Wheels & Times ?

txchemist said:
OK, I need some help- The car I helped tune for MA had a drift of 75 inches.
True!!
and it made the finals in graphite , but got beat by lots of pros kids.
I do not know what to do next- does it need more steer?

75 inches over...4 feet?

Ufbr5ej.gif
 
Momentum Racing said:
Great post Steve /images/boards/smilies/thumb.gif

If not 12x12...What was the weight placement in 2nd hand Smoke?...cool name btw.

My issue with a lot of steer is something is ultimately causing it, it doesn't just happen.There are forces being applied that are different than for the 2" steer car, and those forces are devouring the finite amount of energy the car has.

Think of it this way...you and I build two absolutely identical cars, both are capable of running straight down the track without ever touching a rail. If we raced we would be nearly tie every round. Now take your car and induce even a modest 1" steer, I will beat you every time. With a 2" steer I will beat even more, a 3" steer even further. If I induce a 1" steer to my car, and your identical car is running 2" of steer, I will also beat you every time. Steer takes energy, unless the energy loss is being positively offset elsewhere, the higher steer car will always lose.

Can it be that the net result of a 6" steer makes for a quicker car, yes...but it has to be made up somewhere else. This is where a bigger motor or synergy factor in. In your case synergy because by your admission you didn't start with one of the biggest motors possible, and why you probably wont post the weight placement of your car.

If you bought a top car and did not duplicate its results, you didn't truly duplicate the car, you missed something. Physics doesn't know if Kinser built the car, or if you or I did. Do you truly believe if you were sitting at a table with Kinser, JDB, QT, HurriCrane , Gravity, and other top builders giving you step by step instructions of how they build their cars, that you could not build a car equal to theirs?....what part couldn't you duplicate?

I'm hoping I can send in a somewhat competitive car for June or July...I feel I need just a few more of the "secrets" to run against the top builders without totally humiliating myself. Going off of my track I am a good .025 or more behind the better times, I'm not sure if the times will be better or worse when running on the same track, but there is only one way to find out.

Ok... when I get home after work tonight I will pull out 2nd Hand Smoke, take a picture of the weight placement and post it for you and everyone to see, even though it won't help you on cars, because you are failing to understand that every car is not the same and every builder has a different skill set level and methods on how they build a car. While the basic principles of how you build a car can be applied to every build, actually prepping, weighting and then tuning that car to make it into a contending car takes time and lots of learning and experience from racing.

Frankly, if I were Kinser, JBD, Hurricrane or any of the top racers and vendors that that came before us, who spent time and money and developed all of the technology and products and methods of building cars we all use, to hear you say that you can build a car equal to theirs from a few step-by-step instuctions, I'd be a bit cranked off by that statement. DD4H put out a DVD giving us all his oil tips, and here we all are still trying to master them. Spacewalker on his site has a ton of videos showing how he builds cars, and here we all are trying to catch him. Then a moment later you say that your cars are a "good .025 or more behind the better times", so maybe your PWD derby building and tuning skills are not as good as you think they are.

All I can say to you is lets see these cars that you can build that are equal to the top racers who have won and know what they are talking about when comes to building and racing PWD cars.

Again, I look forward to racing with during the Man of the Mountain series. Its time to move onto more productive PWD subjects.

Steve - Mister B
 
Kinser said:
For several of you in this thread, November is "Write your own Novel" month.
Challenge accepted!

TX Chemist said:
The car I helped tune for MA had a drift of 75 inches.
Ha! I beat you! My car has *infinity* drift! /images/boards/smilies/eek.gif Wait, comparing the wrong variable...

Actually, I have been gnawing on how much speed difference there is with minute changes in the vertical weight placement.

A CoM that is 1/4" lower than another (no friction, everything else being exactly the same) will result in the lower weighted car winning by 0.0005s (manual calculation to 4 decimals), or 0.00043s (using Excel).

