Derby Talk

They had the Cubmobile race today.


My son took 1st place in his bracket.


I let another person also use the car in another bracket.

He ended up getting 2nd with it. On one of the heats, the brake got dragged down the run, So he lost that time. Then they raced for 1st and 2nd place. That time down, he wiggled alot. Had trouble keeping a strait line.

Was a close finish. But ended up with second place with it.

I am a little sunburnt today !

Sporty

Good news Sporty!


Bit of advice?

Sunscreen


I too got burnt bad at this year's CMB as I realized it was my first time outta the house all year since the weather got warm....

-Terry

Any pictures?

I have pics. when I get a chance I will get them posted.

Sporty

Pics

my Scanner is not in the best shape these days,


but here is another pic.



Sporty

Looks like the boys are leaning over or are they "pumping" the cars?



I thought about teaching my son to try and pump the car then decided against it (laughing!).

Awesome finish line pic!


-Terry

He sits up for the ramp, after he comes down the ramp, then he leans forward.

No pumping, actually found it slows the car down.


Sporty

Kind of a single pump. Thanks for posting the pictures. It looks like a ton of fun. Wonder if I could get the subdivision boys/girls and dads to do such a race. The kids would love it this summer.

One thing for certain, our District could learn from your ramps not being 4 feet high and 12 feet long!

Our ramp scares folks away…

with good reason.


I’m surprised even a single pump adds any benefit unless it is aerodynamic benefits.

Guess it is a way of getting a touch more gravity energy by moving the COM down just at the bottom of the ramp?

If you leaned forward on the straight I don’t think it would help.

Have I got this right?


-Terry

He does not lean off the ramp, to get as much tail weight as possible and gain maximum potential energy off the ramp.

But soon off the ramp, he leans forward to shift the balance of the cars weight more towards balance.

As if he stayed strait up, then the balance would be more towards the rear instead of the middle of the Cubmobile.

The goal is that it give good balance and even pressure on the wheels, to reduce drag and tail weight.

To try and not loose all the energy he just gained off the ramp as quick as the others.

And a little bit of aerodynamics comes into play, but not much. As the speeds are low enough, it have little affect.

His car is not center balanced with him sitting strait up, but leaning forward it is.

Just takes time with him, when mounting the seat on the frame.

Sporty

How much effect does the driver have on the results? Or is it mostly the car?

I think the driver has a impact on the race.


It's how you look at it.


If the driver can keep the car strait, uses the lane inside of the lane that is better to run on. Than say the middle or side.


Driver mistakes make up a good portion of the kids who do not do well.


But on the other hand.


Almost just as important is the car, the set up and how well it is built.


The things that you look for, are not always seen so easily. In telling if hay thats a good and fast car.


So I always look for a few things on the car that can tell me if the car was good. Then It's about how good the driver is also.


Certainly the better car has more of a chance to do better, even with a so so driver.


Now, even if you have a great driver but a poor car. There is little hope of doing well.


If you have a great car, to start off with, atleast as the driver gets better. Then you dont have to start all over with re-doing the car.

Sporty

My son clearly won a race with a well timed 'pump' off the start line.

This is the pack's first year, first of all. We saw it in his first final heat, (well the first time we noticed?) We had a steep hill, so no need for ramps. I had parents holding the cars with 'the foot on the axel.' One started notice, just as he lifted my son leaned forward. I had not seen that, put I did see the 1 foot lead he had within the first 5 feet of track.

This did back-fire on him in heat 2, as he pumped to early... regardless, that first move did pay off.

Again, being the first year of CMR, it was all very casual, as 'to the rules' as possible. Next year we will have a cleaner starting gate or release.

Congrats TRE-357 To you and your son !

The first year is the best year I have always felt.

The excitement and learning process. Most carry that over into the following year and so on.

The events get better as more is learned and done.


I was lucky enough that my son really liked it and wanted to do it more. So before I knew it we were loading them up in the back of the tracker to take to a hill.

Now, when he got 2nd place this year Soap Box Derby. That was really exciting.

Much tougher and so much more we had to learn again.

I truly think Cubmobile adds to so much experience for young kids. For those who are lucky enough to move onto soapbox derby.

Givens them alot better of a chance at doing well in that field also.


Got to give a hands out to shipman for helping you also with the supplies. That was very nice of him.

Can't say enough about the great people involved in scouts.


Sporty