District track Tune? what to do?

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ngyoung
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Re: District track Tune? what to do?

Post by ngyoung »

You get consistent steer if started in the same place? It sounds like it could be your staging on the board that's causing the issue. Do you have marks to line up the car consistently each time? You need to make sure you're doing it the same each time. Glass would make an ideal surface. I used a full length mirror until one our kids broke it. If it isn't staging you may have a dip in the board or a slight twist. Hard to really tell though without seeing it in person.

For the 1/16th cutback, it isn't necessary like you said with the neg cant rear and positive dfw. The rear wheel riding 1/8"off the rail is good if it is staying consistent down the rail.

Are the rears 1/8" from the rail when the back is staged centered over the rail? You could also mark the back of the car to line up with the rail so when staging the rear wheel you were tracking is starting the same 1/8" away. That's kind of an advanced staging technique.

The thought behind that is the rear may not want to stay centered over the rail when the dfw is engaged with the rail. The rear still tracks straight down the lane without touching. So a lot of guys that get really into their staging try to line the rear wheels up at that position right from the start so the car doesn't waste energy shifting into the position. The effect is miniscule but for the really competitive derbies they're fighting for any extra 0.0001 second.
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pwrd by tungsten
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Re: District track Tune? what to do?

Post by pwrd by tungsten »

The rear wheels have say 2.5 oz on the left. 1.8 oz on the right and the front has say .8 ounces. This is just an example and made up. But the key is to note that you do not want the rears to touch the rail as they have more weight on them than the front....

Most of my cars are 2.75" drift. Not sure about the varying measurements. I have a 4' long shelf from lowes that I place a role of tape under to supply slope. I usually take the best out of ten. :-)
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Re: District track Tune? what to do?

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Our car tracks straight along rail. When staging, I've been as accurate as possible . Our method by using a block of wood smaller than wheel base that I place on the line at startnof slope. Then place body of car(ndfw side) against that block while making sure rears are pulled out and DFW against body . Then with my finger held down on table to chock car from rolling, I move the block of wood and pull finger away from car as forward motion. Seems accurate to me but drift results still vary within different zones of our test board. Aside from board method, I've noticed that our DfW is not all that angled looking. Im thinking its running rather flat (as on all tread) according to graphite picking up on both sides of tread. I can't slip a piece of paper under inside edge of wheel. ( should I be able to at 1.5*?) Maybe our 1.5 *hole isn't quite there. Or our axle is slightly tapered. I may prep another axle. I'm running out. We prepped 9. All our axles may have been filed just a tad too much near burrs on head. Car.runs nice on board , but Do you guys think running the micro positive camber ( almost flat) dfw will hinder sticking to the rail even with drift of ...say 3 in 4 ft.?
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Re: District track Tune? what to do?

Post by derbyfever »

Image

so yeah ,this is what our dfw looks like on car.. My scout decided to make a HOT ROD LINCOLN.. its supposed to be "scorcthing" fast. LOL

Image
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Stan Pope
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Re: District track Tune? what to do?

Post by Stan Pope »

Looks really good to me! :)
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pwrd by tungsten
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Re: District track Tune? what to do?

Post by pwrd by tungsten »

Looks like a wonderful car! About the DFW I would not worry...
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derbyfever
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Re: District track Tune? what to do?

Post by derbyfever »

Awesome. Thanks guys! I'll keep you posted on results. Race tomorrow night!
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Re: District track Tune? what to do?

Post by derbyfever »

So far so good. We got 1st in pack on district track tonite .So on to semi finals in the AM. I'm impressed with the RR!
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Re: District track Tune? what to do?

Post by pwrd by tungsten »

derbyfever wrote:So far so good. We got 1st in pack on district track tonite .So on to semi finals in the AM. I'm impressed with the RR!
Congrats!
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derbyfever
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Re: District track Tune? what to do?

Post by derbyfever »

Image

You got to race it to tune it. I know for next year what to do. But it won't be for my kids unfortunately.But I have a NEPHEW who's a bear cub next year!!
I should have taken nyoungs advice more seriously because that was style of winning car at our districts. But we still made out OK.my boy is happy. And man what a fun time all day at the races!!! Thanks to all who helped out with advice!! Our results: 2nd place overall!
Last edited by derbyfever on Sat Feb 07, 2015 12:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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derbyfever
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Re: District track Tune? what to do?

Post by derbyfever »

Here's a picture of my boys cars and trophies from our District finals entire cub scout racing career . Its been super FUN!

Image
Last edited by derbyfever on Sat Feb 07, 2015 3:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: District track Tune? what to do?

Post by gpraceman »

Derbyfever,

I fixed all of your images. If what you are pasting into the forum already has URL tags in it, you do not need to click on the URL button when posting. Just paste the information right into your post.
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derbyfever
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Re: District track Tune? what to do?

Post by derbyfever »

Thanks Graceman admin. Im not too smartphone savvy I guess. I just posted a bunch of pictures at gallery topic.same weird way. Thanks.
ngyoung
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Re: District track Tune? what to do?

Post by ngyoung »

Congrats! Hope your scout had a good time at his final derby. I can't remember if you said it in your earlier posts, was this his best showing at districts? Glad he had a strong finish for his crossover year. How tight of a race did it come down to?

My Tiger placed 2nd at districts last year. Most of his car was done before I really fell down the rabbit hole of Pwd racing. We still had a rail rider with polished wheels and axles but a non ideal drill job and weight placement. When you get to the districts the chances of crossing another serious derby dad get a little higher. Once you're running against others that do wheel and axle polishing that's when the little things start to become a bigger factor. The car that beat his had just a few more things done right to edge out a win.
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Re: District track Tune? what to do?

Post by derbyfever »

Boy was this race competitive. First year I've seen all rail runners on podium. Our district is big. Something like 7 townships here in St Louis county. Lots of scouts participate. It was some very up and down racing for us ..We got runner up at semi final.Then won the middle final to go on to grand championship. Our wheel prep paid off when we beat the same guy that beat us in semifinal ( a Dad was standing in for his missing scout??..hilarious... Scout with beard?:)) Then we barely lost to the first place car at final heat. The winner Boy was running the heavy camber up front. Judging from the attitude of the winner's Mom, I got a strong feeling that they (she)purchased the car preassbled from internet /ebay or something. Can't say for sure, but She wasn't pleasant to talk to at all..too guilty I guess. Lol.
But we had some super "edge of our seats "excitement!

I have to say thanks to the folks that put on and work our district races. They do a great job!!,very fair and well organized..keep up the tradition!! Btw the bearded guy in (1st pic in post )standing next to track is track owner designer and builder.
Built 27 years ago. Its an allumimum laminate sandwiched over poly core. Then top coated enamel. He wouldn't tell.me length but pulled a " Pope" on me..and just said it was to scale for the cars as the equivalent to a quarter mile. ( like I'm supposed to go do the math now)) ha ha ..hmmm?.. Edit- I was preoccupied.. I could have just counted the floor tiles on gym floor..duh.
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