"World's Largest PWD Track" coming to town

General discussions for car and semi-truck racers.
JSG
Master Pine Head
Master Pine Head
Posts: 125
Joined: Mon Feb 15, 2010 2:40 pm
Location: Grand Rapids, MI

"World's Largest PWD Track" coming to town

Post by JSG »

We're going to the Scout Show/Adventurebase 100 event here Saturday. They are also going to let scouts race on the 2 story tall 190' track that tours with them. Anybody ever done this? Districts are in a couple weeks and I don't want my sons car to get demolished or anything. It sounds like a neat opportunity
User avatar
sporty
Pine Head Legend
Pine Head Legend
Posts: 3344
Joined: Sun Feb 13, 2005 1:00 am
Location: rockfalls, Illinois

Re: "World's Largest PWD Track" coming to town

Post by sporty »

I would recommend a seperate car to play it save.


Sporty
User avatar
derbyspeed
Master Pine Head
Master Pine Head
Posts: 158
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2008 8:35 am
Location: Hoopeston, IL
Contact:

Re: "World's Largest PWD Track" coming to town

Post by derbyspeed »

Here is the 120 foot track we raced on at Indianapolis, not sure if this is the same one you might be talking about but here is video I took of it.
https://youtu.be/

The first time my wife's and son's cars went down the track they both broke in the front axle area, their stop wasn't long enough and they used a tire at the end of the stop, they usually bounced off the tire. If you build a new car, you might consider building it with a full body with fenders/wheel wells. The car that won the race was a full bodied speed racer car, I am assuming it was able to survive all the crashing! :idk:

Other than having to epoxy the axle area back on both their cars we had a great time, even made it into the final 8.

I would highly suggest not using the car you want to use for districts, one car even fell from the starting area right out of the gate, no telling what might happen to your car. :nervous:
Mike Webb

"Do or Do Not, There is No Try"
JSG
Master Pine Head
Master Pine Head
Posts: 125
Joined: Mon Feb 15, 2010 2:40 pm
Location: Grand Rapids, MI

Re: "World's Largest PWD Track" coming to town

Post by JSG »

Thanks for the tips. I'll have to convince him that using this years car on that track just a week before districts would be too risky. It looks like a unique experience running on such a large track. I'm thinking this may be just a "fun race" anyways since there isn't a race start time set. No rules published or anything.
User avatar
FatSebastian
Pine Head Legend
Pine Head Legend
Posts: 2803
Joined: Wed Jun 17, 2009 2:49 pm
Location: Boogerton, PA

Re: "World's Largest PWD Track" coming to town

Post by FatSebastian »

JSG wrote:I'm thinking this may be just a "fun race" anyways since there isn't a race start time set. No rules published or anything.
Sounds like a lot of risk with no reward; if it is simply an exhibition rather than a competition, we would likely pass altogether on entering our own car and participate as spectators. At the very least it seems wise to run a special purpose car (or a previous build) that you don't mind messing up, as others have suggested.

Regardless, let us know what you decide, and what happens. :goodluck:
JSG
Master Pine Head
Master Pine Head
Posts: 125
Joined: Mon Feb 15, 2010 2:40 pm
Location: Grand Rapids, MI

Re: "World's Largest PWD Track" coming to town

Post by JSG »

I'm going to get my open class car from last year out and get it to 5 ounces. I'll let him run that. That way if it gets demolished "It's only Dad's car". :D I'll let you know how it goes.
quadad
Master Pine Head
Master Pine Head
Posts: 494
Joined: Wed Jan 23, 2008 11:51 am
Location: SE, WI

Re: "World's Largest PWD Track" coming to town

Post by quadad »

Similar thoughts here. I watched a fair amount of video loop of the "World's Longest" that was at a Milwaukee Wave Soccer game recently. It was (I think) an 8-lane track and they did not run the two outside lanes because of cars falling off. I heard that very few (maybe a couple) fell during the actual races then. The most surprising thing to me though was that many cars were 'pooped' out by the end. Others were still fast at the end though according to one Wave official, such that they needed a (traditional) blanket after the stop section material.

This track had a long flat section. I wonder if the older style wheels might be better. A few people on DT were at this race though and they would have a better idea of what worked and what didn't. Without question, build a fun car for it, not your Scout car.
User avatar
bigtex
Pine Head
Pine Head
Posts: 63
Joined: Tue Apr 01, 2008 8:25 pm
Location: Houston, TX

Re: "World's Largest PWD Track" coming to town

Post by bigtex »

For the Houston Council races we put together a 112ft freedom track....took me a couple hours to tune/adjust but it was awesome to watch the cars race!