Long, convoluted story of maths and assumptions:
  • Ramp angle = 27.1°
  • Minimum start height of weight: 48" (weight hovering frictionlessly at track's surface)
  • The flat of the track: 389"
  • Fall distance (vertical) of weight: 48" + (cos(27.1°) * h1) - h1
Formulas:
  • Acceleration down ramp: g*sin(27.1°) = 32.174 ft/s2 * 12 in/ft * sin(27.1°)
  • v = sqrt(2*a*d)
  • s = d/v
The Excel formula:
  • =389/(SQRT(2*32.174*12*SIN(27.1)*(48+SIN(27.1)*h1-h1)))
The results:
+HeightSlower
0"0
1/64"0.0000266s
1/32"0.0000531s
1/16"0.0001062s
1/8"0.0002125s
1/4"0.0004251s
All this to say, changing vertical placement in an ~1/4" car body will give you an end result of something on the order of 27 millionths of a second improvement. Perhaps your time should be spent elsewhere.

(Just like I shouldn't have spent so much time calculating this mess. /images/boards/smilies/redface.gif)


(Edit: Dangit. Excel "fixed" my equation for me, and gave me bad answers. Corrected times and equation.)
 
Well- my tuning table is 17.5 ft x 6.25 ft. so if I just look at the first 4 ft., the steer was 3.5".
steer.jpg
 
Mister B Racing said:
Ok... when I get home after work tonight I will pull out 2nd Hand Smoke, take a picture of the weight placement and post it for you and everyone to see, even though it won't help you on cars, because you are failing to understand that every car is not the same and every builder has a different skill set level and methods on how they build a car. While the basic principles of how you build a car can be applied to every build, actually prepping, weighting and then tuning that car to make it into a contending car takes time and lots of learning and experience from racing.

Is this not my whole point, that there can be different techniques for a winning combination, that it's possible for a car with a smaller "motor" to win with the proper synergy? Yes I would be interested in your weight placement, I feel I can learn from it, not criticize it.

Frankly, if I were Kinser, JBD, Hurricrane or any of the top racers and vendors that that came before us, who spent time and money and developed all of the technology and products and methods of building cars we all use, to hear you say that you can build a car equal to theirs from a few step-by-step instuctions, I'd be a bit cranked off by that statement. DD4H put out a DVD giving us all his oil tips, and here we all are still trying to master them. Spacewalker on his site has a ton of videos showing how he builds cars, and here we all are trying to catch him. Then a moment later you say that your cars are a "good .025 or more behind the better times", so maybe your PWD derby building and tuning skills are not as good as you think they are.

It's funny ,if you look at the replies from some of the top racers just in this thread you will see they feel some are over complicating things.That in reality things are not nearly that complicated. I don't know why they would be offended by someone stating that if they took them by the hand and showed them exactly what they do, that they too could do it, it's actually a great compliment.Frankly I feel they don't tell everyone everything because they know others could do it. John himself stated he told most of his oil techniques, but held a little for himself, as well he should if he wants to remain at the top.

Where did I ever say I was a tuning expert?..I've never proclaimed to build cars as fast as the pros, I don't have enough knowledge to do so at the moment. When I saw the times from MA I thought there is no way I'm going to be able to compete with those times, it turns out they are not "true" times that would be seen on the NPWDRL track so I might not be as far off as I thought. My guess is running on the same track I would be about .025 or so behind, maybe more I dont know, but I consider that a very good starting point at this point of my career.

All I can say to you is lets see these cars that you can build that are equal to the top racers who have won and know what they are talking about when comes to building and racing PWD cars.

Again, please don't speak untruths, nowhere at any time have I ever stated I build cars as fast as the pros or top racers. In fact, if you search my posts I have repeatedly stated just the opposite. Yes, with all of their knowledge and guidance I feel I could build cars their equal, if you're convinced you could not, perhaps this is not the sport for you.

Again, I look forward to racing with during the Man of the Mountain series. Its time to move onto more productive PWD subjects.

Steve - Mister B
 
I have never quite understood folks that lament that a thread is getting too wordy...by adding more posts to said thread. If it's not useful to you anymore, ignore it. /images/boards/smilies/smile.gif
 
Crash Enburn said:
Challenge accepted!

