Pine wood derby

Of course it's my phone. That number's been posted here before in the "Clique" thread.

"Pig Snot" on the axles....just sayin

[Red Rider]

Go to the hobby store - get a couple of those model rocket engines.

[trmn8r]

polish the axles for sure, graphine not wax or soap, axles need to be 100% true wheels gots to be absolutely straight, turn down the wheels no need to be 1/4" wide or whatever they are, use a lathe or whatever you can, put mine on a screw with nut to lock them on, then put that in a dremel tool, turn them down to where tread part is shaped like ^ that. max weight at front, hollow out the rear to make it lighter for more weight up front if you can. Best thing you can do is make sure axles and wheels are perfectly true so it runs straight down without touching sides AT ALL.

where I work plant manager was into NASCAR TO much, we had a pinewood derby type race about 4 years in a row, till he left (all the cars were NASCAR themed). The last year the grand prize was a trip to Richard Petty driving school, (just the school not the transportation to Texas Motor Speedway etc.) My daughters car lost by .001 seconds for the grand prize... second place was a NASCAR trash can... still bitter about that loss ... kind of a disparity between first and second place I thought ... but its a nice trash can even though it has Bobby Labonte on it

[GPO03Fatboy]

check your local rules and see how close they are going to check. The larger troops will be tight. The smaller ones are sometimes loose. If they are tight you just have to be trickier. You can turn the wheels so they have a light ridge in the middle. They'll look flat but lose the rolling resistance. They make jigs to straighten the axles and to true the axle holes in the wood block. The big thing is deburring the inside of the head of the axle nail. After that you can spin them in an electric drill with progressively finer crocus cloths until they are mirror smooth - use at least 1200 grit if not 1600. Graphite works for the axles and is legal. Teflon lubricants are faster. If you go for teflon, don't let the local kid at the track fill your axles with graphite between runs. Check the wheels. The castings are numbered. Go through the boxes until you get a matched set. It you aren't turning them on a lathe, they will at least be close this way. Some say weight in the front others say just ahead of the rear axle. I like the mid approach. It keeps the wheels down but lets the front ease up as the curve in the track starts to bend back up. Try to balance it on 3 wheels. (you can bend one front axle up slightly.) It will reduce the rolling friction even more. If you don't have a scale, take the car to the Post Office to weigh. You want the weight maxed out. They sell tungsten weights for the car, to let you hit the limit precisely but not have a sheet of lead hanging off it. If you do max the weight, make sure you have a small bb of weight you can take off. The track scale may not be as accurate as yours and the judge could tell you to shave the car at the weigh in. And, for the ultimate car, try this place - http://www.maximum-velocity.com/specialty_tools.htm

[Rock]

U fags! The dam kids don't have a chance with fathers like you out there.


Oh yeah, be sure to make sure there are no squares spots on the ride. Sand everything down, until you can use the finest sand paper you can get our hands on.



Shaddup...I won my league too in the scouts.

[Drifting Easy]

Originally Posted by GPO03Fatboy

check your local rules and see how close they are going to check. The larger troups will be tight. The smaller ones are sometimes loose. If they are tight you just have to be trickier. You can turn the wheels so they have a light ridge in the middle. They'll look flat but lose the rolling resistance. They make jigs to straighten the axles and to true the axle hole in the wood block. The big thing is deburring the inside of the head of the axle nail. After that you can spin them in an electric drill with progressively finer crocus cloths until they are mirror smooth - use at least 1200 grit if not 1600. Graphite works for the axles and is legal. Teflon lubricants are faster. If you go for teflon, don't let the local kid at the track fill your axles with graphite between runs. Check the wheels. The castings are numbered. Go through the boxes until you get a matched set. It you aren't turning them on a lathe, they will at least be close this way. Some say weight in the front others say just ahead of the rear axle. I like the mid approach. It keeps the wheels down but lets the front ease up as the curve in the track starts to bend back up. Try to balance it on 3 wheels. (you can bend one front axle up slightly.) It will reduce the rolling friction even more. If you don't have a scale, take the car to the Post Office to weigh. You want the weight maxed out. They sell tungsten weights for the car, to let you hit the limit precisely but not have a sheet of lead hanging off it. If you do max the weight, make sure you have a small bb of weight you can take off. The track scale may not be as accurate as yours and the judge could tell you to shave the car at the weigh in. And, for the ultimate car, try this place - http://www.maximum-velocity.com/specialty_tools.htm

Cool!! Thanks for all the advice and the link I'm also thinking about a little sabotage in the parking lot if you know what I mean

Amateurs.
Proven winner.
Correct phone number.

Originally Posted by Totenkopf

Body shape has no effect except for a pleasing appearance.

Are you sure? The 43 car looks a lot faster than the 7 car.

Just sayin'

[vindex1963]

Originally Posted by nhrafan

Are you sure? The 43 car looks a lot faster than the 7 car.
Just sayin'

That's funny.

[rk custom]

Originally Posted by nhrafan

Are you sure? The 43 car looks a lot faster than the 7 car.

Just sayin'

it came to this
and should have

[Drifting Easy]

My son got his kit tonight, I quickly snatched it out of his little sweaty hands he put up a little fuss and my wife was embarrassed but I got over it. Now it says on the box " your kit contains bla, bla, bla, paint, race, and WIN...I was wondering what legal recourse do I have if I don't win?...because it says on the box I have all I need to win.

It's going to be a long build process, I'm going to take my time and do it right, I will try and post pictures of the build process. I may farm out the precision work to Gray, I haven't called him yet (I'm afraid it might be some crazy phone sex number) maybe I'll call when I have some time to myself.
Any how thanks for the tips guys, I'll try and get some pics up.


Any one know where I can find a shop manual that also has the torque specs?

[duhast]

I build Du jr's years ago, and it should have won but because of bracketing got beat by a slower car.

It was the "Indy Roadster" style, green metalflake, and the weight maxed out. I used .38 spl 158 grain cast SWC at the rear.

OK. Here's my logic for putting the weight where I did. Please, someone with better understanding of physics than I have explain if I am wrong.

I observed that at the start the cars are inclined on the track starting gate and when released descend the track to the floor, level out, and run to the line.

So, at the gate, the rear of the car is higher from the floor that the rest of the car. This means that the rear of the car falls farther than the front of the car. Falling weight equals acceleration.

Now, it's not much, but may be as much as several inches and may be an advantage.

Am I wrong?

[Thorns]

Don't give your kid steroids...it doesn't help.

Thorns

[Drifting Easy]