Trailing fender ?

davet

davet

0
Jan 18, 2014
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We're running a 5.5" WB so front fenders are kind of tight. Would it be detrimental to run trailing fenders without front fenders? Seems the air would go over the wheel and right down in between the fender and wheel. Any pics of tiny front fender options for a long WB car?
 
Back at Nationals 2012, 5kids ran a long wheelbase SS with a very small front fender IIRC. He won that class with that car. You could potentially do both the small front fender and trailing fender. I think you will be able to find that race on Youtube. I don't know if his was a long as 5.5" though.
 
Kinser Racing said:
Back at Nationals 2012, 5kids ran a long wheelbase SS with a very small front fender IIRC. He won that class with that car. You could potentially do both the small front fender and trailing fender. I think you will be able to find that race on Youtube. I don't know if his was a long as 5.5" though.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'll check for it.
 
Awesome. Thanks. Looks like he had a little more room than we do but it seems that something is better than nothing.
 
Here's what a front fender looks like on a 5-1/4" WB.

_20151231_203402_zpsbitlumu1.jpg
 
Nice. How is it attached? Any concerns with it being durable enough when hitting the end of the stop section?
 
Our Pack track section is short and some jackets at the end help cushion the blow for faster cars.
 
I cannot make any guarantees that it will be durable enough to withstand that stop section. There is not a lot of fender material holding onto the body.
 
We normally make our rear fenders from Balsa and attach with epoxy. We could make the fronts from pine and see how they feel. Can always file them off. Thanks.
 
davet said:
We normally make our rear fenders from Balsa and attach with epoxy. We could make the fronts from pine and see how they feel. Can always file them off. Thanks.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't use pine for the front fenders. It is too heavy.

Balsa enforced with CA will be plenty tough for stop sections. Honestly, the only thing that has busted off my balsa fenders has been my own hands as I clumsily try to remove a wheel. Oh and rolling off the kitchen table ...
 
We made a couple trailing fenders out of balsa. Each one is .02 oz. I think we have too little room in front of the wheels to put fenders there. Not sure if we'll use the trailing fenders yet though. Still not sure if worth it. We were at the MN Science Museum again a couple weeks ago and I was looking at the turbulence that occurs on the back side of a wing in a station that shows the wind effect. If the little kids would quit looking over my shoulder with their mom giving me the evil eye I could spend more time and look at it closer.
 
Hmmm. I've seen video of that display somewhere.......lol

davet, I know it's probably too late to change it now, but you might find the car is faster with a slightly shorter wheelbase and front fenders on it. You will lose less in traffic even if it's not faster in solo test runs. No chance you could alter the wheelbase now? We're talking only a few thousandths really, but I don't know how competitive your area is. I thought you had said before the competition was pretty stiff there?
 
Trailing fenders were an afterthought after we had drilled our axle holes. I could still move the front wheels back but not sure if we can tune well enough with a shorter wheelbase. Maybe I'll make some up for a 5.25" wheelbase and see how they come out. Thanks.
 
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