Today, 2-15-04, was PWD Day!

[ranman106]

Wow, am I exhausted! Not only have I pulled 12 days straight, PWD was this weekend . We set up the track yesterday and raced today.

First things first. I want to thank everyone in the forum for their tips and suggestions! Without these, I am sure we would not have done as well as we did.

We are in a new pack this year, our entire den transferred, so we were racing on a different track than last year. All things considered, it went pretty smooth. Only one glitch that involved 3 Webelos cars. In a nutshell, our rules state that the BSA kit must be used with no changes to the wheels except sanding to remove the mold marks, etc. You know, the rules included in the kit and handbook. Problem was, the pack had not planned for a formal inspection. It was not noticed until the cars had been registered that one was a pinecar with pinecar wheels, one car had the BSA wheels rounded, and the third had older BSA wheels that had been lathed and sanded to leave two small rails, one on the inside the other on the outside of the wheel. Also, it appeared that the wheel base had been extended. We would find out later that this was a family trait!

Since no formal inspection had been done, it was decided that the cars would be allowed to race and correct these problems next year! I know it will be resolved next year because I am now on the rules committee . My job this year was to run the computer and handle the heats.

Now for how we did. Alex won the Bear division (12 racers) and was undefeated! We were very well pleased. The Pack Champion was determined by taking the top 3 finishers in each age bracket, Tigers, Wolves, Bears, and Webelos, and racing them against each other(12 racers). Alex was again undefeated and so was the Webelo with the car in question. The final winner was decided between Alex and the Webelo. Needless to say, the Webelo won both races, but not by much. Alex's car was awesome at the finish. My cousin was shooting the video and he stated that it appeared to him that the cars running against Alex would either slow down at the finish line or Alex's car would accelerate near the end . There were between 50-60 racers in the entire pack!

Alex showed great sportsmanship and made me very proud. We will be going to districts for the first time on 3-20-04 .

Bottom line, I know the winning car was illegal. Am I mad, no. We played by the rules and almost beat the cheat. As far as I am concerned, Alex won the Pack Championship! Will Alex be the official pack winner, no. Will the winnig car pass inspection at districts? Probably not. How shallow a victory to win the pack and be disqualified at districts. This could be the case because we can only race the same car with no mods between pack and district.

Anyway Alex was thrilled with his blue and red medals! I will post a pic of the car and medals asap!

[terryep]

Congrats to you and Alex. I'll be interesting if the "cheat" actually gets through inspection at district (a definite possibility), please keep us posted.

Terry

[ranman106]

Alex likes the Lego Bionicle series so thats the type of car he wanted to do. I found the Decal Maker by Testors and used it to make decals of the pictures he wanted from Lego's Bionicle web site. He chose Pohatu and Pohatu Nuva. BTW, I think its neat that the masks he chose to go on the car are the masks of speed . Here is the pic!

http://www.picturefuse.com/picdetail.php?picid=35214

[Gavin Chafin]

Very handsome looking car. I see that you incorporated the lifted nose design. I saw a ton of those at our District races this year. Congrats on doing so well. It's a shame that an illegal car had to enter into the mix. We had a few problems with the Pinecar wheels and axles show up at our Pack derby. I blame it on not stressing the rules enough.

Good luck at Districts.

[DR Pine]

Ranman

Congratulations to Alex and you!

What a positive attituded when handeling the situation, If only others would take the same approach.

[ranman106]

Ranman

Congratulations to Alex and you! What a positive attituded when handeling the situation, If only others would take the same approach.

Thank you very much! I try to remember that not only is my son watching and learning from me but so are a Pack of young scouts. I was more pleased at the sportsmanship shown by my 8 year old son. He is a fine young boy and I am a very proud dad!

[Alex]

I slept all day because I am sick and can not sleep now. Dad is staying up with me now. Here is what my dad said and that a lot can be learned by Ranmans story. [ His Alex did not lose. Against an illegal car he won. The now worthless trophy just went to the wrong home. Congradulations to Alex! And even though his Dad was disapointed my hat is off to him for having such a good attitude. Both Alex and his dad are winners! ] I have a favor to ask. Me and dad believe in the power of prayer. Pray that my dad stops worrying so much about me. I will be alright. I just do not want dad to worry. Thank you. Alex

[dknowles67]

I'm curious, which of the 3 illegal wheels you mentioned won?
Are the pinecar wheels the Royal Ranger type wheels like these?

http://www.pinewoodderbycars.com/DerbyRacer.htm

I find them to be faster than BSA wheels. I think because they are a larger diameter, and have less mass/require less energy to get rolling.

When you say the BSA wheels were rounded, did you mean turned on a lathe/drill press to make them round, or was the shape of the area that touches the track rounded instead of flat?

I'm not convinced the wheels with rails on the inside/outside would give you any speed advantage by itself. Reducing the mass on the outside of the wheel would help.

In another thread we beat to death the physics behind friction being independant of surface area. (the area of the wheel in contact with the track). Newton was right.

[ranman106]

I'm curious, which of the 3 illegal wheels you mentioned won?

The wheels that had an "H" profile.

When you say the BSA wheels were rounded, did you mean turned on a lathe/drill press to make them round, or was the shape of the area that touches the track rounded instead of flat?

The "H" wheels were lathed turned so much that the tread on the sidewall was missing. Another car had rounded the profile by sanding. The side tread was missing also and the profile looked like cartoon balloon tires.

[MaxV]

These sound like the previous vintage of BSA wheels (replaced about 3 years ago I believe). The H-shaped lathing was probably done by Hodges Hobby House.

[Stan Pope]

I'm not convinced the wheels with rails on the inside/outside would give you any speed advantage by itself. Reducing the mass on the outside of the wheel would help.

In another thread we beat to death the physics behind friction being independant of surface area. (the area of the wheel in contact with the track). Newton was right.

That was "sliding friction". This is "rolling friction."

This is not necessarily the reason, but think of the narrowed tread contact as crunching less dust as it rolls.

[ranman106]

These sound like the previous vintage of BSA wheels (replaced about 3 years ago I believe). The H-shaped lathing was probably done by Hodges Hobby House.

I didn't think they were BSA at first but the offical lettering was on the backs. They also had hub caps which are allowed in our Pack/District. Funny thing though, it was the only car to have these.

Someone said the wheels appeared to be the older version. Something we found out later was the family likes to pass down cars from one to another. Change some details and repaint, you know how that goes. That would explain the older wheels.

[dknowles67]

think of the narrowed tread contact as crunching less dust as it rolls

So there is less chance of hitting a "dust" bump, and therefore less energy expended moving the car up and down as it rolls?

I thought the hard plastic wheels, and hard track surface made for negligible rolling friction due to adhesion.

[terryep]

A surprising amout of energy can be lost as sound. Energy lost to lift the car over a bump is regained as it falls back down but some energy is lost as heat and sound. It's difficult to measure the heat but you can hear the sound. Softer wheels may mask the sound but then you get more heating instead.

Terry