Tungsten

General topics of interest to racers and race coordinators alike.
resullivan
Master Pine Head
Master Pine Head
Posts: 249
Joined: Wed Feb 01, 2012 9:29 am
Location: Huntsville, AL

Re: Tungsten

Post by resullivan »

Shhh, don't tell anybody. We just want them to see that we are from Alabama, so they won't see us coming.
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drathbun
Master Pine Head
Master Pine Head
Posts: 195
Joined: Tue Jan 17, 2012 1:50 pm
Location: Carrollton, Texas

Re: Tungsten

Post by drathbun »

You could use depleted uranium pellets for weight if they were allowed. :P Basically the concept is that you want your car to be 5 ounces, and you want the weight placed for optimal energy (meaning towards the back of the car) and stability (meaning in front of the rear axle). How you get there is up to you. Now that I have discovered it, I use tungsten simply because it gives me more options to consider for design. I would never have been able to make this car using lead and get it to the 5 ounce limit.

Image

Cars with more wood have more places to store weight (assuming you want the weight hidden, and not attached to the top or bottom).
kokoruz wrote:...as this is his last year we thought we would build a low profile car and focus on speed.
That's the rub, isn't it? If you want to make a low profile car, you need low profile weights. You can get very long weights that attach to the bottom of your car, but then you can't concentrate the weight towards the back. It doesn't mean you can't get a fast car, by the way, one of my entries in our "outlaw" race this past weekend came in second with just one of those types of weights, simply because I had it at the house and decided to use it.

In my rambling way I guess I'm saying that in my experience tungsten certainly has a lot of advantages, but using it won't guarantee you a fast car. :)
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