2017 World Championship Pinewood Derby, Times Square, New York City

[optimus]

It's a bummer you guys didn't have a good experience. The only issue I had was their scales were weighing heavy. My council rule state that the car can't weigh more than 141.70g, and that's exactly what it weighed. But on their scale it was weighing .01 oz heavy. Good thing for t-putty. I had no issues with the check in line as I got their at 6:30 and was second in line. My son took 3rd for the wolf's in pro stock. We got got knocked out of the fast 15 in the first round, but we still had a blast. First time their, was hoping just to be competitive. Did alot better than i thought we would.

 

[optimus]

He's already said that he knows what he needs to work on to get ready for next year.

 

[ScoutRacer]

Were they using the Maximum Velocity Wheel Gauge to check the diameter and width? I know of two cars that had the inside edges machined that did not have an issue at Inspection.

 

[CTDerbyDad]

The event was great, and the turnout looked huge. I am impressed it ran as well as it did considering the last minute venue change. Long lines are boring and frustrating, but it's a big event. My son's car passed tech for the Stock Division with no issues, but we use stock, not vendor axles and wheels, so I was confident he'd pass. The different scale had me nervous, but that's the same worry at districts. My son finished in the top three in his round, but I'm not sure where he finished overall in his rank. Overall, it was tiring, I hate lines, but I totally awesome day with my son racing a little wooden car we built together. We had a blast at the race and had a blast spending the day in the city.

 

[My05suzuki]

That's where we went wrong, we should've done the stock class. I'm betting 75% of people who signed up for stock class ended up in pro stock. Would've given us a nice Cushing. I wonna say there was only two rounds for stock and 4 for prostock.

 

[FDM]

Were they using the Maximum Velocity Wheel Gauge to check the diameter and width? I know of two cars that had the inside edges machined that did not have an issue at Inspection.

That is a good question. Can that gauge be used on already installed wheels? We used a calliper to check our wheels, all the wheels we had. However all the wheels we had with machined inside edges were out of spec diameter, width or weight wise so we used DD4H BASX wheels and we had no issues with the check in. Overall we had a great day, we took first in the pro stock Bear division and 6th overall. The last few cars were really close so my son now wants to start working on putting fenders on the car to eek out a few thousands more.

 

[ScoutRacer]

That is a good question. Can that gauge be used on already installed wheels? We used a calliper to check our wheels, all the wheels we had. However all the wheels we had with machined inside edges were out of spec diameter, width or weight wise so we used DD4H BASX wheels and we had no issues with the check in. Overall we had a great day, we took first in the pro stock Bear division and 6th overall. The last few cars were really close so my son now wants to start working on putting fenders on the car to eek out a few thousands more.

Yes, the MV Wheel Gauge can be used to measure the wheels on the car. I implemented it two years ago for our Council. It stopped the illegal wheels getting through inspection as our wheel rules only allows the OD and inside edge to be lightly modified. The Gauge inspects for this and the other features can be done visually like coning and lightening.

 

[optimus]

I seen them use micrometer on the wheels. Personally I think they need to train anybody thats running it on how to inspect and handle the cars. They are rough on them cars. The only people that the cars nicely were the cubs and parents. I actually got a little snippy with one of the inspectors and one of the guys staging the cars cause of how they were man handling the cars. Too much time and effort go into those cars to see that happen. Congratulations to you and your boy FMD! Their were some fast cars their. I'm pretty sure a couple of those sub 3sec cars were running oil. Over all it was awsome! Those are the kind of memories that the kids will never forget. I hope we qualify to go next year.

 

[Pacfanweb]

Rules were pretty clear to me on wheels. We used DD4H Rage wheels last year, no problems. They met the rules to the letter.
The weight wasn't an issue....that's what tungsten putty is for. You always have to worry about someone else's scale reading differently from yours. Too many variables for a scale...temp, etc.

Don't get why inside edges got someone DQ'd...the rules clearly state that truing the inside edge is allowed, along with hub mods....for Pro Stock, anyway. Must be something else to the story.

