Fast & Furious Monster Track

[derbyspeed]

We had the pleasure of going to the Indiana State Museum last weekend and raced 3 cars on their 120 foot pinewood derby track. It is quite a setup. The track is murder on your cars, mostly due to the high speeds and stopping area.

We did fairly well although our first two cars were run together and both crashed, one breaking the axle area completely off with a wooden chunk left and the other causing the nail to break out of the axle area. Luckily epoxy saved the day and they raced again.

My son's car (Blue Lightning) missed the top 24 cut right at the last minute. They used the timed method with two runs for each car. My wife's car (AVON) made it into the top 16 and our OSK 1 business car made it into the top 8.

Here are some pictures and I'll add a video link for you as well. Video isn't real great as it was hard to get a good angle with such a long track and the cars running so fast!


Our 3 racers for the event.


Starting point 2 stories high.


These were the top 24 at one time, that changed throughout the day, they ran preliminaries from 12 noon - 4 pm to get the top 24 fastest cars to run in the finals.


This is what they used to get the cars back up to the starting line.


Here's the setup they used to hoist the cars up with, like a modified bicycle of some sorts?


The Huge Screen they used to show times - over 400 miles and hour!


Nice view of cars racing.


Tried to get a full view of the track.


Stop section of track. Cars would usually lift off and crash into the tire and then bounce back out. If you watch closely in the video you will see some pretty awesome crashes, there are two that are end over end - definitely Fast & Furious!!

Here's the link to the video:

https://youtu.be/

Hope I didn't put too many pictures up

[gpraceman]

They really do need a longer straight-away. Either that or do something a bit different for the stop section. At those speeds, it seems like quite a jolt to the cars to have their wheels drop out from under them so abruptly. Not so much of an issue at normal track speeds. Maybe put a bit of an incline to that section. That might help with the cars flying through the air and into that tire stop.

There were definitely some spectacular crashes in that video. I imagine any little misalignment in a section, rail burr or debris on the track could cause a crash at those speeds, if a wheel managed to hit it.

I was also cringing at seeing the guy on the 2nd floor pulling cars out of the "Pinewood Derby Car Lift" tray. I can imagine if he mishandled a car, it would take a two story plunge to its death. It seems he could have pulled the tray over the rail before unloading the cars.

[derbyspeed]

The car that took first place was a full bodied speed racer car, covering the wheels. I am pretty sure he had some lightened wheels, but I now know why he had a full bodied car, it was able to take the hits without getting to the wheels as easy.

You mentioned a 2-story plunge, one car actually came off the track at the top as it was racing, it took the plunge, they found a scratch on it and race it again!

Yes you definitely want to build a specific car for this track and know that it will most likely crash at some time. The OSK car didn't have any problems, the other two we raced had extended wheel bases, so that made it worse during the crashes.

[sporty]

Thats pretty neat, One awesome car pinewood derby lift.

Sporty

[Darin McGrew]

They really do need a longer straight-away. Either that or do something a bit different for the stop section.

Or maybe a shorter drop. They could have raised the straight-away by 30" easily: just set up folding tables under the track, with a safety rail to keep derailed cars from hitting the ground. The race would also be easier to see.

They could also have lowered the starting gate a foot or so.

[derbyspeed]

Probably the most frustrating part was that if you were at the end of the track you couldn't see the starting gate and could never tell when cars were racing. The walkway above blocked your view. Very hard to video tape and plus you had a very tough time telling which lane your car was in because they didn't announce which car was in which lane, they came at you so fast you couldn't recognize them, and also didn't give any countdown, except a couple of times.

All in all it was a great time, I'm definitely not trying to complain, just stating some things that might make it better if they were able to adjust. It's a big event, and they were pretty well organized.

They had a sign at registration entrance warning you that it was a fast track with unusually high speeds and they were not responsible for any damage to your car. That's why we brought 3 cars. It's definitely worth your time to give a try at least once. Just build your car like a tank and hope for the best!

I was going to test some material to put under my car for next time, wondering what a strip of velcro would do at the rear of the car? You would probably have to epoxy it onto the car to keep it from coming off. Didn't know if it would be too aggressive, but thought it might work as long as it's at the very rear of the car?

[Rod Turnbull]

Thanks... now I want a track like that... you should know that we are all going to want one... it was crule to post it here, LOL.

Very Kool

[dna1990]

I guess drag parachutes are not a feasible idea?

[4my4boys]

That is awesome. I too am jealous, and have many questions......Is that an open race? How often do they run? I think my son would love to see his car in action on a track like that. Were you rail riding? ...... I think your velcro idea might be the ticket... Very, very cool.

[derbyspeed]

That is awesome. I too am jealous, and have many questions......Is that an open race? How often do they run? I think my son would love to see his car in action on a track like that. Were you rail riding? ...... I think your velcro idea might be the ticket... Very, very cool.

This is an open race, although scouts and their families get into the museum for only $3.00 and there is no other entry fee, plus you get to se all the museum as well. They only hold it once a year as far as I know, just go their website and check out their special events: http://www.in.gov/ism/

All 3 cars we ran were set up for rail riding. They said no machined wheels and you couldn't cut anything out on the inside of the wheels. I thought they wouldn't pass several cars as they used a magnifying glass to check wheels, but they did pass and several had machined wheels, as many participants were complaining.

I think they were mostly checking to see if the lettering was still on the inside of the wheels, but of course that isn't affected when the wheel is lightened by a machine on the inner surface. So I'm pretty sure there were lightened wheels running. It is tough to beat when they don't stick to the rules.

I definitely will try running a full bodied car next year if we go. Just make sure you don't take a car that you want to keep for memories, so it doesn't get crashed. We had brought one of my son's pack winning cars over and he didn't want to run it, didn't want it to break so he could keep it like it was. Was proud of him for that!

[millettbbc]

Is that made my Binford?