Speed

[LightninBoy]

Originally Posted by LightninBoy - Its "entry level" in the sense that it doesn't cost a lot to build a BASX car and be competitive. I will agree that a BASX car costs less to build and be competitive. But costing less does not make the class an "Entry Level" class. When I see the words "Entry Level" I would think it is a racing class for racers that have never raced or have very little experience racing in a league. I also agree that it is a great class to learn to prep and tune all of the things that make a car fast. But if you want to see how your cars stack up against the top league racers, one would think that entering your car in SS-PRO is a better way to do that. Maybe "Entry Level" is not the best way to describe this class then if everything you posted is how the rest of the league racers look at this class.

Yeah, that's a completely logical interpretation of "entry level". I cringed a bit when I read that phrase in the BASX class description knowing it would create expectations that would not be met. I was just trying to clarify the actual intent behind the BASX class.

 

[~JBD RACING~]

People race to win... That's the nature of the beast. It don't matter what class you run at the NPWDRL, this is a fast group of guys to win against.. It took me 17 months to get my first win. I have had alot of 2nd and 3rds in classes I run but not a victory. This is not a SCOUT RACE, or even close... If you think your gonna just start racing and this level and place in the top 5 in whatever class you run your way way WRONG.. I finished 39th my first SS RACE and 15 my first SP race. It take TIME , PATIENCE , WILL & WANT TO, NO CRYING , and except the fact your probably never gonna win a race, and hope to be competitive. If you can't your in the wrong HOBBBY!! If people on knew the time & testing I've done to get where I'm at they would understand.. Success don't just happen over night in the league... If you take good notes, listen, don't cry , people will help you. All the info is out there it's(HOW BAD YOU WANT IT ) I will help anyone that wants to get fast, but to get over that other step!! That's on you. It wasn't handed to me I worked for it.. But the supplies DERBY DAD 4 hire offers is what everyone winning is running , it what you do with it in your hands once you get it.. I'm not saying no names but there was a racer live and I was helping him and showed him a few things on his car, and explained how to do it . He went over in the corner and started working 30 mins later he came back ran his car and he picked up 28 thousands.. This is my POINT ! He listen and took notes..

 

[B_Regal Racing]

I need almost 4 100ths (the difference between Am and Pro). Guess I better purchase a bigger notebook...

 

[~JBD RACING~]

400 hundredth is that's much.. Here's a few things to over come that quick!
- Drill Job
- prep/wax/oil
- alignment
- neatness
- weight location
- wheel prep
- gaps

That a simple start to knock of 300 hundreds easy...

 

[DerbyDad4Hire]

Lightnin I agree that is mis worded. It was made for the guys that did not want to spend a lot of money.

Fellas, this is the best of the best. The ones at the top are there for a reason. The top is not all roses and sunshine either. Don't miss out on the fun of the chase! It is truly the best part. This is true competition and a win here is unparalleled.

 

[Mister B Racing]

400 hundredth is that's much.. Here's a few things to over come that quick! - Drill Job - prep/wax/oil - alignment - neatness - weight location - wheel prep - gaps That a simple start to knock of 300 hundreds easy...

I am by no means a champion league racer, just a SS AM racer, but after searching, asking questions and just generally reading different posts, here are my steps for getting my cars ready for race day.

1. Keep everything neat, clean and organized.
2. Take your time and do one thing at a time. Only work on one car at a time. For example, when working on your wheels don't work on anything else. When done go to the next thing that needs to be done, and so on till the car is ready to race.
3. If something does not sound right or look right, do it over.
4. Make your car prep repeatable. For eample, follow the DD4H DVD steps over and over and over until you could do it blindfolded. I've only been racing 9 months or so and I have not tried doing anything different than what John shows on his DVD using his products. By doing this I was able to reach the finals in all of the novice series races with my 2nd Hand Smoke car earlier this year.
5. Take notes on everything you do to prep your car. Take even more notes on any tuning you do. Take even more notes on race day. I have made a log sheet for each of my cars that I keep notes about everything so that I have a good baseline of how my cars are set up.

