was the front. The picture below shows the underbellies and the "secret sauce" that makes the cars so fast.

[sporty]

Congrats, Cars look very nice ! Smooth, thin, clean and shiny ! Do you do your own wheel work ? Wheels look pretty good.

Congrats again, nice trophy.


Sporty

[LightninBoy]

Congrats, Cars look very nice ! Smooth, thin, clean and shiny ! Do you do your own wheel work ? Wheels look pretty good.

Congrats again, nice trophy.


Sporty

Thanks sporty ... obviously you had some influence on these designs.

Regarding the wheels ... they are the handiwork of Derby Dad. Really nice wheels. Switched to them this year and am very happy. We actually normally run bone stock wheels in the Pack race, but this year I'll have no time to swap wheels and realign before the uber competitive district race. So we had to run the in the Pack in full compete mode.

BTW - did some testing tonight on a 42 foot Best track. The "Block" did 3.04 seconds!! Hmmm maybe with a few more tweaks to this design I could build a sub 3 second block car ...

[sporty]

He does good wheels.

Thats balsa wood block right ?

Ya almost sub 3, what you doing for wheel bore prep and you using oil or graphite ?

A few years ago, it was great to go under sub 3.0 on a 42 foot best track, now people go 2.89 on a best track !! Nothing short of amazing !

I think I best I ever went with graphite was 2.96 somthing and the best I ever went ran wth oil was 2.94 something. back in 2010. Now these days, thats grandpa slow. lol.

Sporty

[whodathunkit]

Wow weeee..LightninBoy! The cars look good and lightnin fast!

[LightninBoy]

He does good wheels.

Thats balsa wood block right ?

Balsa block on 1/4 inch pine frame. I also drilled big holes through the balsa to take a lot of it out. There's probably a lot more wood weight I could take out to add more tungsten weight.

Ya almost sub 3, what you doing for wheel bore prep and you using oil or graphite ?

Running oil this year on all the cars. Bore prep was Novus #2 / Red Rocket x 2. (stuff is really slippery but not really sure if its better than Legends).

A few years ago, it was great to go under sub 3.0 on a 42 foot best track, now people go 2.89 on a best track !! Nothing short of amazing !

I think I best I ever went with graphite was 2.96 somthing and the best I ever went ran wth oil was 2.94 something. back in 2010. Now these days, thats grandpa slow. lol.

The fast cars are fast, but they are not quite there yet (2.976 was the best time ... and ranged between that and 2.985). I think I need to get better at bore prep - I rarely end up with 3 pristine bores out of a set of 4.

[Noskills]

The carbon fiber came out really nice!
Seth (Noskills)

[LightninBoy]

Thanks whoda!!

NoSkills - FYI, that's real carbon fiber on top. Not the decal I linked you to a few weeks ago. I used the decal for the sides only.

[Noskills]

FYI, that's real carbon fiber on top. Not the decal I linked you to a few weeks ago. I used the decal for the sides only

Really, where did you get it? Is it easy to sand?

Also if I make a thinnish car, say 5/8th and drill some 1 inche holes though it will the pinecar wrap be strong enough that the avergare thumb will not go through it if picked up quickly?

Looks like Sporty covers his through and thrpugh weight pockets we monokote which seems to hold up and keep the cubes in place,

Seth (Noskills)

[LightninBoy]

Really, where did you get it? Is it easy to sand?

http://dragonplate.com/" target="_blank

I probably spent $100+ with those guys experimenting with various materials. Their carbon fiber/birch core product has amazing strength to weight, but is just overkill for PWD. So I just ended up using the plain CF sheets this year.

On whether it is easy to sand ... yes, but it leaves a black mess that smells a bit like an oil refinery.

Also if I make a thinnish car, say 5/8th and drill some 1 inche holes though it will the pinecar wrap be strong enough that the avergare thumb will not go through it if picked up quickly?

If you are asking about the pinewood body wraps - absolutely not. Those things are extremely thin and delicate. It needs to be fully backed with wood. And you have to seal it after applying (directions state this is optional, but believe me, its not).

The carbon fiber decal sticker, on the other hand, might hold up. Its about the strength of a piece of paper.

[Noskills]

Thanks for the advice. When you say the plane CF sheets do you mean the veneer or the sheet? And if the sheet what thickness worked well?
Thanks,
Noskills (Seth)

[LightninBoy]

Good results overall. I think Drago II (my car, the black car) again turned out to be the fastest car on average and won the "open" (non-scout) group. However, the cubby's car (the yellow one) got beat by .005 for first place despite having the single best run of the day. It just wasn't consistent enough.

[LightninBoy]

Thanks for the advice. When you say the plane CF sheets do you mean the veneer or the sheet? And if the sheet what thickness worked well?
Thanks,
Noskills (Seth)

Sorry NS, I mean the veneer.

[pgosselin]

Way to go LightninBoy. Second at district is still quite an accomplishment. And the size of that trophy is impressive. I bet your son was still pleased.

Paul

[LightninBoy]

We had a strong finish to the Derby season, taking 2nd place in the Council race at Mall of America. I hate to admit it, but the sweetest part of that was beating the car that just edged us out in districts

Thanks again for all the help and advice given here at DT!

Here's the "spoils" earned from the cub's car ... First place pack (Left), 2nd Place District (Right), 2nd Place Council (Middle)