1st Place Districts today

[LightninBoy]

Thanks for everyone's help. My boy took 1st in Districts today. He and another boy were swapping back and forth for track record. The track was very long. It had a long shallow slope and a very long, level section at end. Nobody could tell me how long the track was. It was black and looked like a high density plastic or fiber of some kind, with red, yellow, green and blue lanes. I suppose it could've been anodized black aluminum. The supports were all aluminum.

Off to the Mall of America for Council race June 7th.

Oh man, I think I know the guy who owns that track and saw him this weekend. But I forgot to ask him how long it was for you.

Have you been to the MOA Council race before? There are some *fast* cars there. Good competition. Luckily they split all the cubs out by age and they are pretty liberal with the trophies (top 10 in each age group get trophies).

 

[cygnus]

Hey congrats on your son's win at district! The MOA is a great venue for a pinewood derby race. We hope to see your there.

 

[davet]

Those r some cool cars. They look like they've been machined out of aluminum. We'll never get to that level but we're having fun.

 

[IAE Racing]

To answer your tape question DaveT, If you use clear packing tape over the tape and good packing tape on the bottom, It'll be fine. What you can do to help it stick on the bottom is put a fresh piece on then take then back of your knife or something similar and press it in as good as you can. Then rip it off. Apply a fresh piece and press in and you'll be good. Be sure to cover you axle slots while your at it.

 

[davet]

I'll look into that technique. I think someone must have sneezed near the 2nd place car as it went by in one heat and slowed it down. That's how tight it was. There will be other cars faster than ours at the MOA race I'm sure. We should at least try to squeeze what we can out of what we have so we'll bust out the tape. We're gonna stick with our stock kit wheels and axles though. What about a piece of balsa cut to fit flush with bottom? Could spot glue it then cut it off after the race. Shouldn't weigh more than .03 oz or so I'm guessing. I could probably shave close to that weight off the bottom of the side rails...maybe.

 

[IAE Racing]

Tape would be fine. depending on how close to weight you are, the tape it self will add. Don't weaken your com any.

 

[HurriCrane Racing]

 

[HurriCrane Racing]

I saw a post that stated the Mall of America track is a 60' Best track.

 

[Kinser Racing]

Congrats! Good luck at the M of A.

 

[davet]

Advice on COM for a longer track?

 

[cygnus]

Advice on COM for a longer track?

For a Rail Runner, treat the COM the same on a 60' track as you do on a 42' track. Go as aggressive as possible... 1/2"-5/8" in front of rear axles. Try to get at least (12) 1/4" cubes behind the rear axles. Add steer, as much as 5"-6" over 4' if needed, to tame it down and get the wiggles out.

 

[davet]

Thanks. I read another post where it was mentioned that less COM means less weight isolated on rears during the long flat where rear weight isn't powering anymore. I too was wondering if a less aggressive COM would mean less drift needed which in turn means less friction on the long straight. I've never run a track that long and I'm new to this stuff anyways.

I'm going to try offsetting the rear weight to the DFW side for this race. My thinking is this:
1) Less drift needed yet keeping aggressive COM
2) Even weight distribution side to side on rear axles for the long flat section

--Does this make sense or is it way off base?
--Is a car more likely to get the wiggles on a longer track even if it didn't get the wiggles on a shorter track.

 

[cygnus]

No, a car is NOT more likely to wiggle because the track is longer.

I can just tell you what seems to work for us. We run extended wheelbase cars too, and we epoxy two rows of six 1/4" cubes (12 cubes) behind the rear axles. Then epoxy one row of six cubes in front of the rear axles. We do this to for two reasons. ONE: to support the rear axle strut and limit its ability to flex as much as possible, and TWO: to make sure that as much weight as possible is pushed to the back of the car. This keeps the DFW light, and the less weight on the DFW, the less friction when its running the rail. So go as aggressive as possible with your COM, give it enough steer to stop the wiggles, and don't worry about the side to side load on your rear axles. That would be my advice.

 

[davet]

That's what I'll do. Thanks.

 

[ngyoung]

Depending on how we do at district we may be at MOA council race too. May go just to watch and see all the cars.

 

[davet]

Good luck at your District race. Hope to see you at MOA...racing. Pic of your boy's car?

 

[ngyoung]

Looks like I was mistook what the MOA race was. We are in SE MN Game Haven Counsel. We may still go just to watch. I looked at a Google images pic of the event and it looks like the track has a really long slope and short flat. That image was from 2008 though.

 

[davet]

Sounds good. I guess it's now a standard track with an extra 7' section added to the flat.