Off to Districts - need advice!

[DerbyMom0918]

My son defended his Den championship status - 3 years in a row now. He also defeated his entire pack ... so we're headed to Districts, where he won last year.

Last year, his car weighed 4.9 at our pack race and 5.000 exactly at districts. I didn't add anything to it at all, yet it did just fine.

This year at the pack race, my son's car weighed 4.95, and defeated cars that weighed in at exactly 5 oz. Should I worry about purchasing stick on weights that might have to be removed anyway, or should I just "let it ride" - which is what I did on the Pack Race day. Is there a chance that the district scale will show something different? How do you add 0.05 oz anyway?

My husband passed away and it's just my son and myself. I have no building experience (thanks to my bro-in-law! for being such a great derby man!) so the idea of messing something up by adding something terrifies me ....

Any advice is appreciated! My son is super excited! He made some great friends at districts.

[Stan Pope]

Hello, DM!

What a nice quandry!

I would personally not push for extra weight, but if you feel so compelled, it can be done with a small bead of hot glue along the car's center line. 0.05 ounces is a narrow bead about 1 inch long, if I recall correctly. It can be trimmed or removed completely with a pocket knife or craft knife if necessary.

[FatSebastian]

DerbyMom and congratulations to you and your son.

Should I worry about purchasing stick on weights that might have to be removed anyway

What does your great derby man bro-in-law advise? If I were in your position, I would first ask him - it sounds like he knows what he is doing! That way you need not act on any internet advice that makes you or son uncomfortable.

Having said that, I see two promising choices for removable weight in general. One is tungsten putty. Here one drills a wide shallow hole (usually in the bottom rear) and putty is added to or removed from it to bring the weight up to five ounces exactly.

Another incremental weight that is inexpensive yet fairly common is tiny brass screws, providing of course you have a convenient place to put them (again, usually in the bottom rear). If the car is overweight they can be taken out with a few twists of a screwdriver. It is best to drill guide holes for the screws first so they don't split the wood.

The problem with either of these options is that you drill wood. Drilling creates sawdust which can contaminate the wheels if it gets inside the wheel bore. Therefore, options that require any woodworking may not be worth the risk. (If I were drilling the body of an assembled car, I would do so beside a running vacuum cleaner hose to carry away any debris created.)

0.05 ounces is a narrow bead about 1 inch long, if I recall correctly.

The amount of weight we are talking about adding is about equal to the weight of two axle nails. Given the rather low density of hot glue, I would have thought more glue might be needed?

[Stan Pope]

0.05 ounces is a narrow bead about 1 inch long, if I recall correctly.

The amount of weight we are talking about adding is about equal to the weight of two axle nails.

Maybe my memory is playing tricks on me again ... that happens once in a while as one is sneaking up on 70! (What? A grown man, mostly mature, playing with toy cars???)

Guess I'd better go weigh some axle nails! Oops! Grandson has all my scales at his house! Anybody weigh an axle nail lately???

[pwrd by tungsten]

Sounds like you might be overweight at districts if the scales have not changed...

You might want to be prepared just in case a little needs to come off...

[psycaz]

I'll second the notion that you might be over if the differences in scales are consistant.

I would have some tungsten putty on hand if you feel the need to get it up to the 5 ounces exactly. Easiest stuff to work with.

But that amount of weight is very light. I wouldn't worry about it too much.

[quadad]

Guess I'd better go weigh some axle nails! Oops! Grandson has all my scales at his house! Anybody weigh an axle nail lately???

0.9 grams per axle on my scale.

[Stan Pope]

Guess I'd better go weigh some axle nails! Oops! Grandson has all my scales at his house! Anybody weigh an axle nail lately???

0.9 grams per axle on my scale.

Well, Google say 0.9 g is about 0.03 oz, so my memory misfired. Wonder what a 1" long by 1/8" dia bead of hot glue weighs?

Grandson's cars aligned to 2.472 sec on a stock 4-section Freedom track, a hair faster than his last year's district Wolf winner but still needing to pick up speed. Should survive (make top 4 in grade in) pack races, though. Then we go do some serious digging!

[68sportcoupe]

what i use at check in is lead that comes in the thin sheats flashing.
last year it came in at 4.9 at check in i cut about a 3/4" triangle and used a glue dot to put it on the car whent back and it was 5.0.
you can get glue dots at the craft store they are rery sticky and can hold fore the day or longer easy.
actualy i used the dots and lead to help a bunch of the kids that where light works great.

[FatSebastian]

what i use at check in is lead that comes in the thin sheats flashing.

Mike, from where do you get your lead flashing? (5J's thought it should be available locally, but I have not yet identified a convenient local source...)

[68sportcoupe]

i have had it for years we used to melt it down and make bars when i raced stock cars.
but i believe they sell it at the depot or lowes i know ive seen it at the depot but it came in an 80lb roll maybe they sell less.
i would check with a hardware store or roofing supply.
good luck how much do you need i have an 80lb roll want me to send you some ill never use it all.

[FatSebastian]

i believe they sell it at the depot or lowes i know ive seen it at the depot but it came in an 80lb roll maybe they sell less. i would check with a hardware store or roofing supply.

DerbyMom0918 might want to know where to get some if she decides to act on your advice.

how much do you need i have an 80lb roll want me to send you some ill never use it all.

Thanks for the offer to send some. I actually have a small quantity of flashing that I inherited that I have yet to use up, but I like to ask where people get their lead (Pb) because I have wondered about how I will replace ours once it is all used up and if it is getting harder to acquire because of regulations.

With flat-rate boxes from the USPS that hold up to 70 lbs, shipping lead might actually be more cost effective than it used to be.

[pack529holycross]

here are some items that are very lightweight and can help make up the difference - first you need a "spot" to place them, and a piece of tape to hold them down. - TAPE is the first I would try, because it can be layered and taken off, trimmed and adjusted. a BB - these are very uniform in weight and you can incrementally add up to the limit. PAPERCLIPS - same concept.

[DerbyMom0918]

This is funny -

I went to the local hobby shop while my son was in school. I checked out what they had for weights and then went home to look at the car. I played around with the blue tape that was already on the bottom of the car, and then took the car back to the hobby shop where the guy said he'd weigh it. 5.0 oz exactly! Then I took it to the Post Office ... 5.00 exactly! Go figure!

[FatSebastian]

5.00 exactly! Go figure!

That's great news DerbyMom!

One of the best derby investments we ever made was in an inexpensive pocket scale. Now we own several. Harbor Freight offers more than one scale which can be had in the $10-$15 range - maybe less if you catch them on sale. If you ever find yourself spending time and gasoline driving somewhere to weight a car, a scale can pay for itself pretty quickly.