COM over 1 1/2 inches....

[TimSmithRacing]

The NASCAR body my son is building has a COM of 1.57 (with weights installed)

From what I have read on this forum it sounds WAY forward. I am sure it has to do with the block being so large.

So my questions are,

Is this going to kill speed? If so is it enough to make it noncompetitive?

Is there anything short of hollowing out the entire car I can do? I don't really have to tools to take on that kind of job I think.

 

[Chief]

[font="times new roman, times, serif"]I dont know about hollowing it out, my son did that once and he brought home last place... Questions: What are you using for weight? How much did the car weigh before you added weight? How much weight did you use? How much does the car weigh now including wheels and axles? Is the car painted?[/font]
[font="times new roman, times, serif"]Do you have a pic?[/font]

 

[DNA RACING]

it is the body, that nascar body is not conductive to a good com. i would not say it wont be competitive, if you do a good job with the axles and wheels it will still do great. if you were to hollow out that much wood, you would have to replace it with extra weight. if that is something your not ready to do then forget about it. then its to much like work. when it stops being fun there is a problem. i am sure it will win a few races and who knows, it may go all the way.
i have found the hardest thing to do with scouts is explain that you can have cool looking and you can have really fast, but usually not at the same time.looks like you have a cool looking pretty fast car. nothing wrong with that.

 

[DNA RACING]

oh ya, one more thing, if you do hollow it out, make sure to cover the hole with some kind of tape, otherwise it will really be slow.

 

[Pinewood Garage]

Most of the full sized cars my kids and I have made were pinewood wedges with hollowed out balsa bodies glued to the top. We put the weights to the top of the wedge and placed the body over the wedge then found the CG. After we found the sweet spot then we glued everything in place. To give the bottom a finished look we used a black sharpie marker on the bottom as it added no weight to the car. After the race we had several very interested parents ask to look at our cars. They all had a lot of trouble figuring out how we made them as there were no real seams or drill holes visible as to where or how we placed the weights. The full sized cars can be competitive depending on the field you are racing against. At our Awana club we can no longer race full sized cars and be competitive because the field has become more and more competitive do to our team dominating the race every year.

 

[Chief]

[font="times new roman, times, serif"]you could always paint it black and put the # 3 on it...that would make it faster[/font]

 

[DerbyDad4Hire]

5oz is 5oz... It will run fast. You won't have the top end of the more aggressive weighted cars and the aero will be bad. You will probably be more stable and if you align it right and prep it right you should still win.

 

[SoGone]

Tim prep the wheels/axles good and adjust the steer correct. You should kick butt .I would bet.95% of the cars at your race will have no prep and steer adjustment. when my son and I were new at it .. those 2 things always brought home the gold.

 

[TimSmithRacing]

We found out today they wont allow the NASCAR body..... My son is fine with it because he gets to have his NASCAR and build a "fast" car for the derby.

Something tells me they should have let him keep the NASCAR....

 

[DNA RACING]

We found out today they wont allow the NASCAR body..... My son is fine with it because he gets to have his NASCAR and build a "fast" car for the derby.

Something tells me they should have let him keep the NASCAR....

guess there is a up side to everything. now put all this new knowledge to work and leave their jaws hanging.!!

 

[TimSmithRacing]

Yes that would be fantastic.
I have gotten much more comfortable with all the terms and details of these cars, I have watched too many videos to count and read every post in this forum (wow so much drama in the past....) so I either have enough info to be dangerous or foolish~!

I will be giving one Derby Dad 4 Hire a call tomorrow. I am looking forward to the upcoming Scout race but I can already see I am looking past it to a proxy race with you guys.

I built a tune table today and am trying to figure out how I can get my hands on a track..... My wife saw the glazed look in my eyes a few days ago and knew something was brewing........

 

[DNA RACING]

Yes that would be fantastic.
I have gotten much more comfortable with all the terms and details of these cars, I have watched too many videos to count and read every post in this forum (wow so much drama in the past....) so I either have enough info to be dangerous or foolish~!

I will be giving one Derby Dad 4 Hire a call tomorrow. I am looking forward to the upcoming Scout race but I can already see I am looking past it to a proxy race with you guys.

I built a tune table today and am trying to figure out how I can get my hands on a track..... My wife saw the glazed look in my eyes a few days ago and knew something was brewing........

ya gota make the wife think it was her idea, thats the trick.

 

[Chief]

[font="times new roman, times, serif"]I have had really good luck with the philosophy of asking for for forgiveness instead of asking for permission[/font]

 

[DNA RACING]

i also am a student of that school Chief. if nothing else works blame the dog.

 

[OPARENNEN]

Me too. But afterwards, when she says why didn't we discuss this, every thing works out when I go buy her a present or flowers.