Mine and my son's second cars.

[RhuntIII]

Our local BSA race is just around the corner and my son and I are well into our second cars.

On our first cars we built a rail rider/runner type car and after seeing our track for the first time and racing it, We probably should have built off road type trucks. (laughing)

Our track was built out of wood by one of the parents back in the 80's. There is no drop, curve or straightaway only a gradual angle to a short straightaway right before the finish line. The center guide rails show years of use with dents, cuts and chunks taken out and this is where my questions come into play.

I'm thinking that by riding this old rail it might have slowed us down.

We'll be using bent axles with wheels from DD4H in the factory axle grooves and pondering sticking with this rail riding/running technique but adjusting the steering to go as straight as possible. Thoughts on this idea?

What if I gave all four wheels an outward/positive cant so that I'm only riding on the inside corner of all four wheels?

Would our cars still benefit raising one front wheel?

Any other thoughts on cars running down an old vintage track?

 

[B_Regal Racing]

Running straight is VERY slow

In the rear, straight axles are faster than bent, regardless of the hole orientation (straight or canted). I've actually treid both ways when I started racing

Narrow the FDW side by 1/16" (front wheel doing the steering)

Bent axle for the FDW only

Raise other front wheel (opposite the FDW)

If canted in the rear, car should look like:

/----

If not, keep both rear wheels straight with straight axles:

|----|

If using a bent steer axle in the front, car should look like:

|----/

Get COG about 3/4" from the rear. A thin car (less wood) will allow better weight placement (and be more areodynamic)

Set steer to 5 - 6 inches over 4 ft towards the raised wheel, so the raised wheel does not come in contact with the rail

Do not use fenders unless you are comfortable with them. They can easily hurt speed

Its a very safe starting point. Hard to know how more aggressive you can be without ever seeing the track

Use the search feature on this site for the "pledge" trick if using graphite. there are plenty of threads which explain it very well.

Use the search feature on this site for polishing wheel bores. Tons of discussions on this. If uncomfortable with polishing, just wax the bore (again, tons of info on this)

Less is more. Don't use DW hand tools to prep wheels. An unaltered wheel will be faster than something that was done incorrectly.

Just some thoughts...

 

[Kinser Racing]

Running straight is VERY slow

In the rear, straight axles are faster than bent, regardless of the hole orientation (straight or canted). I've actually treid both ways when I started racing

Narrow the FDW side by 1/16" (front wheel doing the steering)

Bent axle for the FDW only

Raise other front wheel (opposite the FDW)

If canted in the rear, car should look like:

/----

If not, keep both rear wheels straight with straight axles:

|----|

If using a bent steer axle in the front, car should look like:

|----/

Get COG about 3/4" from the rear. A thin car (less wood) will allow better weight placement (and be more areodynamic)

Set steer to 5 - 6 inches over 4 ft towards the raised wheel, so the raised wheel does not come in contact with the rail

Do not use fenders unless you are comfortable with them. They can easily hurt speed

Its a very safe starting point. Hard to know how more aggressive you can be without ever seeing the track

Use the search feature on this site for the "pledge" trick if using graphite. there are plenty of threads which explain it very well.

Use the search feature on this site for polishing wheel bores. Tons of discussions on this. If uncomfortable with polishing, just wax the bore (again, tons of info on this)

Less is more. Don't use DW hand tools to prep wheels. An unaltered wheel will be faster than something that was done incorrectly.

Just some thoughts...

+1,000,000

 

[Vitamin K]

Our track was built out of wood by one of the parents back in the 80's. There is no drop, curve or straightaway only a gradual angle to a short straightaway right before the finish line. The center guide rails show years of use with dents, cuts and chunks taken out and this is where my questions come into play.

[...]

Any other thoughts on cars running down an old vintage track?

Ouch. Maybe you should put in a word to build/buy a new track for the pack? I know not everyone can afford a slick aluminum number, but even something like this would be head and shoulders above what you've got there.

That said, a properly aligned rail runner should theoretically outperform a straight-runner on any kind of track. ALL cars have to touch the rail. The rail runner lets you do so on YOUR terms.

 

[Kinser Racing]

The rail runner will help with a rough track. If the axle is bent to a high enough degree it will allow the very front of the wheel to have a gap to the rails joint, chip, inconsistency, ect. When the bottom part of the wheel, that's running the rail comes to the problem it will roll right past it without catching and abruptly slowing the car.

 

[RhuntIII]

A New track is in the works and a far as the lower inside of the wheel rubbing the lower rail... good point.

I'm trying to improve last years design and as long as I have my son's attention he will be doing the same with his car. I'll try to post up some pics of the new car.

Changes I've made: We've moving the weight further back in the car, rounding out all edges (sanding is where I lost his attention) and making the fenders smaller. I'm Thinking we might have also been rubbing the inside of the fenders of last year's car on the guide rail. So we also took a lot out from underneath.

This evening I really botched the paint job on my car, painting a straight line seems more difficult than expected but I shot from the hip and I think she might saved. We'll do something different with his.

I'll work on those pics next.

 

[RhuntIII]

With this link y'all should be able to pull up First Year Car and Second Year Car. I'll take more pics tomorrow of the new cars.

Dag Gum Paint! (laughing)

http://s1061.photobucket.com/user/RhuntIII/library/First%20year%20car?sort=3&page=1

Axle prep tomorrow.

 

[Kinser Racing]

No more paint! LOL

That is why I implimented the sharpie method.

 

[RhuntIII]

Kinser, I've seen your sharpie comment mentioned in some of my previous threads. Do you have any pics of you cars with this technique?

 

[Kinser Racing]

I have some, I'll see if I can get them up.

 

[RhuntIII]

I found the orange one.

I'm making adjustments to the cars now. Going solid black.

 

[Kinser Racing]

Here's several of my cars from 2012.

 

[Mojo Racing]

No more paint! LOL That is why I implimented the sharpie method.

+1

I used to paint....

Notice you cannot have paint without PAIN.

It takes too long, and you will fret over the paint more than you will prep or setup of your car.

I first saw Kinser's mention of Sharpie almost a year ago, and I only use paint when I have too (best design cars or whatever). Not for racing league or scout cars if I can get away with it.

 

[RhuntIII]

Yeah the paint just killed me. I added more photos to my photobucket. I went all black with my car, pictures of my son's car and changes that were made to the fenders and body.