You know me, this is drag racing and here is the deal. My son is 6-years old and he is going to enter in his first drag racing event, start them out young guy's LOL.

So what is the trick's of the trade here,what did you guy's do to get the wooden car down the track faaaaaaaaaaaaast.

Here is CJ spec's

The car has to weight 5-oz.
7" long.
3" wide.

John
M&H

 

I used to sell the kits. I always thought it would be cool to run so high quality ball bearings on the axles. All the kids smear this junk grease on the axles for less resistance, but some small bearings would work way better. Any hobby shop with R/C car parts will sell bearings.

Other than that, make sure the weight is right on the money, as heavy as allowed. Center the weight so the load is spread out evenly between the axles. Too much weight on one axle vs. the other might increase the rolling resistance a little.

I bet the car would be clipping though.

 

won states with this design.

yellow hoses a drill hose filled with lead then covered with wood glue

we called it pin wood druby, hope it is the same thing

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by xxbulaxx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I used to sell the kits. I always thought it would be cool to run so high quality ball bearings on the axles. All the kids smear this junk grease on the axles for less resistance, but some small bearings would work way better. Any hobby shop with R/C car parts will sell bearings.

Other than that, make sure the weight is right on the money, as heavy as allowed. Center the weight so the load is spread out evenly between the axles. Too much weight on one axle vs. the other might increase the rolling resistance a little.

I bet the car would be clipping though. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Thank You for the imput, but we can not use ball bearings.

This is good info, thank you xxbulaxx.


Other than that, make sure the weight is right on the money, as heavy as allowed. Center the weight so the load is spread out evenly between the axles. Too much weight on one axle vs. the other might increase the rolling resistance a little.

John
M&H

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by cluelessmale &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

won states with this design.

yellow hoses a drill hose filled with lead then covered with wood glue

we called it pin wood druby, hope it is the same thing</TD></TR></TABLE>


Hi cluelessmale,

Congrats on the state win, and yes it's the pinewood derby.

I opened the box and I went wow.

1- Wooden Block.
4- Wheels.
4- Nails.

So I shake the box and say, where are the axles LOL.

Your car is to High tech for me,but it looks sweeeeeet.

So cluelessmale,how did you get the car to go fast. You can PM me.

John
M&H

 

It's too bad they outlawed the bearings. I bet some kid was cleaning up shop with a car with bearings. Oh well.


I forgot they come with nails too. When we were in Jr. High we made CO2 dragsters and they had full axles. I did the bearing thing with that which I why I threw the idea out there for you. But I also put a days worth of work into drilling the hole for the co2 cartridge so that it would neither push down on the car or try to lift it. It would just glide along the string with the wheels barely skimming the ground. We had no minimum weight either, so I swiss cheesed it. It was fun though.

 

hmm first soap box derby drag racing, then jr. dragster, then turbo honda, then top fuel. haha. sounds like a plan.

 

So where can we hide the turbo LOL, the info you gave me will be on the car. The race is on monday, so I am going to be pulling some over nighters on this project. The good old days, but it will be fun.

John
M&H

 

Top Secect PM

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ExospeedAMcrx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">hmm first soap box derby drag racing, then jr. dragster, then turbo honda, then top fuel. haha. sounds like a plan.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Wil, so do you have any info on how to make this car go fast. I would use your lenzo, BUT the car has to weigh 5-oz. LOL

John
M&H

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by cluelessmale &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Top Secect PM</TD></TR></TABLE>



I will be back later tonight, please keep the info coming please.

John
M&H

 

I should whip out all my pinewood derby cars and post them up!

I have about 5 of them made.. highest i placed was second (person who took first ended up getting dq'd in regionals because of cheating... aka graphite on the nails)

GL!!!

 

wow, graphite is outlawed now? i used to use copious amounts of that back in the day..

 

At least in our area... lol "check the rule book before you do that?"

 

we used full axles and where the went throught the wood, we counter sunk in some nylon washers for the axle to ride on. and lots of liquid grahite. and def drill some lead holes and cover.

 

Not that I'm a pro.....hell, I don't even have a kid.... but hanging around with alot of pals that do we've taken some time (and beer) to contemplate the higher degrees of racing a block of wood on plactic wheels held on with nails.

What we've learned:

Set it up to actually run on three wheels and adjust your weight accordingly. You'll still have the fourth on there but set it up so it only lightly touches the track.

Polish the nails and make sure the wheel hubs don't have any burrs.

Try to setup the wheels so there's less surface to contact the track and less likelyhood to have alignment issues.

Ultimately, it comes down to the track itself. Like dragracing, it would be nice to get a bunch of testing to find the right lane but you may not get that luxury.

Sure, it's just a pinewood derby but my pals, their kids and I had alot of fun messing with them. Their kids did well but didn't win it all. At least the kids understand that time spent in planning and execution is not time wasted.

 

are APR wings allowed?

 

balance the car to find the center and hollow the bottom. put some stick on wheels weights on the underside and use lots of graphite on the axles. also sand the wheels down so they look like a over inflated street tire with only the center touching the track.

i never understood why people worried about the aero of the car it doesn't go fast enough anyway just round the nose a little bt and call it a day

 

Guy's I have been coming on HT for years and helping out racers when they have question or they need help. Now it's my turn and you stepped up to the plate, AND I THANK YOU for that and my son thanks you. I am going to take all the info and make this car happen. As for being a dad, I want my son to build this car and some help from me LOL just alittle.

Yes we can use grahite.

Thank You.

John
M&H

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Please do, this would be nice.