 

[DerbyDad4Hire]

400 hundredth is that's much.. Here's a few things to over come that quick! - Drill Job - prep/wax/oil - alignment - neatness - weight location - wheel prep - gaps That a simple start to knock of 300 hundreds easy...

I am by no means a champion league racer, just a SS AM racer, but after searching, asking questions and just generally reading different posts, here are my steps for getting my cars ready for race day.

1. Keep everything neat, clean and organized.
2. Take your time and do one thing at a time. Only work on one car at a time. For example, when working on your wheels don't work on anything else. When done go to the next thing that needs to be done, and so on till the car is ready to race.
3. If something does not sound right or look right, do it over.
4. Make your car prep repeatable. For eample, follow the DD4H DVD steps over and over and over until you could do it blindfolded. I've only been racing 9 months or so and I have not tried doing anything different than what John shows on his DVD using his products. By doing this I was able to reach the finals in all of the novice series races with my 2nd Hand Smoke car earlier this year.
5. Take notes on everything you do to prep your car. Take even more notes on any tuning you do. Take even more notes on race day. I have made a log sheet for each of my cars that I keep notes about everything so that I have a good baseline of how my cars are set up.

Print this out but add one... Take pride in your shipping box!

 

[ngyoung]

I want to see the best builders enter cars in the BASX. If they didn't, how would we know if we're pushing the limit on speed? The rules are there to help keep it to basic parts so that buying the best parts allowed isn't a big hurdle for being competitive. I used completely stock BSA axles and wheels. I only prepped the wheel bores and polished the axles using the standard methods. I still had the double step on my hub and didn't attempt to sand any part of the wheel surface. I knew I wasn't going to be on the leader board but I also wasn't last either. Looking at the times even in the SS AM I wouldn't have been at the bottom either. Now that I know where my personal bottom is I am looking forward to seeing how much I can gain upgrading to better wheels and axles.

Also I think my packing was pretty decent for my car. Only thing I know I am kind of risking is not putting the legend style mailer box into a larger one to give it another layer of protection. The first time I used it the boxed looked like someone tried to use it like an accordion but the foam on the inside had plenty of room to compress.

 

[~JBD RACING~]

I think my BASX ran ok considering I had 2.8 wheels on it. And 1.185 wheels.. I was testing something that didn't work. But look out next month when I get a lighter wheel and make some modifications to my body.

 

[B_Regal Racing]

I knew I wasn't going to be on the leader board but I also wasn't last either.

Nope, you weren't. I held that honor.

wheel prep - gaps

Definitely guilty as charged...

 

[ngyoung]

No you weren't. You're just last listed on the first page. There is a whole second page. I was .0025 slower then your Speed Limit car. I am talking BASX cars not SS AM. Now looking at the final results I see that I was wrong about being faster then some of them. I thought I saw a few 4.52 times when watching live but the averaged times were all faster then that, even your SS AM car. Now looking over at the SS Pro there were about 9 cars that ran slower then 4.52. So even some of the more experienced builders can have a bad showing on any given event.

I knew I wasn't going to be on the leader board but I also wasn't last either.

Nope, you weren't. I held that honor.

wheel prep - gaps

Definitely guilty as charged...

 

[B_Regal Racing]

No you weren't. You're just last listed on the first page. There is a whole second page.

Thank you - that made my day. Really, I didn't know...

I know I did not put the effort into this car as I did in two of my SS cars, but I'm not ready to compete with JBD, Minions, WK, GX, Kinser, etc. quite yet, so I concentrated more in SS Am. In the immortal word of Tre, "those puds are fast."

I was guilty of not following a few tips posted today by both JBD and Mister B. Hopefully, my next BASX car will be more formidable. Hope to see you up there as well...

