Hi from New Jersey.

Feb 5, 2016
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Hey guys. I'm new here and just wanted to introduce myself to all of you. Me and my 7 yrs old son had just won 1st place in his pack on a 32 foot wood track. We are both new to this but it didn't take long to catch the bug. I helped my son with all the sanding, polishing, cutting, and painting of the car. He's only 7 so obviously I did most of the work lol. But I did want him to learn the process and appreciate the time that goes into making the car. It really paid off when he won. The smile on his face was priceless. So now we go to the next level and a new race/images/boards/smilies/smile.gif I didn't want to use the same car because someone jumped lanes and smacked it up good. Also the first 3 heats it slid under the towel full force into the wood. We purchased a best track used on Craigslist for $285.00 with the timer and 2 extra sections (brand new)for a total of 49 feet. It was a steal at this price so I jumped on it within an hour of the post. It needed to be cleaned so i just used the 2 extra sections that were brand new so i only had to clean the curve and starting point.I'll get to cleaning the rest at a later time. I can only use about 25 feet of track anyway for testing. I have a few questions for you guys with testing on the track so is there a place to direct my questions?
 
Where in Jersey? I'm in South Jersey along the shore. Any thoughts of league racing?

(FYI: Toms River is not South Jersey /images/boards/smilies/tongue.gif)
 
Lol. I am also by the shore. Toms river I would consider central NJ/images/boards/smilies/smile.gif I'm 30 minutes south of there.
 
Congrats to your son on going to District! We are in NW New Jersey going to District for first time. But they are telling us the kids can't build a new car just to meet the "stricter" District rules. My Webelo II took first in Pack with a three-wheel rail runner but he has to fix it to all four flat to race in District. Fortunately we don't allow extended wheelbase or it would be a disaster.

The District rules also absolutely forbid any sanding of the wheels so he needs 4 new wheels...
 
Sawdust Dad said:
But they are telling us the kids can't build a new car just to meet the "stricter" District rules.
/images/boards/smilies/eek.gif
a) Why not?
b) How would they know? "Oh. This car from Pack 488 is not sufficiently mangled. DQ!!"

So many needlessly restrictive and unenforceable rules are out there...
 
/images/boards/smilies/eek.gif Somebodies Avatar looks like Mine./images/boards/smilies/sneaky.gif It looks like a jig eaten one.
 
Sawdust_Dad said:
Congrats to your son on going to District! We are in NW New Jersey going to District for first time. But they are telling us the kids can't build a new car just to meet the "stricter" District rules. My Webelo II took first in Pack with a three-wheel rail runner but he has to fix it to all four flat to race in District. Fortunately we don't allow extended wheelbase or it would be a disaster.

The District rules also absolutely forbid any sanding of the wheels so he needs 4 new wheels...
Hi. Our pack allows building a new car. They only invited place 1-5 of each rank of scout. So if you placed 5th in a race you would most likely need to build a new car otherwise you would not place at all in the district. Our pack doesn't allow 3 wheels in the pack or the district. They adopted the same rules just for this reason. And I have a copy of the district rules which says nothing about sanding wheels. We can't lathe them but we can sand the tread which is allowed in 99.9% of packs. Just read your rules carefully. Also there are different district races in NJ with different rules. If you're up north we are not in the same district race.
 
Sawdust_Dad said:
Congrats to your son on going to District! We are in NW New Jersey going to District for first time. But they are telling us the kids can't build a new car just to meet the "stricter" District rules. My Webelo II took first in Pack with a three-wheel rail runner but he has to fix it to all four flat to race in District. Fortunately we don't allow extended wheelbase or it would be a disaster. The District rules also absolutely forbid any sanding of the wheels so he needs 4 new wheels...
I wish the district would send out rules at start of scout year and have all packs follow same rules so this would not be an issue.

Anyone know if there are any live regular derbies in the NJ/NY area.
 
I have a single lane 35ft track in NW NJ (Hardyston) if someone needs to test/tune.. I'd just need to set it up again as I just took it down this week. My daughter runs in the powderpuff derby locally here but I don't believe the scouts here do anything with their district. 3 cars I helped with Girl Scout 1st overall (of about 80), Girl Scout 3rd overall, and a boy scout 1st overall. I'll probably be sending in a box stock car sometime this year to see how far behind we are.
 
davevg said:
I helped with Girl Scout 1st overall (of about 80), Girl Scout 3rd overall, and a boy scout 1st overall. I'll probably be sending in a box stock car sometime this year to see how far behind we are.
Wow 80 cars? Good job. Was it a district race or pack? Our pack only had about 25 cars but the district will be much bigger. We are in the process of building a new car now. My son took first in Pack 3rd overall. Really close tie breaker for 2nd. All the scouts did awesome! I'm just learning about the NPWDRL and would like to also enter a car.
 
Sort of regional, I guess? Few towns around here get together and have their race at the same time with the same aged girls put together. The group is not super competitive, but my daughter on the other hand.. is.. I open my basement/tools to anyone that wanted help, only had 1 family come for help (3rd and 1st), and another who just wanted to run down the track and drill the block.
 
I'm helping my daughter build a car too. She's not old enough for Scouts yet but she wants to do what her brother is doing. It's a very kind gesture to offer help to others. I know a few people had a hard time finding the tools to cut the block. I will reach out to our pack to do the same. We just started this year so we were lost when we heard what we had to do.