Anyone can be beat. It just seems wierd that out of the 6 cars the average speed was 211 to 223 scale mph, we were right in the middle of that. His speed was 242, faster then the outlaw cars.
Way too easy to spend big $$$ on a "trick" car with all the go-fast parts for sale. I write the rules for our pack so we work with what is in the box without fancy mods. We also have an adult class where we relax the rules to be dimensions and weight only, all else is fair. So far I have about 2 hours into prepping the wheels and axles for my car. I've extended the wheelbase as well. Tapered the heads on the axles. Tapered the wheels so only the outer edge rides on the track. Polished everything to a mirror shine. Thin wedge body with the weight to the rear and high. Still debating if I want to tap the axle bores in the wheels or just start running them in with graphite after polishing the bores. My son is 6 and is doing his car with my help. We have three of his axles done so far. One to show him, one he did with my help, and one with him doing the work. He will do the next one. He can cut it out with help with a coping saw. Back when I was a kid the rule was dad did power tool steps but I did the rest with supervision. We're doing the same. It is partly about building a car and partly about planning a project and learning shop skills. I think it is kind of sad that we need to have some build nights with the pack. Many of the kids have no tools, place to work, or any idea how to build the cars. The parents asked if we could set up clinics for the kids to to work on their cars since they can't do it at home.
i've never done it and don't know anything about it, but from what i've seen that i think is a good thing is first to the finish line wins. No brackets bull's hit. Why can't it be that way for "adults?" Most of the pictures of the kids that lose they are still smiling. They can, apparently for the most part, handle not winning/not being the fastest. Why can't we?
Man, what are all the "go fast parts" that you're talking about?! LoL! We were allowed to use what was in the box, just "tune" from there. Pretty fun in all tho, don't know what I'd do if I had girls!! LOL! Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad
Take one wheel with graphite and spin it...take another wheel and put armor all on it and spin it....................THERE IS A DIFFERENCE......polish the axles and tires....some events wont let you use graphite or polish the tires.....ARMOR ALL is a good trick
Ok, finally got the time to dig the pics out. I have some splainin to do. 1: You might know that the starting line has pegs that rotate downward into the track. this car has a wire (coathanger) up high that slips over the peg as everyone else's car is still nosed into the peg. 2: The split fuselage gives an opening so the car can roll as the peg is being rotated down into the track. By the time everyone else's car leaves, this one has a rolling start. 3: The spoiler in the front wire is important to trip the light beam at the finish line. This car did not have the front spoiler on race day, and the finish beam was not being tripped until the engine crossed. Big mistake that cost the car a sure win that day. 4: All the weight is packed on anywhere it will fit since there is not much wood left. I guess it would make the front end pretty light, the advantace the car had on the starting line was comical though. I'd love to see this car run again. Like I stated, missing the front wing to trip the finish line beam was a crucial error on my part, it cost the car the overall win that day for sure. There was a faster car that caught the back half of it at the finish line - even though this car finished a half car lead on it, without the front wing, the beam didn't get tripped until the engine crossed.
We built a front motored Lego powered AA/FD my son built the motor (his idea to use Legos, I wanted to use a 392 hemi out of Don Garlits Wynn Charger kit), he painted it, and applied the decals. All I did was shape the body, sand it, and install the wheels and axles. We put as much weight as we could as far back as possible. Gravity is your friend. I trued up the wheels, and reamed them, and used plenty of graphite. The car was fast as crap during practice, and won its first heat. Then it was dropped and the right front wheel and axle was bent. It slowed the car way down. But it was still successful. The car won its first heat, and won best of show. So he took home the gold. Tips: shave as much weight off the front and add as much as possible to the rear. Axle alignment is critical, if the car does not go straight and rubs the center rail, it will slow way down. Use liberal amounts of graphite. Nothing fancy or illegal here. And he built most of it. He had a blast. This year we are going to build another rail.
My son, (now 36) won best craftsmanship award 4 years in a row, but never did well at speed. I was more proud of his build quality, than I would have been if he would have had the fastest car every year.
