Derby Talk

I hope this isn't considered advertising. I heard about this offer and thought that some of the people here might like to sign up for the stamps.com service and get a digital scale. My father-in-law gave one to us, so we don't need one. Otherwise, I'd consider it. www.stamps.com http://www.stamps.co...

Gotcha. Thanks!

Teeman, we've done neutral (symmetric) airfoils for two years now. There should be no lift generated if your airfoil is symmetric and if the angle of attack is 0. So, to achieve a zero angle of attack, we've put the rear axle holes as close to the bottom car surface and put the front axle holes a li...

Warp, can you explain what you mean by your cars are turned to junk when run backwards? Are you saying that the car becomes damaged after being run backwards such that it doesn't perform as well as it formerly did when it's run forward again? If so, can you suggest a reason for this? My motivation i...

Darrin, I'm puzzled by your comment: The flip side is that if the coefficient of friction is the same at all the wheels, then there's nothing you can do to prevent unbalanced forces making the car yaw. Where would the unbalanced forces come from? Improper weight distribution, e.g. more weight on one...

Thanks again! 1/2 inch it is. I can certainly swing $36. I'll do a search for plans as well.

Thanks very much! I'll probably go with 5/8 plywood then.

I'm considering building a track for my kids and neighbor kids to play with. I am considering using MDF instead of plywood. Does anybody have any opinions on whether this is a good or bad idea? MDF seems to be smoother than plywood and splinters less than plywood.

Thanks!

We've used the powdered tungsten for a few years now. Typically, we just fill whatever void/hole, seal it with bondo, then sand it smooth.

My son's Pack permits a quick 5-10 minute re-lube if desired before the "finals". As I recall, this "finals" event was basically a mini re-race of the top 15 or so cars. So, my question is, should my son re-apply graphite prior to this final race (assuming he makes it there) or s...

You can get tungsten (solid as well as powder) from Golfsmith.

http://www.golfsmith.com/cm/browse.php?N=1532546

Seems like their tungsten prices have gone up since last time I bought some, but I don't recall for certain.

Just saw a commercial for a new model of a Lexus. The commercial displayed a Lexus in a wind tunnel and showed the underside of the car. The commercial indicated that all the underside plates were dimpled (sort of like a golf ball) it looked to me. The reason they gave was that it reduced drag and r...

Thought I'd mention that I've read somewhere on this site that Stan indicated that you don't want the wheel tread too slick because then the wheel would tend to slide instead of roll.

Just wondering if anybody had tried using furniture polish or Turtle Wax on the axles (and buffing a lot).

I saw the post about the Bees Wax. Hadn't thought of that. Any comments about Furniture Polish (like Pledge) or Turtle Wax?

Thanks.

I found some polishing compound from Harbor Freight that we're going to experiment with on the hub and car body where the two meet. It's called Tripoli Compound and is for plastic and painted non-metal surfaces. http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=9733 No idea about how ...