Image

Image

Image

Image

Two fastest cars racing against each other....(Open vs Tiger)

https://youtu.be/

4 top cars from each rank (Tiger, Wolf, Bear, and Webelos) racing against each other...

https://youtu.be/

4 top cars from each rank (Tiger, Wolf, Bear, and Webelos) racing against each other...

https://youtu.be/


https://youtu.be/
derbydad3
Journeyman
Journeyman
Posts: 41
Joined: Sat Jan 23, 2010 3:24 pm
Location: Southern, WI

Re: "World's Largest PWD Track" coming to town

Post by derbydad3 »

The Track at the Milwaukee Wave had very little problems with cars coming off the end of the track. There might have been 4 or 5 cars out of around 100. I believe all of them were modified cars and the two motorized cars. As far as car set-up. We used my son's car from the pack PWD. One raised wheel, rail rider. It wasnt eligible to race with the other cubscouts, but was put in the Mens division because of the raised wheel. This car place 2nd in the Mens division. Quaddad, where did you see video's of the races?
quadad
Master Pine Head
Master Pine Head
Posts: 494
Joined: Wed Jan 23, 2008 11:51 am
Location: SE, WI

Re: "World's Largest PWD Track" coming to town

Post by quadad »

derbydad3 wrote:Quaddad, where did you see video's of the races?
The Milwaukee Wave (along with others) had a booth at our Council's Scout Festival last weekend. They ran an endless-loop tape (DVD I assume) of the racing in their booth. Very nice representative there was interested in the Scout community opinion for next year.

Did you see any difference with cars having 1999 mold versus 2009 mold wheels on that track ?
JSG
Master Pine Head
Master Pine Head
Posts: 125
Joined: Mon Feb 15, 2010 2:40 pm
Location: Grand Rapids, MI

Re: "World's Largest PWD Track" coming to town

Post by JSG »

Well we kind of whipped a car together. Drilled alot of lead out of last years 8oz. open class car. Polished and bent a set of axles to 2.5 degrees neg on the rear & 2.5 [junk] on the front dom. We set up the rears inside out. I really like that settup with the new style wheels. About 5/8th's COM (might be a little aggressive for the long flat?). I envision a scene from the 6 million dollar man about half way down the flat "SHE'S BREAKIN' UP!" "SHE'S BREAKIN' UP!" We'll see how it goes. I just want him to be able to say he did it.
User avatar
FatSebastian
Pine Head Legend
Pine Head Legend
Posts: 2803
Joined: Wed Jun 17, 2009 2:49 pm
Location: Boogerton, PA

Re: "World's Largest PWD Track" coming to town

Post by FatSebastian »

JSG wrote:I envision a scene from the 6 million dollar man about half way down the flat...
:lol: You should be alright as long as Damper 3 doesn't blow out.

Treat us to a pic or video if you can. Have fun!
JSG
Master Pine Head
Master Pine Head
Posts: 125
Joined: Mon Feb 15, 2010 2:40 pm
Location: Grand Rapids, MI

Re: "World's Largest PWD Track" coming to town

Post by JSG »

Well it was pretty dissappointing today. They put alot of effort into setting up the track but I don't think any of them really knew what they were doing. It was a wooden track about 175' feet long. It started at a height of around 20' and was a gradual decline up to about the last 30' where it flattened out. It wasn't very straight. It sort of slightly snaked alot of the way down. What ended up happening is that cars never got any speed (maybe the pace of a jog) and they bounced back and forth until they flipped over at low speed (almost all the cars I saw had troubles). A guy would come along with a broom head on a long handle and sort of sweep the cars to a guy standing on the next section of scaffolding. He would set them back on the track. It was a real cluster so we decided to pass and check out the rest of the Scout Day show. Not many cars even made it to the end of the track. There wasn't even a stop section. Oh well, I guess the sayings true "Bigger isn't always better". I still can't figure out why they set up all that scaffolding to suspend the track like that what a waste of effort. I just hope our council didn't actually pay somebody to set it up.
User avatar
FatSebastian
Pine Head Legend
Pine Head Legend
Posts: 2803
Joined: Wed Jun 17, 2009 2:49 pm
Location: Boogerton, PA

Re: "World's Largest PWD Track" coming to town

Post by FatSebastian »

JSG wrote:There wasn't even a stop section.
Sounds like they didn't need it! :unsure: Thanks for reporting back, JSG - very informative.
derbydad3
Journeyman
Journeyman
Posts: 41
Joined: Sat Jan 23, 2010 3:24 pm
Location: Southern, WI

Re: "World's Largest PWD Track" coming to town

Post by derbydad3 »

quadad wrote:
derbydad3 wrote:Quaddad, where did you see video's of the races?
The Milwaukee Wave (along with others) had a booth at our Council's Scout Festival last weekend. They ran an endless-loop tape (DVD I assume) of the racing in their booth. Very nice representative there was interested in the Scout community opinion for next year.

Did you see any difference with cars having 1999 mold versus 2009 mold wheels on that track ?
Unfortunately I didnt see which cars had which wheels. we ran two cars with the 2009 wheels and one car with the 1999 and the car with the 1999 wheels was just a hair slower (just a little over a car length)
Post Reply