The wait....yeah, that room was a LOT smaller than outside in Times Square. They're checking in 300 cars in one morning (not pro built for the most part, so some have to be reinspected) and that goes slow. And as far as not being able to see the race well....wasn't an issue with the bleachers outside, but unfortunately in your alternate venue it's not going to be as good.

Seems like most had a good time. What times were the best cars running?

 

[Pacfanweb]

I seen them use micrometer on the wheels.

You saw one of THESE being used?

 

[ScoutRacer]

My guess is that too much material was removed from the inside edge making the tread width too narrow and the wheel potentially light. The micrometer is a "C" clamp in the hand of someone that does not know how to use it correctly.

 

[Pacfanweb]

My guess is that too much material was removed from the inside edge making the tread width too narrow and the wheel potentially light. The micrometer is a "C" clamp in the hand of someone that does not know how to use it correctly.

EXACTLY. I would have a huge problem with someone using an actual micrometer on a wheel. You have to have the touch of a surgeon to not compress the wheel and get a true reading, especially if you're just some volunteer who was handed the tool that morning.

 

[optimus]

After seeing that pic, it was digital calipers that they used. I don't know why but I keep getting micrometer and calipers mixed up. I weighed the piece of putty that I took off when i got home and it weighed .03g. I used the scale where I work to weigh the car. I trust that scale more than any other since it gets accuracy checked twice a year by the state because we buy precious metals

 

[optimus]

I think with a larger event like that, they should have multiple inspection lines. TRAINING on how to not man handle the cars is a must for the help! How they handled the cars is the only thing i didn't like.

 

[FDM]

My guess is that too much material was removed from the inside edge making the tread width too narrow and the wheel potentially light. The micrometer is a "C" clamp in the hand of someone that does not know how to use it correctly.

That could be the case, the guy from my pack didn't tell me how much narrower the wheels were than stock, however he told me that the car still met the weight limit after putting stock wheels on and he weighted the car close to the max before.

 

[FDM]

I think with a larger event like that, they should have multiple inspection lines. TRAINING on how to not man handle the cars is a must for the help! How they handled the cars is the only thing i didn't like.

I was surprised they only had one inspection line, from what I saw they did a decent job and handeled everything well. The weight is always a risk, your at the mercy of their scales. Thats why we also use tungsten putty as a buffer for the weight. Easy to remove if needed.
I think the worst I saw during the event was the cars flying through the air on the stop section of the pro stock track. This was fixed later, but I think the damage was already done to a couple of cars.

 

[FDM]

I seen them use micrometer on the wheels. Personally I think they need to train anybody thats running it on how to inspect and handle the cars. They are rough on them cars. The only people that the cars nicely were the cubs and parents. I actually got a little snippy with one of the inspectors and one of the guys staging the cars cause of how they were man handling the cars. Too much time and effort go into those cars to see that happen. Congratulations to you and your boy FMD! Their were some fast cars their. I'm pretty sure a couple of those sub 3sec cars were running oil. Over all it was awsome! Those are the kind of memories that the kids will never forget. I hope we qualify to go next year.

Thanks! I am not sure how they handle the cars, it looked ok to me but in the championship race two cars suddenly slowed down during the best of 8 race, finishing almost 0.5 car length behind us, this while one of those cars had beaten us by a hair in the previous round. I always wonder if people are
running oil or lighter wheels, but the times of 2.97-2.99 should be possible with graphite. To remove doubt they should just either allow oil to be used, or to ask people to apply some graphite during the check in. Not optimal but if someone is running oil that should slow them down quite a bit.

 

[FDM]

After seeing that pic, it was digital calipers that they used. I don't know why but I keep getting micrometer and calipers mixed up. I weighed the piece of putty that I took off when i got home and it weighed .03g. I used the scale where I work to weigh the car. I trust that scale more than any other since it gets accuracy checked twice a year by the state because we buy precious metals

I think that MV wheel gauge would be a good tool for them, quicker and
less risk of damage than calipers. Just set the rules for wheel size according to this gauge.

 

[CTDerbyDad]

Like I said before, my son had fun. At the same time he was disappointed with a couple of his finishes. That should motivate hime for next year's races at the pack, district and hopefully the Worlds again.

 

[B_Regal Racing]

you all should race each other at the next RMD race...