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Post by steepslope on Feb 14, 2009 17:03:31 GMT -6
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Post by roosclan on Feb 14, 2009 17:37:18 GMT -6
Since I don't know what to expect when I start racing, I decided to upload pics of creations from Tigers to now. I have 3 works in progress (W.I.P.) and was looking for some feedback. <snipped for space> Should I consider putting a quickstart (notched out front end with raised bar) on any of the 3 W.I.P. Those are some very interesting designs! I like 'em. As for a quick start bar, that depends on your starting gate. If it is a spring loaded starting pin like on a Best Track, then the quick start mod is pointless, as the pin drops away too quickly for the quickstart bar to matter. If your starting gate is manually operated, then it might benefit you to have it.
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Post by steepslope on Feb 14, 2009 17:53:43 GMT -6
Sorry about the size of the pics. I guess I need to learn how to reduce from photobucket and retain the titles I assigned each one. The top car is my oldests Tiger car. Obviously before I knew how everything worked. The red car was his Wolf year car. It came in 10th. The yellow is his Bear car. It came in 6th. The next green is my youngest Tiger car. It came in 5th. The top W.I.P. is my oldest. The bottom is my youngest. And the last is mine for the adult race. WhipJay 1. We are putting our brand new track together tomorrow and testing everything. We bought it from MicroWizard. The timer too.
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Post by steepslope on Feb 14, 2009 23:42:20 GMT -6
I fixed the size of the pics but lost the first pic. It basically was a blocked carved with a coping saw (1st year). I'll get all this fixed soon. I might even figure out how to create a cool signature.
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Post by Lucky 13 on Feb 15, 2009 1:31:18 GMT -6
Steepslope24,
Very nice looking cars !! Looks like you have the basics down. I agree with Roosclan on the "cheater bar", if you are running on a track with a spring loaded start, the pins will fall faster than the car will move. Some more basics that I would suggest are to keep the body weight low. I personally shoot for a body that weighs between 1/2 -3/4(max) before it is painted. Keep your weight low and back in the car. Get down to the minimum 3/8 clearance. 3/4 inch is a good com, you can get more aggressive, but remember, the more aggressive the com, the more it will effect the alignment. Try notching the front of the car on the dominate front wheel side about 1/16 of an inch if you are planning on rail riding. This will move the front wheel in and help keep the rear wheels off the center rail when you start adding steer. Try to keep away from the designs with holes in the middle or use clear tape to tape them over on top and bottom, at this level of racing aerodynamics do come into play !! These are just a few suggestion. There are a lot of better racers here at PWDR than me, hopefully some of them will chime in with some help/suggestions.
What part of Ohio are you from ?
Lucky 13
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Post by ProQuest on Feb 15, 2009 2:16:02 GMT -6
Steepslope24, There are a lot of better racers here at PWDR than me, hopefully some of them will chime in with some help/suggestions. I agree with everything Lucky said except the part that is quoted above. You will not get better advice from a more knowledgeable builder. In fact, the only thing I can add is that if you are racing on a smooth, well set up track, then you probably want to set up your car to rail ride. For an explanation of rail riding check out this video: pwdracing.proboards91.com/index.cgi?board=goods&action=display&thread=911Good luck, Steve H.
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Post by steepslope on Feb 15, 2009 8:47:21 GMT -6
Thanks for the responses guys! The red car was my first attempt at getting aggressive. The green and yellow cars from last year were thin and all weight was low and in the rear. Cube weights. I think they were good cars but lots of cutting in wacked out my alignment and slowed them down. The winner last year was a wedge design (that I cut out) with stacked tungsten cylinders in a hole on top. It went on to place 2nd at districts (with standard wheelbase) against a car with extended wheelbase. This really opened up my eyes. Thus the designs for this year. My youngest wanted his cut like last years winner so we cut a wedge. It is thinner and I am using tungsten disks for the first time. My oldest just wants one that looks cool. Both cars are weighing in at 4.8 with wheels, axles, and weight. I figured that was good. COM is about an inch right now without wheels and axles. Lucky 13- What do you mean 1/2 to 3/4 as far as weight for your car before paint? Are you talking ounces? The top W.I.P. is at 1 ounce. The wedge is 1.1. This year are district adopted uniform rules so we adopted similar rules to more easily move from our race to the districts. No extended wheelbase. Wheels and axles out of the box. So I think having the cars around an oz. is good for what we have to use. I can't notch out the front. Our rules specify minimum track width of 1 1/2 in along entire center length of car. Our new track had spring loaded hinge starting gate and using a GPK3 Fast Start timer from MicroWizard. We are putting it all together today to figure everything out. As for my car, I am using lead tire weights so I had to cut out as much area in the rear as I could. We'll see how it goes.
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Post by roosclan on Feb 15, 2009 14:31:46 GMT -6
I can't notch out the front. Our rules specify minimum track width of 1 1/2 in along entire center length of car. That's perfect, actually! Your rules require 1.5" width. The block is 1.75" wide. Taking off 1/16" (.0625") at the FDW will leave a width of 1.6875" (1 11/16"), wider than the required 1.5" Yes, it will be a tight fit, but make sure when they measure it that the wheel is all the way against the axle head, and you should have no problems at all.
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Post by steepslope on Feb 15, 2009 17:36:53 GMT -6
I've checked with others. We can't have the front more narrow than the back. The requirement is of a min. of 1 1/2 in along entire length of car. So, if it is 1 1/2 in the front than it is 1 1/2 in the back.
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