Ha! I beat you! My car has *infinity* drift! /images/boards/smilies/eek.gif Wait, comparing the wrong variable...

Actually, I have been gnawing on how much speed difference there is with minute changes in the vertical weight placement.

A CoM that is 1/4" lower than another (no friction, everything else being exactly the same) will result in the lower weighted car winning by 0.0005s (manual calculation to 4 decimals), or 0.00043s (using Excel).

Long, convoluted story of maths and assumptions:
  • Ramp angle = 27.1°
  • Minimum start height of weight: 48" (weight hovering frictionlessly at track's surface)
  • The flat of the track: 389"
  • Fall distance (vertical) of weight: 48" + (cos(27.1°) * h1) - h1
Formulas:
  • Acceleration down ramp: g*sin(27.1°) = 32.174 ft/s2 * 12 in/ft * sin(27.1°)
  • v = sqrt(2*a*d)
  • s = d/v
The Excel formula:
  • =389/(SQRT(2*32.174*12*SIN(27.1)*(48+SIN(27.1)*h1-h1)))
The results:
+HeightSlower
0"0
1/64"0.0000266s
1/32"0.0000531s
1/16"0.0001062s
1/8"0.0002125s
1/4"0.0004251s
All this to say, changing vertical placement in an ~1/4" car body will give you an end result of something on the order of 27 millionths of a second improvement. Perhaps your time should be spent elsewhere.

(Just like I shouldn't have spent so much time calculating this mess. /images/boards/smilies/redface.gif /images/boards/smilies/wink.gif

(Edit: Dangit. Excel "fixed" my equation for me, and gave me bad answers. Corrected times and equation.)

Very good information. /images/boards/smilies/thumb.gif

Could you run the same test comparing the weight placements of a 6|6|Axle|6|6-front > configuration, to say a 6|6|axle|6|4|2-front> configuration ? ....I would love to see the difference in potential speed gains.
 
Momentum said:
Very good information. /images/boards/smilies/thumb.gif

Thanks. I hope it can help someone some time.

Momentum said:
Could you run the same test comparing the weight placements of a 6|6|Axle|6|6-front > configuration, to say a 6|6|axle|6|4|2-front> configuration ? ....I would love to see the difference in potential speed gains.
Not a test. Just math. No aero, no friction, no calculus. Just an imaginary, perfect-world 42' track with a 27.1° slope that a car goes down and then continues onto the flat undisturbed...
 
Crash Enburn said:
Thanks. I hope it can help someone some time.

Not a test. Just math. No aero, no friction, no calculus. Just an imaginary, perfect-world 42' track with a 27.1° slope that a car goes down and then continues onto the flat undisturbed...

Yes I understand, all values are derived in a perfect world vacuum, but I would love to see the difference in potential, even though it may never apply to real world results. In fact, It will show what I've been trying to convey. The bigger "motor" will be faster on paper, by how much I don't know, but it is guaranteed to be faster. In real world however, it is known that many top racers are not running the biggest motor. Real world can be a real b***h !
 
It seems to me that so many people place a lot of emphasis on numbers like steer and COM.

I think every car is different and you have to find what it needs to be fast.

The only Numbers that really matter are the ones that show on the timer as compared to everybody else that you are racing in your given class.
 
Vitamin K said:
I have never quite understood folks that lament that a thread is getting too wordy...by adding more posts to said thread. If it's not useful to you anymore, ignore it. /images/boards/smilies/smile.gif

It's not the post counts in a thread, it's the rambling on and on and on. But, that's your thing. My thing is to tease you about it. Lol
 
Kinser Racing said:
It's not the post counts in a thread, it's the rambling on and on and on. But, that's your thing. My thing is to tease you about it. Lol

Are you saying size matters?.... I've been trying to convince my wife for years it doesn't. /images/boards/smilies/biggrin.gif
 
tmeyer said:
It seems to me that so many people place a lot of emphasis on numbers like steer and COM. I think every car is different and you have to find what it needs to be fast. The only Numbers that really matter are the ones that show on the timer as compared to everybody else that you are racing in your given class.
+10000