Why this Rule - Minimum Wheelbase

General race coordinator discussions.
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idpwdnut
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Why this Rule - Minimum Wheelbase

Post by idpwdnut »

Yet another rule that I do not understand.

Cars must have no less than a 4" wheelbase.

I know I have seen that one on this board also, in fact I believe that the rule here came from where I saw that rule there.

So why would that one make a difference. Again I am looking at the teams ability to creativily design their car.
Rukkian
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Re: Why this Rule - Minimum Wheelbase

Post by Rukkian »

In most instances, this would not be an advantage, and would cause stability issues. One possible reason is that a very short wheelbase could potentially cause issues with the car bottoming out on the curve, it the section before or after the wheels was too long.
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Darin McGrew
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Re: Why this Rule - Minimum Wheelbase

Post by Darin McGrew »

Is there also a rule that cars must have no more than 4.5" wheelbase? If so, then it may just be a variation on the "use the standard wheelbase" with a nominal wheelbase of 4.25", plus or minus 0.25".

Or, as Rukkian suggested, they could be concerned about the nose/tail of the car scraping on the curve of the track. Or perhaps they've had experience with unstable cars, and blamed it on shortened wheelbases.

Or perhaps someone on the rules committee thinks that short wheelbase cars have an unfair advantage.

Personally, I don't see a problem with changing the wheelbase in either direction, as long as the car still fits the track.
rpcarpe
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Re: Why this Rule - Minimum Wheelbase

Post by rpcarpe »

PWDnut,
Where'd you find these crazy rules? Is someone actually using them?
My wife started a new support group... Widows of the Pinewood Derby.
idpwdnut
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Re: Why this Rule - Minimum Wheelbase

Post by idpwdnut »

Rukkian wrote:One possible reason is that a very short wheelbase could potentially cause issues with the car bottoming out on the curve, it the section before or after the wheels was too long.
I can see that being a concern. I have a Microwizard track with a "natural" curve and we have not had that problem, even with some goofy long noses. Maybe on a BesTrack preformed curve, it might be a problem.
Darin McGrew wrote:Or perhaps someone on the rules committee thinks that short wheelbase cars have an unfair advantage.
Like I mentioned in the other thread, do we want to limit the learning phase for people, sometimes failure is the best teacher. I am thankful for my own personal derby fails, my son and I grow closer when we started researching how to make a car go faster
rpcarpe wrote:PWDnut,
Where'd you find these crazy rules? Is someone actually using them?
These are not all in one set of rules. I should have clarified that. I just did a roundtable session on pinewood derby and we talked about rules, a couple come from that and the others are ones that came from other packs. However they are all from my local area. But as they say, "You couldn't make this stuff up."
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