GIVE ME YOUR 2 CENTS

[ffruff22]

My son just had his second pw bsa derby. We finished second place in our den and 6th in the pack (The top 12 fastest cars run in the final - the times are determined by the total of lane times).

His car was .0387 seconds behind the 1st place car in the finals. We finished sixth place last year also with the same person winning, we were .120 seconds behind.

Is there anything else that w can do to get more speed out of the car? Or is .0387 something that is just due to set-up on the starting line and track irregularties?

His car is a small wedge, 1/2" tall in the rear tapered to 3/8" in the front. The center is cut out and the wood weighs about 1 oz The block was baked prior to cutting.

We have to use the original nail slots which I drilled to ensure proper tracking of the nail.

The wheels were shaved true and a matched set no.4. The inside bore was polished along with coneing the hub (which was polished). The outside was lightly sanded, polished and wheeled out with graphite and towel.

the axles were filed (small taper on head), straightened and polished to a mirror with 2 micorn paper as the final sand

tungsten weight was used with a CG about 3/4" in front of rear axle.

we ran true over 6'

i used a graphite moly as a lube and broke the wheels in by hand and with a dremel. The lube was applied with a brush into the hub.

Some ideas I had were placing wheel in a bag o graphite and shaking them for a period of time to ensure that everything was coated

relocating the weight rearward to place it about a 1/4" in front of the axle.

Your thoughts?

Thanks!

[Lucky 13]

Sounds like you built a very good car !! Does it have a raised front wheel ? or do you have to have 4 on the floor ? How about lightened wheels ? allowed or not ? Don't put the axles and wheels in the baggie with graphite !! I think if you move your cog any farther back you might run into some stability problems !! Try switching to Hobe-E-Lube. What kind of track are you racing on ? If it's a good track you can try rail riding to pick up some time.

Lucky 13

[ffruff22]

we cannot raise any of the wheels (although the left front barely touches). We cannot use lightened wheels either. We are running on a 32' wood 3 lane track. It has been around a while, but is still very smooth. We put a 80# weight on it to create the bend.

The track is made out of 4, 8' sections. The race distance is closer to 29'.

His average time for the 3 lanes was 7.6243 (grandprix race manager). So that comes to 2.5414 per run.

I am not familiar with "rail-riding"?? Willing to look into it though....

[Sappington R]

How did your car look in the runs? Stable, Wobble?, side to side against the rail? It could be that the weight needs to come forward a 1/4". any video's to see?

[ffruff22]

the car seemed to run without any noticable wobble. I did not think that it looked unstable either, they were nice solid runs. I did not notice any drifting, though I am sure it had to do a little down the length of the track. I could probably try to work on the alignment more.

[ProQuest]

Welcome ffruff22:

Don't give up!!! There is always (and I mean ALWAYS) more speed to be found. The guy who is winning seems to have found some. The time differential you described -- .0387 seconds -- is way to big to be a function of stagging. There is no reason why you can't go just as fast or faster.

From what you described you know a lot about PWD and already build a nice car. You should consider trying some more advanced building techniques like rail riding and axle canting. I would not go any more aggressive with the center of gravity. If your cog is only 3/4" in front of the rear axle, you are already aggressive enough, maybe too aggressive. I certainly would not go with less than that. There is a ton of information on this board about rail riding and canting.

You have lots of time between now and next year to try them out. Truthfully, the best way to improve is to try different things, race the cars and seen what works. The monthly Proxy races are great for that. Over the course of the past year, my average times in the Pure Stock division have improved significantly.

Read, ask questions, and send a car in from time to time to test yourself. Not only will you get faster, you will have a blast.

ProQuest/Steve H.

[JustaDad]

ProQuest, you mentioned monthly proxy races? I would like to more about these races. Can you explain further.

[Lucky 13]

Justadad, You can check out www.pwdracing.com and www.wirlracing.com for info on monthly proxy racing. All the division rules and info, including race dates, times and were to send you cars can be found there. PWDRacing is based in Minnesota and WIRL is based in Georgia. Once a month you ship your cars to them and they race them for you. You watch the races live over the Internet and you can talk to the other racers during the event if you have Yahoo Instant Messenger. After the racing is over the cars are shipped back to you. If there is anything we can help you with to get you started, please don't hesitate to ask.

[Sappington R]

Hey Bob,
Nice new graphics on your post. How do you do that? I feel like I am in the dark ages

Doug

[ProQuest]

Hey justadad:

Lucky beat me to the punch and answered your question better than I could have. The Pinewood Derby Racing League is having its February proxy race on Saturday at around 1:00 Eastern. This would be a great opportunity to see what it is all about. You can view the race live and instant message with other racers during the race. If you have a Yahoo Messenger account you can even join an audio conference during the race and talk live with other racers. Here's how that works:

If you don't have a yahoo messenger account, get one. Just go to www.yahoomessenger.com and follow the prompts to open an account. Then send a p.m. or email to me or to Derby Doc and give one of us your yahoo name. We will add you to our friends list and invite you to the audio conference just before the race. When the invitations are sent out a screen will magically appear on your computer that says you are being invited to the audio conference. Once you are in, one of us will ask Warren Kalsow to invite you to his webcam. Again a little screen will appear on your computer inviting you to join the web broadcast. All you do is click "yes"

You will need a headset and microphone to hear and talk. It is a little tricky, but you'll catch on fast. Like I said, the race on Saturday will be a great way to see what this proxy racing is all about.

ProQuest/Steve H.

[Lucky 13]

sappingtonr said:

Hey Bob,
Nice new graphics on your post. How do you do that? I feel like I am in the dark ages

Doug

Doug,
Check out www.cooltext.com for some neat graphics. You will need a host site to upload the finished product too. I use www.photobucket.com.

Lucky 13

[Sappington R]

Thanks Lucky, Will Do.

[Sappington R]

Lucky, I went to both of those sights and designed my avatar/logo. It's now on photo bucket (which I also registered for) but I can't figure out for the life of me how to transfer if from that sight to my profile here, under modify profile- Am I going to have to call in the Geek Squad??

[DerbyDoc.com]

sappingtonr said:

Lucky, I went to both of those sights and designed my avatar/logo. It's now on photo bucket (which I also registered for) but I can't figure out for the life of me how to transfer if from that sight to my profile here, under modify profile- Am I going to have to call in the Geek Squad??

ok, go to modify profile, then youll see avatar url. Copy and paste the url code from your photo in photobucket and paste it into the space where it says avatar url. In photobucket acct, it gives about 4 different codes with each pic. One is the html, one is the url, IMG, etc. Im thinking that the avatar needs the url code, but if you want a signature also, then you have to copy one of the other ones and paste it into the signature space in modify profile. I think it will be the IMG code. It will take a little trial and error, but youll get the hang of it.

[Sappington R]

Well By Golly, we finally have a new look ;D Thanks guys. I didn't have to call the geek squad afterall. Ok, I'm no graphic designer, but I'm no door knob either...

When you see Azul (FRED) today- you see the connection.

Less than 2 hours and counting...