Thank YOU.

John
M&H

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank You for the nail trick.

Thank You.

John
M&H

-------------------------------------------------------------------So many people have told me that, BUT CJ has made a picture on what he wants the car to look like.

THANK YOU

John
M&H

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


The wheels, can I cut the wheels down thinner ?

THANK YOU

John
M&H

 

when i did pine wood derby my dad was doing electrical work at an alcoa plant. Needless to say, my car was the lunch time project w/ the engineers.

weight was biased to have one wheel teetering off the track. 3 wheels is better than 4 wheels resistance wise. i wanna say the right rear wheel was slightly off the track. think of it as corner balancing a car w/ solid springs. grooving the axles will aide in setting this.

the axle nails were ground down where the wheel rides, then packed w/ graphite--this let the car ride a little lower, helped pick the rr wheel off, and "lube" the wheel.

the original wheels were rolled over like pizza cutters so smallest width possible made contact w/ the track.--this was illegal. so i had to change wheels at the race to stock wheels provided in the kit. if you can get away w/ it at your place, make those bitches skinnys!!!

weight was max allowed. The wood was countersunk on the bottom, lead was added between the axle points, then hot wax dripped over it to ensure it would not fall out while making the bottom of the car smooth. the lead was actually flat lead, not fishing or buckshot style. This was to distribute the weight broadly and not have it in one area. &lt;---- looking back, i would think you would want all the weight in the nose, gravity effect.

a penny was taped to the front to make the max allowable weight. used the us post office scale to check weight, left it a little under so it was good at the track scales, then added the appropriate coin for max allowed.

Also, a bread bag tie was put on the front and extended upwards, to make sure the cars nose triggered the beams, due to sitting low.

played w/ having weight high on the car, or low. just from the results, low worked best. as mentioned before, never tried biasing weight all in front or rear. as the weight always stayed between the two axle points. i think weight biasing coupled w/ the axle trick would be the way to go. all the weight up front, rear wheel barely on the track and the other wheel slightly hanging off.

either way, let us know how it goes. im sure ill have kids one day and be doing this.

 

my friend just did this last year with his son and i guess his sons car blew all the others away. ill have to ask him what he did to his car. i know the most important thing is to tweak it so it goes perfectly straight. im sure he used graphite or something for lubricant.

 

One word, Tony1 , he makes anything fast. I'm sure he could weld wood.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 1 2 NV &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">my friend just did this last year with his son and i guess his sons car blew all the others away. ill have to ask him what he did to his car. i know the most important thing is to tweak it so it goes perfectly straight. im sure he used graphite or something for lubricant.</TD></TR></TABLE>

tweak it so it goes perfectly straight.


Good info here, Thank You 12 NV.


John
M&H


-------------------------------------------------------------------------<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 90blackcrx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">One word, Tony1 , he makes anything fast. I'm sure he could weld wood.</TD></TR></TABLE>

If I get Tony 1 to help, I will be (disgualified) and I will tell you why. The car would go to FAAASSSST and the official would tear the car down and find nothing wrong.

John
M&H

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For all the racers that posted up to help me and CJ, we want to THANK YOU. We fell we have a pit crew for this project.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The car is done, and the BIG race is tomorrow night. All the info that you guy's posted up here, are in the car. I will post up tomorrow night, and let you know how CJ race pans out.

Like I said, THANK YOU THANK YOU for the help.

John
M&H

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by vw16vcabby &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">when i did pine wood derby my dad was doing electrical work at an alcoa plant. Needless to say, my car was the lunch time project w/ the engineers.

weight was biased to have one wheel teetering off the track. 3 wheels is better than 4 wheels resistance wise. i wanna say the right rear wheel was slightly off the track. think of it as corner balancing a car w/ solid springs. grooving the axles will aide in setting this.

the axle nails were ground down where the wheel rides, then packed w/ graphite--this let the car ride a little lower, helped pick the rr wheel off, and "lube" the wheel.

the original wheels were rolled over like pizza cutters so smallest width possible made contact w/ the track.--this was illegal. so i had to change wheels at the race to stock wheels provided in the kit. if you can get away w/ it at your place, make those bitches skinnys!!!

weight was max allowed. The wood was countersunk on the bottom, lead was added between the axle points, then hot wax dripped over it to ensure it would not fall out while making the bottom of the car smooth. the lead was actually flat lead, not fishing or buckshot style. This was to distribute the weight broadly and not have it in one area. &lt;---- looking back, i would think you would want all the weight in the nose, gravity effect.

a penny was taped to the front to make the max allowable weight. used the us post office scale to check weight, left it a little under so it was good at the track scales, then added the appropriate coin for max allowed.

Also, a bread bag tie was put on the front and extended upwards, to make sure the cars nose triggered the beams, due to sitting low.

played w/ having weight high on the car, or low. just from the results, low worked best. as mentioned before, never tried biasing weight all in front or rear. as the weight always stayed between the two axle points. i think weight biasing coupled w/ the axle trick would be the way to go. all the weight up front, rear wheel barely on the track and the other wheel slightly hanging off.

either way, let us know how it goes. im sure ill have kids one day and be doing this.</TD></TR></TABLE>

THANK YOU for the Info vw16vcabby.

John
M&H

 

Well we just got back, and out of 30 cars we placed 6th not bad for the first time out. The one thing that matter the most was my son CJ had alot of fun, and can not wait for the next race. The car that one was a BIIIIG FAAAAAAT fire truck. LOL

Thanks again to all the racers that stepped up to help on this project.

John
M&H