Too conservative?

[tp turbo]

This is my sons second year in Scouts, last year he took second place at the Council race. This year so far he won his pack race and is going to the district race next. my question is: his car COG is a little on the aggressive side at 1/2" so I made sure that I put enough steer on the car to hold it to the track but I think I can gain more speed if I back off a little bit on the steer. His car set up is standard wheel base, railrider w/ one raised wheel using bent axles and standard axle slots. All of the prep work was done with axles and wheels as far as polishing, waxing and burnishing. How much can I shave off of the time if I back the steer off to approximately 2" of steer in 4' instead of 4" of steer in 4'? As you can see, I am a newbie so forgive my ignorance please.

 

[ngyoung]

If you don't have a way to test it first I would leave well enough alone. Trying to find that edge between more speed and getting the shakes really isn't achievable without track time.

 

[HurriCrane Racing]

2" of steer on a scout track could mean trouble. Most high ranking Pros don't even run that little of steer.
I would go with what you have for this year and try to improve on your build process for next year.

 

[B_Regal Racing]

Ol' badgeless is afraid to post these days, but...

I have never gotten a car to run with 2" of steer and be fast.

 

[Vitamin K]

I think it was Lightninboy who said that "oversteer can cost you thousandths, while understeer will cost you hundredths, if you end up with the waggle" (paraphrased!). But conventional wisdom seems to be to err on the side of having too much steer.

That said, I'd love to devise some method to try to estimate the rear stability of a given car. Not sure where I'd start for this, though.

 

[DerbyDad4Hire]

Ol' badgeless is afraid to post these days

Better safe than sorry. Consistency wins.

 

[tp turbo]

Thanks for the responses guys. I will just re-prep by adding graphite and hope for the best, back to the drawing board to try to improve for next year.

 

[Mr Chips Racing]

PWD is a process and takes time. Badgeless is correct as are the others about where you have it set now. 2" on a com that aggressive is an earthquake waiting to happen.

 

[tp turbo]

Well I took everyone's advice and kept the steer to 4" at 4'. He came in second at his District race and the car got slower with each race for some reason. Not sure what happened or if something got bumped but I was really disappointed. Back to the drawing board now, have 6 weeks until the Council race and I need to figure out a game plan or we are going to get smoked at the Council race.