Rail runner on an old wooden track?

[Guest]

My son's first derby is coming up in a month & a half.. It's on a very old wooden track.

I've been reading up on all the info here (I haven't built a derby car in 30 years, and I probably ran on this same track!). Is a rail runner still the best bet? I'm confident we can build a fast car, and I can't imagine the competition will be that tough. The old wooden track has me nervous though.

Are there any special tips for running on wood tracks?

Thanks in advance!

 

[NewDerbyDad]

Dexter,

We did a rail runner for the first time this year and we were on a real old wooden track - the kind where the release is a big paddle to drop the starting pins and has a rubber band to pull it back. Based on other threads here, we tuned for 4" of steer over 4' and did jut fine, winning the division and the overall derby. We used an extended wheelbase car & the only thing we will do different next year is shorten that wheelbase up so that the fronts are not directly in line with the front of the car because the stop section on that old track was awful and I'm sure it tweaked our steering after a couple of runs.

Hope this helps!

Good luck!