Just an idea

[keithg30]

First off hello to all . I am new to this forum and I and my son are in our first year of racing ....We did alot of looking on the net to make a car that would compete .. He actually won every award that they were giving ! Best looking car , won his are group and even won overall !!! LOL

Anyway onto my questions....I was wandering . I have read and it seems like alot of the speed comes from the weight being placed as far back and as low as poss....My question is the block has the two slots for the wheels and axles and there is supposed to be a front and back .. The longes section of wood to be the front.....What I did , and was wandering if anyone else has done was to put the long part of the block to the back . Thus more weight to the back of the car ..Wandeing if that really makes a diff.....Also was wandering ...we all know how the cars are started with the peg that drops....I was thinking that if a person was to make the car to where the nose was at the highest point poss . thus getting a jump on the cars that have there nose at a lower point . Any ideas on this ????

[doct1010]

Hello and welcome. Congrats on a fine finish.

I believe most here would agree you want the rear wheels as far back as possible. Several reasons for this, allows more aggressive rear weighting and stability also places that weight higher up ramp at start.

The nose you refer to is called a barge, there may be some small benefit with a manual start, however none with a spring loaded start gate.

[Randy and Son]

Welcome!

Well, you must be doing something right to win all that hardware already.

Actually the block should be reversed from the way you have it though. The end of the block that has the closest slot should be the rear of the car. This will allow the wheels to travel a longer distance down the incline resulting in more speed. It also allows you to move the car's center of mass farther up the incline. Another advantage.

A car with a higher nose like you describe is called a "barge nose" and really doesn't offer any advantage unless the starting peg is being manually dropped by a person with somewhat slow reflexes. On most tracks the peg is lowered so quickly, the barge nose has no value and might actually detract aerodynamically.

Randy

[ohiofitter]

.I was thinking that if a person was to make the car to where the nose was at the highest point poss . thus getting a jump on the cars that have there nose at a lower point . Any ideas on this ????

At a open event at a main street festival one boy had what your talking about here. He had channeled the front of the car so it looked like a U bent a paper clip it in between the fronts and set it about 1/8 from the top of the pin. The had a remote to drop the gate And the boys design did give him a hair advantage IMO but he still came in second to his dad and he had a 1/2 inch wide point on his car

[keithg30]

THanks all I app the info ....District is Sat so I don't think that I will have the time to totally rebuild the car . And I only have my son on the weekends and I don't think that it would be right if I %100 rebuilt the car for him ....We will just run this one this year and build it the right way next year ....I have baught 4 new kits for he and I to play with and see if we can get even more speed for next years race.....

THis pic was taken before final sanding , clear coat , and polishing ..

[woodworx]

Nice paint job!

[keithg30]

Thank you ......I didn't have a stencil I just used painters tape and cut it out ...and then painted it ...It was a rush job ...still won best looking but next year will be better !!! LOL Get a-lot of Exp ..I run demolition derby so I am painting cars a-lot ...

[keithg30]

Just a quick update on the car.....Well we went to district on the 23rd..First off we had a blast and that is what really counts ...Like I said , my son is a wolf but only in his first year of scouts ....We showed up and what I was expecting pretty much came true.....ALOT of kit cars ...Funny how I can pick them out no longer then I have been doing this !!! LOL ANyway we finished 5th in wolf.....Not to bad , I was just hopeing he would finish in the middle of the pack Wound up better then we expected ...Only one thing that I really didn't care for......THey had 3 seperate tracks...and the one that we were on had an obvious problem with one of the lanes ( Lane 1 ) and it wasn't just me that notiched it . Several of the fathers were talking about it ...We even overheard one of the off. makeing a comment about how lane 1 was a loosing lane . SHE even at one point called the finish of the race before it started and she was dead on ....for some reason in that lane where there were unions they were rought !! ANd I mean rought you could see and even hear the car hit them . One cars front end even lifted up enougt that you could see just how obvious it was slowing cars down.....That lane actually cost my son atleast a top 3 finish ...all of the cars in his last race were down to where if they didn't win that they would be eliminated...Well just our luck we got lane 1 ...against 2 cars that we had beat , with out alot of problems earlier that day ...The other fathers even commented to me ... " Well good luck , we are done " And we just laughted and sure enought we got the [crummy] lane and actually came in last place in the heat.....Don't get me wrong . We are happy we did as well as we did . BUT if they knew that there was a problem why didn't they fix the lane or atleast close that lane when it was down to top 6 cars ..??? LOL oh well we are already started on next years car....Even thought we have no way of knowing how fast it is .Seeing as how we don't have acc. to a track to test it ...I would build a test track . But do to an unfortunate situation at work I no longer have a job...And have been out of work since Oct. 26th ...Lets just say that I have a gov. agency looking into it just have to hold on and see what happens...LOL Actually thaught about starting a little shop in the garage painting cars for all the local boys ...I not bragging but I can paint ..The pic of this years car was a rush 20 min job and still won 2 diff. awards . 1 best looking and one most realistic...ANyway I will get off my soap box and tell everyone else good luck .at all there upcoming races...I don't think 5th gets him to council so we are done for the year.....