3 or 4 wheels

[Rocket car]

I've been looking at our rules for scouts district race and nowhere in the rules does it say you have to use 4 wheels. Is there much of a speed gain??? The car has rear fenders. If it is worth alot then I will possibly do it, but will definitely get questioned at the inspection. I have never seen a three wheeler at our district however, but all of the top 20 cars all have lifted wheels out of 120 total. I am doing everything by the book as best I can, but our rules are horribly written..

In other words is it worth the argument ???

 

[pony express]

I'd put all four wheels on. If you try the three wheel car. I'd bring the fourth wheel with you to put on after the inspection rejection.

 

[Rocket car]

The problem is the car will need to be reweighted and retuned. I can't do all that 10 mins.before the race.

 

[Chief]

If you have 4 wheels on the car but only 3 are touching then I would leave it be, however if ou have 4 wheels touching then I think it would be worth your time and effort to only have 3 wheels touching.

 

[pony express]

Play it safe and go with the four wheels, you'll be glad you did. There's a reason no one else comes with just three wheels. I've thought about it before too. Just get your wheels polished and the axles prepped and sand smooth the wheel contact areas on the body. Use a good polish on these contact areas. Let it dry for ten minutes and then rub graphite into these areas. When you put your wheels on use a plastic card instaed of the metal gauge to gap your wheels. I've noticed the metal gap tool would scrape my the contact area. If you must remove your wheels, be sure to look at the hubs to be sure the're not scratched. The metal will scratch the delicate hubs.The hub surface has to be perfect where it contacts the body. If I have a tough time getting a wheel off, usually it's the hub that gets tore up. If it is scratched just take 1500 grit paper and mildly sand it smooth again. This usually takes care of scratched inside hubs.

 

[pony express]

If you go with the three wheels, bring two identical cars one prepped for three wheels and the other prepped for four.

 

[DerbyDad4Hire]

I am the opposite. I would go with the pin and make them show you in the rules where it is illegal. It will knock .01 off your time. Make sure you have some tungsten putty bringing your car to 5oz so if you have to pull the wheel off then it will be easy to remove weight. The tuning won't be that big of an issue.

Pony is right though, they will try and say it isn't allowed.

 

[W racing]

Great idea on the two cars. You could also try Getting it in writting before hand.

 

[Rocket car]

I'm a pretty advanced builder and have thought about racing in league . Our rules for district are fine for those who don't know all the technical things, but for those who know a lot "me" our rules are very vague and leaves lots of room for "interpretation". So it becomes a guessing game as to what will make it through inspection this year. Frustrating !!!

 

[ZZ Racing]

My son and I went thru this same problem last year. We had no problems at the pack but districts tried to say it was not allowed until they couldn't show it in the rules and backed down. My boys car was in another time zone. Run three

 

[Quicktimederby]

WAnderson ran a 3wheel car at our districts. They tried to not let it go but the "rules in the box" don't say it has to run all 4 wheels. They let him run and he won. If you do it you will be called "cheater" but haven't we all been called that?

 

[Rocket car]

I believe in 2010 our rules were tightend up because of one of our dads try to push the rules, his 2 sons raced that year and won 1st and 3rd in our district and then the rules were amended. Do you push it and make them be more specific or do you be accused of cheating by others. Hmmmm

 

[pony express]

The packs tend to change the rules after someone has beaten everyone by a mile. That's why we're seeing more rules against canted and bent axles. My advice is to not discuss how you and your son build the car so they can't change the rules. There are lots of sore losers out there. Poor sportsmanship to the max.

 

[txchemist]

over 30 years ago, my sons put on such a whupping, the Elementary school Pack added lots of rules. Today- they still have most of those those rules.
No- 3 wheeler, 4 on the floor to make it fair
No- Tungsten ( back 30 years ago, not very easy to get so it was banned as unfair) today it has been refined to just those zinc weights you can buy.
only use the slots
ONLY accept the BLACK Graphite DRY POWDER Lubrication (Graphite-Moly is unfair)
No aftermarket parts- BSA kit only

Many Packs have dumb rules they put in because of wrong headed thinking over the years, but I am proud to have caused them to change so long ago. The sad thing is the Pack probably has 100% cheating going on according to the rules because they can not enforce the rules. They just descend on the winner and attempt to disqualify it after the races- about the worst way to run a race. If they can't disqualify it, they add another rule for next year.

 

[Rocket car]

I think I will show up at the race with 4 wheels on the car . Tune the car with 4 wheels on it. Then I will ask about running 3 . My question is if they let me remove the wheel, in order to bring up the weight again, do I place the 2 grams of lost weight underneath or around the fdw so that it doesn't change the com??? Com is 5/8 on 5 3/8 wheelbase..

 

[cooleyracing]

What about moving that "extra" front wheel to rear? Technically it has all four wheels but only one on the front?

 

[Rocket car]

Hmmm. Car has rear fenders though. Must see axles in a slot.