Hole in car... Cheating?

[Vitamin K]

I think it's because it's easier than ever(with all the knowledge on the Internet) to be fast. The dads that care about being fast think no one else is looking up how to be fast and then they get MAD when they don't do well.

I wrote up and shared all of our speed techniques and offered to be an open book to anybody in our Pack who wanted to learn how to build faster cars. And I still got a few people saying we should enforce things like '4 wheels on the ground' or 'no canted axles'. The people who win are the ones who work at it.

 

[RBE17]

The people who win are the ones who work at it.

Exactly!!! I was talking to the second place pack finisher's Dad and he told me the work he and the boys did to the car. I know how much time my son spent at the drill press polishing axles and on the tuning board.

I have a picture of the district winners' cars. I can tell by looking at them they spent quit a bit of time on the cars with the intention of building a winner.

I can also say I was not mad, but disappointed his car didn't win with the pack race the dominance I thought it would.

 

[bracketracer]

The people who win are the ones who work at it.

Yup. It's just like life!

 

[gWebber]

Sounds like someone's dad isn't a very good Scout and clearly has no clue how the timer works.

 

[Pinewoodguy]

I would tell you one thing, "don't sweat the small stuff" ! The first year we moved to a new pack we won the Pack where there were a lot of sore fathers. Then I went against everything I knew, I tried to get more speed for Districts. We came in 3rd at Districts the year before and I knew how competitive it was so I tried to get more speed, that was a mistake!
I couldn't get back to speed I lost so I was forced to reduce weight to gain speed. This meant putting holes in the car, which was also against everything I knew. The short version is that we won Districts and learned that once you win pack don't mess with a winner!

So don't worry about the holes is the car and what anyone says. If you would have put Monokote on it you would have been imitating the Pro's with a version of their ladder bodies. Congratulations on the win!

https://www.flickr.com/gp/140204929@N02/85g2yY

https://www.flickr.com/gp/140204929@N02/xeoV20

 

[Momentum Racing]

I would tell you one thing, "don't sweat the small stuff" ! The first year we moved to a new pack we won the Pack where there were a lot of sore fathers. Then I went against everything I knew, I tried to get more speed for Districts. We came in 3rd at Districts the year before and I knew how competitive it was so I tried to get more speed, that was a mistake!
I couldn't get back to speed I lost so I was forced to reduce weight to gain speed. This meant putting holes in the car, which was also against everything I knew. The short version is that we won Districts and learned that once you win pack don't mess with a winner!

I had the polar opposite experience this year. Our first race was our Den/Pack....we built a fairly quick car, but I knew I could improve upon it. However, the car structure wouldn't permit much change so I decided we would built a new, faster car for Districts. Our rules do not state that you must use the same car from your Pack to Districts, so a new build was warranted in my view.

On a 42' Best track our District car ended up being about .085 faster than our Pack car, and it's a good thing, because the car we beat for first place at Districts we only beat by an average of .073...our first car would have done no better than 2nd place.

IMHO it's good to keep an ace in the hole, but always strive to get better, because your competition sure will be.

Momentum-

 

[CptPalmer]

Thank you guys for the validation. I know my son was not trying to gain any advantage, but this guy was a real jerk. Went so far as to try to have my son's car disqualified for cheating.

Cubmaster running the race told him there was no advantage to having this hole and you guys have backed this up.

Best thing about the whole experience was they way the two boys handled it. They could of cared less about the cars appearance, they were just having fun racing and afterwards were comparing their cars and telling each other all their "speed" secrets".

Too bad all the adults couldn't get along the same way. Both these boys are a good example of a true scout.

True scout spirit