Weight Placement

[fat elvis]

My pack just finished its derby and my den using yall's advice did very well, 8 boys, 6 finished in the top ten, taking 1-3,5 ,7,8. one did not use graphite and was a slug. The last noone can figure what went wrong, but his weight placement was different. We dremel out pockets and pour molten Cerrobend till the weight is achieved. The father made the pocket to deep and the weight was at the top of the car not the bottom, could this be why his times were so slow?
Thanks for your advice
Fat Elvis

[Stan Pope]

Possibly ... remotely possible ... unless the car was very tall or he had very bad wheels. More likely he had nasty unresolved alignment issues, such as a rear wheel dragging on the center guide rail or rear axle toe-in.

Tell me more about the fellow's car ... alignment, wheel prep, axle prep, etc.

[fat elvis]

Thanks Stan, I am a disiple of Max V and use all the proderby tools he sells. The car is a wedge, one raised wheel, alignment centered. I dont have practice track to perfect the Railriding technique. The boys polish axels to 2000 grit and then Mothers. All work was done at the meetings, so I believe all cars had the same amount of attention put into them. The father did not want to use the Tubeolube graphite I supply and went with what he had in his garage. The wieght placement and graphite is the only two things they did different from the other boys.
Fat Elvis

[Stan Pope]

Thanks Stan, I am a disiple of Max V and use all the proderby tools he sells. The car is a wedge, one raised wheel, alignment centered. I dont have practice track to perfect the Railriding technique. The boys polish axels to 2000 grit and then Mothers. All work was done at the meetings, so I believe all cars had the same amount of attention put into them. The father did not want to use the Tubeolube graphite I supply and went with what he had in his garage. The wieght placement and graphite is the only two things they did different from the other boys.
Fat Elvis

Don't know what "alignment centered" means. I'm still inclined to think "alignment". Did you get it to roll straight on a flat surface for a few feet? Did you avoid rear-end steering (crabbing)?

FWIW, Alex's RR was done on the kitchen table with the addition of a yardstick as the rail to check rear wheel tracking. That adjustment, of course, should happen after the alignment is dead-on. Without a few tune-up runs on a track, we probably did not get all of the available speed out of his beast.

Since there is still a question, how about borrowing his car for a few days to study. There is a hole in the group process, and you really want to know what it is so that next time you can go 8 for 8! I believe that with a few minutes study on your kitchen table, you can pinpoint the problem.

[Go Bubba Go]

Tell me more about the fellow's car ... alignment, wheel prep, axle prep, etc.

And what you mean by slow. How far (in inches / car lengths and on what length track) was he behind the rest of your group.

I would not immediately suspect the weight if the difference is significant, but rather alignment, wheel prep or the "stuff he had in his garage" graphite. Wasn't that "death in a tube" Teflon with Cling, was it?

[MaxV]

I would put my money on the lube. Lots of products in the garage work very poorly on pinewood derby cars.

[RacerRusty]

Wasn't that "death in a tube" Teflon with Cling, was it?

I CAN'T BREATHE!!!!!!


THANKS BUBBA!!!!! I needed that.

Just to let you know, I'm soooooooo going to steal that "death in a tube" line

[Go Bubba Go]

...THANKS BUBBA!!!!! I needed that.

Just to let you know, I'm soooooooo going to steal that "death in a tube" line

Steal away, Rusty.

Most of "my" better comments I stole from somebody else, I just can't always remember from whom anymore...