Harrisburg, PA District Race

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murphken
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Joined: Fri Sep 04, 2009 4:26 pm
Location: Harrisburg, PA

Harrisburg, PA District Race

Post by murphken »

I asked the Scout District Office if they needed help for the District Race in Harrisburg, PA. They said Yes and the race was yesterday. They use an awesome new 6 lane 48" Best Track that was raised. The track was perfect. There is money around this area and the quality of some of the cars was good for Scout-type racing.

The scouts had a blast and the bleachers were full of parents and others. We had the scouts count down to start a race and they liked it.

I was inspecting cars at the start. Total of 51 cars. I inspected the first five cars > no issues. The sixth car had the 2 gram wheels, sold on Amazon. I called the situation out to the race coordinator. He asked if I brought some wheels along and I said I had stock wheels with bore preparation. He said to replace the 2 grams with the stock wheels I brought. My bore preparation process is what the Pro Racers use.

I took the wheels off the car. The parent bent the axles to much and the wheels would not come off the axles. Then, I measured the axles and they were .093" Chinese axles. I had a set of my canted/RR axles and the coordinator said to go ahead and use my axles.

I had to add water to the slots because my stock BSA axles were too loose. I did the best I could and did a 30 second tune, rolling it three times on about five feet of the track. The car passed inspection and the snugness of the axles in the car body were suspect.

The race started and we had our hands full with six cars/race and our space for moving cars around was a tad tight. I had to repair three cars during the race.
Anyway, the car that fitted my wheels and axles was up to race. That darn car smoked the track record on that first run. Everybody immediately looked at me and I just smiled.

During the first intermission, a bunch of parents came up to me and asked who I was since I was not wearing a uniform. I told them I was helping out and ran Scout Derbies when my Son was in these activities.

I got to stage cars after intermission. It came back to me fairly fast since I have not staged a car in over ten years. I told the coordinator that I would try to break the track record again. There were a couple of cars that were really fast and loose.

That 48' foot track appeared to use-up the power in the wheel bores and I did not get another track record out of any of the fast cars. The car that I fix dropped-off after the first run. I suspect that I lost the the alignment on the rear cants.

Looking back, the district should probably not let the car race under these circumstances. It is not fair to the other scouts. In addition, they should not let Old Murph repair cars at the race > I still got it Guys. The car with my wheels/axles took third in his division. He would have taken first if the alignment would of held.

Three pack leaders asked me to help with their workshops and I said yes. The district asked me to come back next year. I said I would but asked if I could help the re-write their rules. They agreed. Right now, they have a thesis.
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Re: Harrisburg, PA District Race

Post by Eagle »

Sounds like a great day all around.
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