Derby Talk

Probably safest to have people sign up for drop-off time slots. I am thinking of two distant tables outside and time to disinfect tools between use. I am already on board with only event staff (my family) entering the building. Historically about 50% of cars pass first time and could drive thru. 30 ...

Been thinking through these questions. Our race was postponed at the last minute in Mid March. Our Awana commander's initial thought is to run the race in mid summer when presumably families will be able to participate in person. My current thinking is to run a live stream oriented event in May. Cur...

A night before build day would be a very different type of event than our Grand Prix tradition. In my case I am looking to add build help the night before; we already have a cut out date weeks before the event and a pit crew for an hour before the event. Looking to provide additional help with a lim...

My main goal would be to get more families to participate. Families on the margin don't want to spend $100+ nor spend weeks learning to build a highly competitive car. Last year we had one family cutout cars the night before, paint overnight, and race the next day. However, this case required a lot ...

Due to COVID-19, will need to reschedule our Awana Grand Prix. Historically we have held our only build day on a Saturday morning 3 or 4 weeks prior to the Friday night race. When we reschedule, Looking to add a build day the night before the race. This is in hopes of getting a few more families to ...

I have used RaceReplay v5.0 for the last three years on a Windows laptop and had some similar issues and some advise. I am using a i5-6200U @2.3GHz with 8GB of RAM. My camera is a MS LifeCam Cinema. My setup seems to work well enough when the race moves along, running a race every minute or quicker....

Hi, I have been running the Grand Prix for our church for six years with about 25 kids participating each year. We are happy with the purchase of the track from Awana. I would NOT recommend getting a longer track, as some of our cars struggle to finish the 35' distance. We got one of the last RaceMa...

Whether you can do something like that depends on the rules of your derby, and what is allowed for its "Slowest Car" competition. A fly wheel might be considered an illegal power source. Adding weight to wheels might be an illegal modification of kit supplied wheels. But I haven't seen rules target...

My suggestion would be having four heavy wheels in contact with the track, e.g. fill them with tungsten puddy. The idea could be taken even further by gearing to a flywheel. The main idea being to convert the potential energy into angular momentum to reduce speed. Many of the other suggestions to re...

Top tips for speed. 1. Maximize potential energy with as much weight as is allowable, typically 5.0049999 oz. Here are some products that help get the maximum weight in the right place. https://www.maximum-velocity.com/product/adjustable-tungsten-round-3-2-to-3-5-ounces/ https://www.maximum-velocity...

Randy,
Thanks for checking and the advice provided.
A friend help me diagnose and repair my problem, so this system is ready to go.
Cause of this issue was with the reset switch connector getting pinched and shorting out this switch.

Anyone from the community using the Transpondor? My timer system is down, so I need a replacement. Reviewing the commercial options online, I am inclined toward this system if it is reliable. I would rather not need to buy another system for a while. Since we use RaceReplay, I think the quality of t...

I unpacked our 4 year old RaceMaster Timer system and find that it will not reset properly. On power up, the display briefly indicates the lane numbers. Then the display gets stuck showing: 012 345 678 9Ab Neither the reset switch, the start switch, nor a GPRM reset will get the board to reset or ch...

Bill (Speedster), A key factor in how we run our derby is fitting it into a 90 minute schedule. Our Awana program runs in the evening and the families often have younger siblings. Last cars are qualifying at 6:30 and families want to leave around 8pm. Things run so much faster with an adult stager a...

In brief, what I wanted was a Sterns round based on seeding from the 4 rounds from the perfect N races. I did manage the pull-off this 5th round of racing. Went with option A with Gold and Bronze final races featuring two boys and two girls in each race. To do this, I created a spreadsheet which cre...