1st PWD: advice?

[timinohio]

My son is taking part in his 1st PWD in about a month. It's be a LONG time since I raced in the PWD, but back then, it was simply a matter of adding some lead in a cavity on the underside, and puffing some powdered graphite on the axles.
I've invested about 30 hours in reading this board and the other one, as well as the major PWD accessory/speed websites, but I still have a few questions.
The rules state that:
"Only the wheels and axles that come in the official Scout kit may be used."
"On the wheels and axles you can clean up the manufacturing burs (sic) and molding flashing but no thinning, or re-shaping of wheels in any way."
"Wheel bearings, washers or bushings are prohibited."
"The cars must have all 4 wheels attached to body and touching the track."
"Use dry powdered lubricants only. You may not use any other lubricant, especially oils and silicone sprays. No lubricants may be applied after Inspection is complete."
The usual maximum weight of 5 ounces applies.
The track is an aluminum Best Track in great shape.

My questions:
Axles: I'm thinking I will need to straighten and polish the "factory" axles, and maybe impregnate the axles with graphite with the Dr. Jobe method. I'm undecided about notching the axles so they will have a lubrication reservoir. Do you consider official BSA axles that have been prepped by a third party (straightened, notched, graphited, etc.) to be legal under our rules, and/or am I likely to be able to approximate the benefits of third-party prepped BSA axles myself using available tools and techniques.

Wheels: I was planning on going to the local Scout store (and I'm hearing Hobby Lobby might have parts and pieces, as well) any buying a set of wheels from the same mold, then manually cleaning the molding flash, etc., and polishing the inner bore, hub face, and other potential friction areas. My question on wheels is this: in your opinion, are official BSA wheels from a third party that have been prepped, but not thinned or re-shaped (prohibited in our rules) permitted - i.e. wheels that have been sanded, or lathed to near perfect roundness.

Rail riding: With all 4 wheels required to touch the track, I am planning on slightly raising 1 front axle, just enough so that the wheel contacts the track, but to the point where the axle isn't touching the bottom of the inside wheel bore. Is rail-riding as advantageous when all 4 wheels are required to be in contact with the track?

Weight: I'm thing COG about .75 inches forward of the rear axle.

Thanks in advance for any help!

TimInOhio

[Art Racing]

The choice between third party axles and wheels will be up to you they will be better than what you can make on your own most of the time if you buy BSA axles and the BSA derby worx wheels they are still the same type of axles ans wheels that come in the kit so you would have to make that call.I would also rail ride with four wheels down shave a 1/16 off both sides and make your non dominate wheel just barley touch the track I have had good luck with that set up in the past. Hope this helps.

[derbydominator]

On third party axles, just make sure they are actual bsa axles to start with. There are a number of third party axles that are not bsa but I believe most websites would differentiate. You can purchase third party bsa axles with or without grooves. I would not recommend grooving yourself unless you have a drill press. If you are using positive camber on the front dominant wheel, then do not use grooves on that axle.

On third party wheels, again make sure that you start with bsa wheels. Most websites will have regular bsa wheels either matched and unprepped or wheel tread prepped only or a mixture of other prep work. For your rules however, I imagine that the third party wheels would be illegal if they have any tread prep as althought that is a very light machining of the outer tread, it is still a weight reduction. You can get mold matched wheels from most websites and then do your own prep to the tread, wheel bore, outer wheel hub, inner rim and inner wheel hub. If you are going to a scout store, then buy enough wheels so that minimally you have two of one mold number and two of another mold number and keep same numbers for front and same numbers for back.

You can run a car with a 4 wheel rail rider. Cant the back wheels with negative camber (wheels running to axle head) and forward dominant wheel either with positive camber (axle bent downward preferred) or with negative camber like the rears. In either case, the non dominant front wheel with be set to run straight. A 4 wheel rail rider is still advantageous due to ease of alignment, stability and speed. The difference is minimal between a 4 and 3 wheel rail rider vs. not doing the rail rider at all. COG at .75 is fine with a rail rider.

Sorry for the long reply but hope that helps!

Darryl
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