I need more speed

[cara424]

Just had our trials and we are all over with our speed from 2.16 to 2.21 Top contender is considtantly 2.16 to 2.18. We have an atomic wedge, 3 oz of tongten, a 1/2 COG and polished and straightened axels. I have about 8 drilled holes (covered with tape) because we were overwright. My car runs fairly straight.

Weights are in side of car. Wheel bores were polished.

What can I do to improve speed? Besides add more graphit of course.

 

[cara424]

 

[Reecedad]

Are those white wheels?

 

[cara424]

Are those white wheels?

Yes... covered in graphite

 

[TRE]

Get the graphite off the treads

 

[cara424]

Get the graphite off the treads

Why?

 

[Castoro Racing]

Just had our trials and we are all over with our speed from 2.16 to 2.21 Top contender is considtantly 2.16 to 2.18. We have an atomic wedge, 3 oz of tongten, a 1/2 COG and polished and straightened axels. I have about 8 drilled holes (covered with tape) because we were overwright. My car runs fairly straight.

Weights are in side of car. Wheel bores were polished.

What can I do to improve speed? Besides add more graphit of course.

How much time do you have before the race? Are you looking to just tweak the car now or do you want advice on the overall build process? It would be helpful to share details of your process and the race rules.

 

[Mojo Racing]

Why?

1. because it is never smooth on your treads, it will end up bumpy.
2. you want your wheels to have a little grip. If you have graphite on them, all they will do is slide, negating any steer you might have in your car.

 

[Darkside]

May be an alignment issue. Are you using the slots or have you drilled holes for the axles?

Also have you tried rotating the axles? Not rotating like you rotate the wheels on your car, but actually turning the axles themselves. We built three cars this year and two were fast straight off the bench. The third was significantly slower than the other two. The body had the straightest drill of the three and because of that we put our best set of axles on that car. When I rolled the car slowly down the track it acted like one of the rears had toe out. The cure, after some experimentation, was turning one of the rear axles 1/4 turn towards the rear of the car. After that it was as fast and consistent as the others.

Moral of my long winded story is BSA axles are not straight or perfectly round even if they look good. Turn them a little at a time on one side of the car and then the other and see if you pick up some speed.

 

[Reecedad]

I think if your times are varying that much your car is probably wiggling. I'd add steer until it stops wiggling and then tune the rear axles. Maybe after tuning the rears you can then lower the steer.

 

[TRE]

I would get the graphite off them first..then add more steer...getting the graphite might fix it

 

[cara424]

How much time do you have before the race? Are you looking to just tweak the car now or do you want advice on the overall build process? It would be helpful to share details of your process and the race rules.

I have till Sunday. BSA rules... no bent axels, railriding. Must use axels in kit. Need to tweak at this point

 

[cara424]

May be an alignment issue. Are you using the slots or have you drilled holes for the axles?

Also have you tried rotating the axles? Not rotating like you rotate the wheels on your car, but actually turning the axles themselves. We built three cars this year and two were fast straight off the bench. The third was significantly slower than the other two. The body had the straightest drill of the three and because of that we put our best set of axles on that car. When I rolled the car slowly down the track it acted like one of the rears had toe out. The cure, after some experimentation, was turning one of the rear axles 1/4 turn towards the rear of the car. After that it was as fast and consistent as the others.

Moral of my long winded story is BSA axles are not straight or perfectly round even if they look good. Turn them a little at a time on one side of the car and then the other and see if you pick up some speed.

I don’t have access to the travk till race day. But I plan on reworking alignment. I don’t reslly understand toe in/out... maybe I need to read up on that

 

[cara424]

I did use the pro alugnment tool and hand drilled my existing axel slits

 

[cara424]

I think if your times are varying that much your car is probably wiggling. I'd add steer until it stops wiggling and then tune the rear axles. Maybe after tuning the rears you can then lower the steer.

Not sure how to accomplish this since I don’t have access to the track till race day. How do I work in alignment without it? My fining room table can go to 72” only

 

[TRE]

If you cant bend the front axle...how are you gonna tune it...the only other way is to narrow both sides of the front of the car..other wise it will wiggle and you cant control it...clean the graphite off the wheels and hope for the best

 

[Castoro Racing]

I have till Sunday. BSA rules... no bent axels, railriding. Must use axels in kit. Need to tweak at this point

How big are your wheel gaps? If they are too large this could cause your car to slow down by causing excessive wobble.

 

[Racing358t]

I would get the graphite off them first..then add more steer...getting the graphite might fix it

x2, I've seen first hand how getting graphite on the wheel treads can ruin a perfectly good car. We even take steps to try to reduce the possibility of graphite sticking to the wheels but it still does. Graphite is all over the track so it's like running down a gravel road... its not smooth. I wouldn't start with graphite on the wheels to begin with.

 

[cara424]

How big are your wheel gaps? If they are too large this could cause your car to slow down by causing excessive wobble.

Whatever to tool I used to space them. I did notice one was off... don’t know how I missed that!

 

[cara424]

I would get the graphite off them first..then add more steer...getting the graphite might fix it

Do what are your thoughts on sanding the wheels and should I go back and re-polish the wheel bores? I only used some metal polish with a w tip stick although the polish said it could be usedfor plastic