Correct amount of drift?

[DuckOfAllTrades]

Hi Everyone,

Pinewood Derby season is heating up in my household! I'm doing a few different cars for the adult race with different axles, wheels, etc... (Seriously, I have 18 bodies cut out, weighted and painted,!) We have a tech day on Feb. 16 to try them out, and I want to see what works on the track! I plan on testing 6 cars, in addition to my son and daughter having two cars each.

For the track:
If this helps, I think it's 42 feet. It has the drag racing lights, electric release, electric timer etc... I think it is a besttrack.com track based on this, or looks VERY similar.

My question is what is the correct amount of drift for an aluminum metal track? I ask because I've read SO many different measurements. I've read 1.5 - 2 - 4 - 6 inches for a railer rider over a 4 foot distance. I'm not sure what to believe or what to do.

What would you recommend if I did 1 railer rider car. If I do two, should I try a different drift number? But what I'm looking for is what is the drift that MOST use and is proven to work.

Thanks in advance!

And for those interested in the cars I'm building:

• DD4H block Rail Rider 3 wheel lathed speed wheels and speed axles
• DD4H block canted 4 wheels lathed speed wheels (district requires 4 wheels touching) machine BSA axles.
• Rail Rider with outlaw wheels (I purchased the cheap Ebay ones that are 3D printed for the sole reason of seeing if they are any good! They are probably cheap, will see and let you know)
• Rail Rider with ultra light wheels and axles bent online - 2-2.5, 1.15 1 straight for the dummy wheel
• Railer Rider with 1/16th shaved from the side with axles and wheels I've created in my shop. (May reverse this with the above car..unsure of how a car with a shaved body will do and I'm scared to try.)
• Rail Rider four wheels with axles and wheels I make in my shop.
• And possibly a straight run with axles and wheels I do in my shop.

I may come up with some more, but that's the goal.

I'm a sick sick man.

 

[Mojo Racing]

Generally, 4" of steer over 4' is a good amount for aluminum tracks.

 

[DuckOfAllTrades]

THANKS so much Mr. Racing.

I have such a hard time convincing myself rail riding works and it makes me hesitant. It's so counter intuitive to purposely steer a car into the rail! But I know it's proven to work

 

[Reecedad]

although you are scrubbing some speed, it keeps the car from wiggling which translates to faster times

 

[Pinewood Outlaw]

Hi Everyone,

Pinewood Derby season is heating up in my household! I'm doing a few different cars for the adult race with different axles, wheels, etc... (Seriously, I have 18 bodies cut out, weighted and painted,!) We have a tech day on Feb. 16 to try them out, and I want to see what works on the track! I plan on testing 6 cars, in addition to my son and daughter having two cars each.

For the track:
If this helps, I think it's 42 feet. It has the drag racing lights, electric release, electric timer etc... I think it is a besttrack.com track based on this, or looks VERY similar.

My question is what is the correct amount of drift for an aluminum metal track? I ask because I've read SO many different measurements. I've read 1.5 - 2 - 4 - 6 inches for a railer rider over a 4 foot distance. I'm not sure what to believe or what to do.

What would you recommend if I did 1 railer rider car. If I do two, should I try a different drift number? But what I'm looking for is what is the drift that MOST use and is proven to work.

Thanks in advance!

And for those interested in the cars I'm building:

• DD4H block Rail Rider 3 wheel lathed speed wheels and speed axles
• DD4H block canted 4 wheels lathed speed wheels (district requires 4 wheels touching) machine BSA axles.
• Rail Rider with outlaw wheels (I purchased the cheap Ebay ones that are 3D printed for the sole reason of seeing if they are any good! They are probably cheap, will see and let you know)
• Rail Rider with ultra light wheels and axles bent online - 2-2.5, 1.15 1 straight for the dummy wheel
• Railer Rider with 1/16th shaved from the side with axles and wheels I've created in my shop. (May reverse this with the above car..unsure of how a car with a shaved body will do and I'm scared to try.)
• Rail Rider four wheels with axles and wheels I make in my shop.
• And possibly a straight run with axles and wheels I do in my shop.

I may come up with some more, but that's the goal.

I'm a sick sick man.

I want to get one of those dd4h 3 wheel rr blocks to try but seems the website is down or he overloaded with orders lol. Do the blocks already have the 1/16" shaved off the dfw side or did you have to do this?

 

[DuckOfAllTrades]

I want to get one of those dd4h 3 wheel rr blocks to try but seems the website is down or he overloaded with orders lol. Do the blocks already have the 1/16" shaved off the dfw side or did you have to do this?

Thats a good question! I'm not sure if his blocks do have the DFW side shaved or not. Someone would know better than me. I'm guessing no. I haven't actually received them yet, they ship tomorrow. His site has had problem for a few days, think it's been hacked. I placed and order on it and called today to verify, so he did get it. You just have to click to proceed when it brings up the error message.

The one I have with the shaved side of is one of my own builds from a stock block. I may do this to the DD4H block too. Just makes me very nervous, don't want to mess up a car, but if I do, would rather it be a 3 dollar hunk of scout wood.