Times for 35' Best track

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Speedster
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Times for 35' Best track

Post by Speedster »

First, a BIG THANK YOU to the folks on Derby Talk. We were fortunate to take 1st place at the Commodore Perry District race yesterday, never losing a race.

We race first on a 35' Best track. Best track states the racing distance is 29' 10". We are required to use slots, stock wheelbase, and can run on 3 wheels and set up the car to rail ride (sort of). Wheels flat on the ground - that sort of stuff. Graphite only. Our fastest time was 2.561 and stayed in that neighborhood. This was the fastest time of any car I have recorded in the past 3 years.
I'm interested to know if anyone has recorded a faster time under our rules and what it was. If you have, would you share specs on your build ? I have ordered a single lane 35' Best track. We have a small group of Derby enthusiasts meeting later this summer to build cars. I think the scouts will have fun running their cars down the track, tuning them and playing with knothed's gage.
Thank you.
Bill
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sporty
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Re: Times for 35' Best track

Post by sporty »

Bill.
the hardest thing with that. Is packs or others.
1. Have the track set up the same way. Height. Starting system. Timer system in the same place.

So it's hard.

2. Then reaching out to find someone who has same rules . Hard also.

3. I'm sure there are cara and same track that have gone faster.

Simply due to. Builder skills. 6 gram bodies of wood. Wheel prep. Great wheels. Ect. Ect.


But Maybe some one will have done it and be the same. If so. Then you will be in luck for the information you seek.

I have heaRd of 2.4 and even high 2.3. But don't know what there rules were. But that was stock wheel base and a 35 foot best track.

Either way. Hay. Congrats and that's awesome.

Sporty
Speedster
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Re: Times for 35' Best track

Post by Speedster »

Thanks Sporty. That helps. I'm not concerned about Builder Skills because I do everything you tell me to do. LoL. I realize there are variables. Derby Talk gives me the opportunity to reach a lot of very skilled builders and I was hoping I would get one or two racers that were in the identical situation.
The Pinewood Derby is fascinating. The racer from last year that we were trying to beat finished 2nd last year while we finished 3rd. This year he did not finish in the top 3. He had won his Pack race placing 1st while the Pack leader's son finished 2nd. He then had a faster time on the Best track than the Pack leader's son. They both qualified for the Freedom track which is 40'. The Pack leader's son turned a faster time, took 3rd place for a trophy, and the racer who finished 2nd last year ended up in 4th place. Neither of the cars were rail riders. Was it staging? We'll never know. It surely was exciting.
ngyoung
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Re: Times for 35' Best track

Post by ngyoung »

Even with using the default best track setup the slope angle can vary. For our pack I checked the angle with an app on my phone and it was mid 25.something degrees. Default specs state it is supposed to be 26*. Several of the leagues have theirs at 27.1*
Speedster
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Re: Times for 35' Best track

Post by Speedster »

Thanks for the info. No matter what, the aluminum track will be more consistent than my wood track. I'll simply transfer the times.
knotthed
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Re: Times for 35' Best track

Post by knotthed »

Big part of it will be weather or not it uses a micro switch or a laser start gate.

Our pack has the laser and we have the micro switch. I much prefer the microswitch.

I think that's where sporty can see the 2.3/2.4 numbers. Our track will be 2.5.

I would recommend sending it to Mid America or something of the like - then you can benchmark the times against others.


ngyoung - these are different than best tracks, not sure if the angles are the same or not - but I don't think so.
Speedster
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Re: Times for 35' Best track

Post by Speedster »

The Mid America has such lenient rules I wouldn't learn anything useful to me. We have a 35' Best track, manual start, Microwizard timer at our District race. I can duplicate that for home use, at least a lot closer than what I have now. No matter what time the car turns on the new track I'll know I have to reach that time to be competitive. I think a big advantage is going to be in tuning the car. I've decided to get a two lane track instead of the one lane test track. This will give me a chance to run cars against each other. We'll see what happens.
knotthed
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Re: Times for 35' Best track

Post by knotthed »

I misread the type of track sorry.

I would still try to find a way to benchmark somehow and your district comparison is a good start.

The thing that sticks out in my mind is how much faster can you go - just when you think you're fast the next set of cars you build are faster. It would be nice to know when you hit that brick wall.
Speedster
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Re: Times for 35' Best track

Post by Speedster »

Let's hope the next set is faster. There were cars at this year's District that had excessive camber on the back wheels but the young lady didn't say anything. We might try to increase our camber a bit and hope the young lady comes back next year. I'm going to try the Liquid Glass that's been talked about. Having a Best track this summer should give us an edge. I wish I understood why 1 1/2 oz of ballast behind the rear axle is the preferred amount with a stock wheelbase. We race on 3 Super Smooth tracks so I'm going to get more aggressive on the CM also. It's Fun.
mebetree
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Re: Times for 35' Best track

Post by mebetree »

My kids have run between 2.51 and 2.57 on the same track. That's with stock wheels, stock axles, stock block, weighing 5.0 oz with all 4 wheels touching and lubricated with graphite. The big difference was the wheelbase. The long wheelbase cars were a little faster on average than the short wheel base ones. I think I saw only one car (not ours) go under 2.5 in the 7 years we have been in scouts. The times I listed were good enough for my son to finish 1st or 2nd at the pack level every year.
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