Thought I'd share some pics and just say thanks to everyone on the board for providing all of the insight on how to build a good derby car.
I've learned a lot since joining the board last year and wanted to say thanks to:
5Kids
Quicktime
Opa
DD4H
Kinser
Spacewalker, and I know a lot of other people I'm easily forgetting.
I've gone through the many posts and discussions to glean what I could about building a fast car. I know we've got a looooong way to go to get into the class of the racers on this board. We'd had success in the prior years but nothing like we experienced this last weekend where the car did a best of 3.091 on what I think was a 42' wooden track (traditional slope like a best track). I think the collective average times of the other cars was along the lines of 3.25+.
Jr selected the color scheme based on the formula 1 Lotus team. It was running stock BSA axles that were polished and prepped per DD4H's guidelines (up to 8k grit). Bores and axles were treated with some red rocket and CoM was at 3/4" (I don't have multiple scales). It required 4 on the floor that were to be flat so we had to bend the axles to induce some camber and steer it. I had some Nitro wheels but those just looked like they had too much material taken out of them so I used another brand of wheels that weren't quite as aggressive in weight reduction, but we polished the bores. We had to run graphite so we used DD4H's graphite everywhere.
I tried to get Jr to own as much of the process as he could. He taped the body using the green frog tape to make the stripe and then sprayed everything (we me standing there over his shoulder). The logos were printed on photo paper and cut out and then glued on.
Here's the result as pack champion.
Here are a few pics of the build process. I accumulated these tools over the last year whereas in prior years we'd build the car using only a dremel and coping saw.
Here he's thinning the body and tapering the nose.
Here he's working through the various grits for the axles. We used the paper from DD4H and I'd cut the strips and lay them out for him as he worked through the grits (this was a really good learning experience for him in terms of understanding the need to reduce friction).
And now checking the axles to ensure that mirror like finish.
Working on weight placement and glueing them in. We worked on him understanding the center of mass and balanced the car on a ruler to make sure we weren't too aggressive. I noticed during runs that 3/4 down the track the car would side-step as it hit a particular joint. So it was mostly smooth except for one section.
Sealing up the weights with some foil tape. Another tip I picked up from the board cause we used to always cut a small piece of wood to cover the weight pocket.
Doing some break ins on the dremel spinning wheels and applying graphite. We have a glass top dining table so tuned on it for 2.5" drift over 48".
Enjoying the victory and proving to him that effort at the bench pays off.
I've learned a lot since joining the board last year and wanted to say thanks to:
5Kids
Quicktime
Opa
DD4H
Kinser
Spacewalker, and I know a lot of other people I'm easily forgetting.
I've gone through the many posts and discussions to glean what I could about building a fast car. I know we've got a looooong way to go to get into the class of the racers on this board. We'd had success in the prior years but nothing like we experienced this last weekend where the car did a best of 3.091 on what I think was a 42' wooden track (traditional slope like a best track). I think the collective average times of the other cars was along the lines of 3.25+.
Jr selected the color scheme based on the formula 1 Lotus team. It was running stock BSA axles that were polished and prepped per DD4H's guidelines (up to 8k grit). Bores and axles were treated with some red rocket and CoM was at 3/4" (I don't have multiple scales). It required 4 on the floor that were to be flat so we had to bend the axles to induce some camber and steer it. I had some Nitro wheels but those just looked like they had too much material taken out of them so I used another brand of wheels that weren't quite as aggressive in weight reduction, but we polished the bores. We had to run graphite so we used DD4H's graphite everywhere.
I tried to get Jr to own as much of the process as he could. He taped the body using the green frog tape to make the stripe and then sprayed everything (we me standing there over his shoulder). The logos were printed on photo paper and cut out and then glued on.
Here's the result as pack champion.
Here are a few pics of the build process. I accumulated these tools over the last year whereas in prior years we'd build the car using only a dremel and coping saw.
Here he's thinning the body and tapering the nose.
Here he's working through the various grits for the axles. We used the paper from DD4H and I'd cut the strips and lay them out for him as he worked through the grits (this was a really good learning experience for him in terms of understanding the need to reduce friction).
And now checking the axles to ensure that mirror like finish.
Working on weight placement and glueing them in. We worked on him understanding the center of mass and balanced the car on a ruler to make sure we weren't too aggressive. I noticed during runs that 3/4 down the track the car would side-step as it hit a particular joint. So it was mostly smooth except for one section.
Sealing up the weights with some foil tape. Another tip I picked up from the board cause we used to always cut a small piece of wood to cover the weight pocket.
Doing some break ins on the dremel spinning wheels and applying graphite. We have a glass top dining table so tuned on it for 2.5" drift over 48".
Enjoying the victory and proving to him that effort at the bench pays off.
