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2015 Mid America Line Up

Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2015 11:20 am
by birddog
We (mostly) finished our cars yesterday. 1 open adult, 1 open scout oil and 1 open scout graphite. Tried a few new things this time around (more aggressive COM than we've ever done before), delrin washers and no paint on the sides.

I'm going to dig the track out of the crawl space tonight, set it up and do a test and tune to get the cars running at their best. Plan to mail them on Friday.

That oil division last year was really fast. I doubt we can compete there as most of our experience is with graphite, but it was still fun giving it a try.

I'll post an update after the test runs have been done.

Birddog

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Re: 2015 Mid America Line Up

Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2015 12:41 pm
by Vitamin K
Lookin' fast, BD. I'm sure you'll be a few car-lengths ahead of ours...which I hope to get re-prepped and sent out in time!

Re: 2015 Mid America Line Up

Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2015 7:39 pm
by sporty
They look great. Really nice. Well built.

What i sent in was slopped together. Just for fun.

Sporty.

Re: 2015 Mid America Line Up

Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2015 7:40 pm
by whodathunkit
Cool looking cars there birddog best of luck at MA.

Re: 2015 Mid America Line Up

Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2015 9:49 am
by birddog
Finished the testing and tuning last night. Probably could have spent more time on it, but I think we are "done" and ready to mail them in.

All the cars were built identically, but there are some big differences in times. My adult car beats my son's graphite car by about .01 (which is a pretty big difference). Difference probably due to my better axle and bore prep and maybe the wood frame being lighter, allowing for slightly different weight placement.

The really interesting thing was the oil car. It is .02 faster than the fastest graphite car. Amazing what a difference oil makes.

Also interesting was comparing our District Champ car with these MA cars. The District Champ car was about .02 slower than the MA graphite cars. I think this is mainly due to the 1.4 gram wheels and better axles on the MA cars as opposed to the 2.6 gram (unmodified) wheels on the District car and BSA axles.

I'll be building boxes tonight along with one last test run for each car (after having glued the axles in place and covered the bottoms with aluminum tape).

We may not be able to watch the MA live as we've done in past years. Our Scout Show is the same Saturday as the MA race this year.

birddog

Re: 2015 Mid America Line Up

Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2015 12:22 pm
by gpraceman
If I thought that I'd have room in my suitcase, I would offer to take them with me to the race. Anyways, I look forward to seeing them race.

Re: 2015 Mid America Line Up

Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2015 12:59 pm
by birddog
Made my 3 shipping boxes last night and got everything all packed up. Only minor damage to one car, which I was able to repair.

Shipped them out over lunch today to the Mid-America team. They should be there by Saturday or Monday.

Our part is now done. I sure hope Greg has plenty of volunteers lined up as managing all those cars must be a logistical nightmare. Sure glad he takes it on!

birddog

Re: 2015 Mid America Line Up

Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2015 10:36 pm
by Noskills
Nice looking cars Birddog. I was going to talk some trash about the MA and beating you this heatproof but I think I'll hold my tongue. :D
Noskills

Re: 2015 Mid America Line Up

Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2015 11:04 pm
by Noskills
Birddog,
Nice performance at the MA. Enjoyed watching you kick my butt. My son still got a trophy for top 6 in Webelos and I got to support the race. Now just waitin on my swag 8)
Noskills