Awana Grand Prix Awana

[MWDracing]

I am helping build an Awana car and need some advise. How much weight should the front dominant wheel carry? The car will be ran on an aluminum track, however I don't know the brand or length of the track.

The wheel base on Awana's is shorter than BSA (3-13/16 inches), and the front and back of the block are approximately the same length. The blocks were drilled with "The Block" to 2.5 degree canted rear, and will have a bent dominant front axle to rail ride or rail hug.. The car will have out of the kit wheels and axles modified to the best of my ability with simple shop tools. I will be using John's oil process for wheel prep.

Thanks,
MWD

 

[W racing]

Are you sure you need to use the 3 3/16 wheelbase? Freeze the wheels before working...

Weight on front wheel is directly related to wheelbase and COM + weight of front wheels and axles.

Give me the weight of the wheel and axles on the front and desired COM and I can calculate the weight on scale of DFW.

 

[MWDracing]

Thanks W...
I can also calculate the weight on the front wheel if I know what COG to run.
My problem is that I don't know how aggressive I can go with the shorter wheel base and less than ideal wheel run out.
Can I still get by 5/8" to 3/4" or should I start out more conservative at 3/4" to 1".

Also, thanks for the tip on freezing the wheels. I think that may be helpful. The Awana wheels don't seem to cut too well at room temperature.

Thanks,
MWD

 

[W racing]

The short wheelbase is really short. I would double check wit the rules people. Is that where the slots are?

 

[Quicktimederby]

If it were me I would shot for a more conservative com with such a short wheel base. That 3/4-1inch should be great and stable. Nothing like spending a bunch of time on a car for someone to watch it wobble down the track.

 

[W racing]

Can you push the rear axle back to 5/8" from the end or is that fixed as well?

 

[MWDracing]

The location of the axles has to remain in the original location, including the distance to the rear of the car.

I measured the slot wheel base to 3 3/4".

WRacing....

The dimension I mentioned in the previous post was 3 13/16" not 3 3/16". I got the 3 13/16" wheel base from a pinewood derby vendor web site, and it is close to the measured dimension of 3 3/4".

Thanks everyone,

MWD

 

[W racing]

Here is my thought.

Of course use the wheelbase the rules require. With the nose of the car being the longest of course.

1) Drill if possible the axle holes.

2) Make the car body light so that you can place a lot of added weight in the car.

3) I would even cut the back of the car off (Would need to get written permission from the race master. Likely not worth it.) It serves no purpose though... And adds weight.

4) Use a tungsten DISC 1" weighing 3.8 ounces. DD4H had some of these recently.

5) Place the disc directly in front of the rear axles. The hole for the disc can even just touch the axle line or be 1/16 in front.

6) Build the car wheels and all.

7) Place a 3/8" piece of wood under the car and drop the weight onto the wood. Glue in place. If they use a go-no-go gauge at inspection be a little careful here...

8) bring to weight with tungsten putty.

The car should be plenty stable. The COM will be relaxed. And the added weight will be great.

I like to drill the 1" hole in the bottom of the block a little deeper than the car thickness. Then I bandsaw the car and there is no waist to the block this way.

Also I drill a practice block for the weight hole. Measure. Drill again until I get it right and then drill the actual block. I find that simply drilling the center mark for a 1" hole leaves it off center every time.