The fast cars were easy to spot. The sides were dirty from all the graphite that was slung off the axles/wheels. I'd have my kids load them up from the bottom and sit and spin the wheels until they turned with almost no effort. Bob
I do have a drill jig that places the axle holes where I want them... I bought a bunch of kits some years back and still have about 15 on hand. I sold a bunch of completed cars on evilBay as well. One went for $65 and it ran well for the buyer. I gotta get a new batch going. Bob
We did the derby today and had a good day. My oldest son (8), the one with the purple Hot Wheels cabover looking thing got around 4th to last. More on that in a minute. My youngest son (4), with the 5 window got 4th fastest. He was pretty stoked, not as happy as last year since he won then, but satisfied. Last night was the weigh in and tech and a couple trial runs. My oldest was first down the track and went in the left lane against the eventual 3rd place winner and ran really close to it. They changed lanes and at the bottom of the drop, it hit a "bump" in the track and jumped about 8" off the track and barrel rolled down the floor. :-( After that incident, it wobbled all the way down the track and was pretty honkin slow. Turned out that after his flipped, they figured out they had the tracks put together backwards and had to dissemble and reassemble it to make it right. Too bad it screwed his up to figure that out. Oh well, fun times anyway and a lesson for him to see that "sometimes things just happen out of your control, and it will mess up your results. But you just have to make the best of it." Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
I painted my official pinewood derby wheels (tires only) white? To make it look like white wall tires on my red hot rod. Is this ok? On race day will judges tell me take them off?
I agree with Tudor on the WW's, but check with your pack leader- better to know ahead of time than have to yank the wheels when you show up on race day .
Our pack had a wooden box made up and the car had to fit within the confines of it. It was part of the tech inspection before the race. The box and scale were available at a couple of pack nights prior to the derby. My son had to take off nerf bars one time, but some parents.. I mean kids built these monstrosities that got DQed and there was no way to fix them in time. Bob
My step daughter and I did one of her awana cars up like jungle jims Vega funny car. They had a lot of no dad rules that's for sure but hers sure looked cool Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Our pack had a Dad's Race, meant to keep us out of our kid's builds. It was run after all the other races. Entry was $10 which went to the pack treasury. We had about 12 cars show up and I got knocked out in the last race. It was a lot of fun and a good fund raiser as well. Bob
yea it is the dads derby for sure!!!!!!!!! My kids have a blast and do 80% theirselves, they don't win any trophies though so occasional dissapontment. However they do inderstand they are competing against their friends PARENTS YEA IT MISSES THE WHOLE POINT. BUT THAT IS THE COMPETITIVE ZERO SPORTSMANSHIP BS WORLD WE LIVE IN
After one outing in a pumpkin carving contest where my son got his ass kicked by some graphic designer I said no more! Sooo everything kid contest related I helped as much as possible. He watched while I built, designed and modified. I explained everthing we were doing as I went along. We got beat some in "various" but never creamed after the pumpkin carving contest!
Here are the two for this weekend. The oldest did the TNT and the youngest (mainly me) did the two door. He said what he wanted and had all the parts sitting there when I got home from work one day. LoL!
First--Build a test track at home in the garage--Build cars and test for a month---here are my top tips Make car Maximum weight allowed--use scales that will be used in official tech--in our case we "borrowed" the scales from our local post office and they were brought to the Scout meeting that night for tech so that all racers had access to the scales during build time Place weight in extreme rear Three wheels are less friction than four so if your kid built a crappy car and one wheel is up a little and barely touch the track ugh... so what? alignment of all wheels is critical---after race line up car must be touched and handled and transported with extreme car--think shoe box full of cotton Wheels get the most tech--be skillfull in your wheel prep coated axles are worth the R&D all lubes are not created equal--testing is a must axle location is as critical as actual axle prep thin wedge body is always a plus Testing will show that even tiny alignment changes yield big results--you can almost "hear" a car that is doing well on the track--as in you can't hear a fast car as well Build many cars and race them side by side until you have selected the best car from your fleet Take tech serious---careful prep of your tech guy by allowing him to fish in your best pond, fixing his kids car for free, etc can yield favorable results during the race or if he owns the local hardware store--make sure your account is paid on time each month Test Test Test If you want to win you must out work the other racers period. I have always felt that they need an adults only unlimited class so that dad's will leave the kids to it but...... last tip--don't make car perfect looking--ugly with glue smears etc and crappy paint tells tech guy to keep moving--look at other cars--he will think ah..this poor kid will get smoked tonight!!
That's EXACTLY what my bro in law did with his sons car. It was based off of a early 70's LOLA design. He didn't know how to give it a mirror paint finish, so that was left up to me. I used a home-brewed concoction of a BC/CC finish, air brushed on, 6 coats, then it was polished with a hand polishing kit from Micro-mark. It didn't place but it was the best looking car at the race!. Poor nephew wasn't even involved with the build. If you knew my HIGHLY competitive bro-in-law with a Napoleon complex you'd understand the kid didn't have a chance. Sorry no pics on my computer.
The tires will be fine. They are mainly looking for other illegalities like incorrect weight, to high or to low to clear finish box, loose axles (nails), etc.
The Jalopy Journal