 

[Kinser Racing]

A lot of guys whipped me in BASX. My car was a dud and I couldn't do anything with it. I spent more time with that car tuning, then I did with all my other cars.

 

[Bullet]

Well, I was slightly confused after this race. I had two cars in the BASX finals so I thought I knew a little something. My SS Am car did OK and made the finals. Still thought I was doing OK....until my first attempt at SP...got smoked! lol I found out quickly I still have a lot to learn to run with the big dogs!

 

[W&K Creations]

I think one of the reasons a novice, amateur, and pro class was created was on the request of the racer community to help even out the playing field so to say so that racers could race other racers of similar experience and or skill to see how they perform.

While racing for the sake of racing is fun, and certainly having a fast goal to shoot for makes you work harder and a lot of us want to race against the best to see how we stack up, it would be silly to think that taking home a win or placing in the top 3 and getting a trophy or a badge isn't also rewarding and fun and keeps the drive going.

As such i think one of the reasons the classes were created was so that the chance to win was higher for those racers just entering or haven't been racing long....to try and reduce some of the negative impact and loss of interest that can accompany not winning for awhile or feeling like there isn't at least a chance to win.....id say its fair to admit that if you race a bunch of races and are not even close to getting in the finals or not improving, that within a short period of time for some, putting cars together for future races becomes that much more difficult, maybe even frustrating. It would not surprise me that a lot of racers have come and gone because of this. But winning or coming in top 3 in your division could make the drive to race even stronger!

In the end though, the ones that do stick it out, right or wrong, good or bad, close or far, and continue to make cars over and over, will get faster and will at some point get to where they want to be.....how fast you get to that point is just as dependent on the person and how much time they put into it, as much as it is products and testing facilities available.

Believe me, sometimes taking a short break is also a good thing to get your batteries recharged and mind refocused.....there are a bunch of racers that can do this all day everyday....im not one of them LOL....if it takes stepping back for awhile and not racing for a few months or so, do it if that's whats needed to come back stronger and faster (ive seen racers who have done this as well)....if you leave and don't come back, well maybe this just isn't the right hobby for you at this time.

Either way, this is supposed to be fun, by whatever definition one wants to use for what fun is (challenge, winning, competition, comraderie) ....once its not fun, its time to walk away.

 

[~JBD RACING~]

SP IS THE TOUGHEST CLASS TO GRT SPEED IN AND WIN!! Cause of the 1 gram wheel.

 

[TRE]

they all tough

 

[W&K Creations]

another way to perhaps get to that next level is to "clean house"!

I just finished going thru my whole area where I make these cars and I was amazed how much junk there is....dust, tape, even graphite (scout cars), dirty rags, old cans of jig, sandpaper everywhere... and a number of old wheels and axels....

When I was done cleaning out the whole area of stuff ill never use again, I had two bags of trash!

So for the fall, im starting all over from scratch and building brand new cars!

Will this cleaning house and starting fresh bring speed? Only time will tell....but I can tell you that the area im working in is now 10 times cleaner and with much more space which can only make things better and easier to get thing done and in a much cleaner and less cluttered environment.

 

[~JBD RACING~]

I clean my area every week and even when I start on a new car ..

 

[GravityX]

another way to perhaps get to that next level is to "clean house"!

I just finished going thru my whole area where I make these cars and I was amazed how much junk there is....dust, tape, even graphite (scout cars), dirty rags, old cans of jig, sandpaper everywhere... and a number of old wheels and axels....

When I was done cleaning out the whole area of stuff ill never use again, I had two bags of trash!

So for the fall, im starting all over from scratch and building brand new cars!

Will this cleaning house and starting fresh bring speed? Only time will tell....but I can tell you that the area im working in is now 10 times cleaner and with much more space which can only make things better and easier to get thing done and in a much cleaner and less cluttered environment.

This is what I need to do!

I clean my area every week and even when I start on a new car ..

Benji I don't know that I ever saw your work area "dirty".