Awana Grand Prix derby newbie

[gragner66]

well not exactly.....been more than 35 years since I was in scouts. now my son is in awana and racing now. wow has this changed a lot like everything else over the years. so we started out with a precut body, grooved axles, revell wheels, and graphite and a speed secrets book for derby cars to try and keep it simple being our first car build we got 2 cars to build just incase it went bad. biggest problem I ran into was hitting the 5oz weight limit. my son enjoyed the sanding and panting not so much on the polishing of wheels and axles. but was still a good learning experience for him. ill post some pics from phone later. but had a few rookie questions

do most cars run at 5oz limit
just how much does aerodynamics play a role
are H'ed tires a huge speed advantage

 

[gragner66]

Sons car
Before added weight


Added weight to reach 5oz


Added spoiler/wing for another 1/2oz

 

[DEW36]

Welcome to the forum!! That is a sweet looking car!! I sent you a pm.

 

[gragner66]

Dew36. Thnx for the vids. They helped a lot. Gonna look into some fenders on next car we build

 

[GravityX]

Welcome to the NPWDRL Forum! Good looking car!

 

[gragner66]

Thnx gravityx

 

[Papa V Racing]

Hey Granger glad to see you getting your feet wet with posting and photos... Again Welcome to the Forum and like I said in my PM ask away .. The guys here are full of Love and understanding for anyone eager to learn ...

Papa V

 

[gragner66]

Thnx again papav. I'll be asking a ton of questions shortly I'm sure. My son is ready to build a new car already

 

[IAE Racing]

Welcome!

 

[mxquad]

Welcome to the Forum, glad to have you here. Very nice car. Curious what you used to drill your axle holes.? Alignment is key, and it looks like your extended wheelbase helps you. Curious to the gram weight of your wheels (2.0 grams) are great, anything less is faster. That spoiler on top may slow your car a little, and using 1/4 inch tungsten cubes for weight under the car in weight pockets help, and aligning cubes towards your DFW if allowed to run 3 wheels. Do you negative cant the rear wheels? Adding fenders will help too.

Let us know if you have any questions on anything.

MXQUAD

 

[speed bump]

We got first place at the church race. Clean sweep all the way!!! One guy called the car out to race in a open race they have. One it by a car length. NEVER lost a race.

 

[DEW36]

We got first place at the church race. Clean sweep all the way!!! One guy called the car out to race in a open race they have. One it by a car length. NEVER lost a race.

Congratulations!!!!

 

[IAE Racing]

Way to go!

 

[speed bump]

Thanks guys!! Two races in the same weekend was a ball. Now I have to work on my ss novice car when it gets back

 

[Kinser Racing]

Congrats Speed Bump.

To the OP, I don't think H'd wheels do much but a lathed wheel will. Like mxquad said alignment is a key ingredient for a fast car.

 

[gragner66]

Thnx mxquad I had no clue what we (son&i)were getting into building this car. We got a precut car and a book to help is out. We used as many techniques for speed as we could. Watching him work on this was great. Reminded me of my dad and I building my first real vehicle. No clue of wheel weight. Car was weighed 2 times before race day. Axles were mounted in precut slots and set up straight. I didn't want the wing myself but needed the weight. All I do know is how to paint and do graphics on vehicles. I myself build and race 1/8 RC buggies. A lot of the physics are the same but weight place a bigger part on pwd cars. I hope he wants to build and race a car next year so we can try some of the techniques I've read here

 

[sondo007]

Congrats grangner66, and welcome to the greatest PWD forum