[quote]Dr. Pangloss wrote:
Beautiful!
Is that a 2305?
Needs new wheels, maybe something in chrome. And lower it.[/quote]
1025R. Its the new One series. And I am looking at new wheels and tires. Turf tires, that is.
It’s out and it’s a bad mother fucker. I want one more than a Ferrari and a 911 and I have driven both and not driven the vette.
America baby! Fuck yeah!
EDIT: The auto is faster…WTF!
That Vette sounds gorgeous!!
Here are two new American Originals that my boy and I made this week for Pinewood Derby. It is our first one, but making these was a lot of fun.
Note the canted wheels for reduced friction. The front passenger side wheel is slightly off the track as well while the driver side wheel steers the car slightly into the rail to reduce bouncing and rebound.
Nice. Make sure you pack those axels with graphite and keep the weight right at the max.
[quote]Dr. Pangloss wrote:
Nice. Make sure you pack those axels with graphite and keep the weight right at the max.[/quote]
Each is 5.0 ounces on the money, packed with graphite, with the CG right in one inch in front of the rear axle. I have drills and tungston puddy ready if the official scale isn’t as accurate as mine.
[quote]Dr. Pangloss wrote:
I’m just sayin’, if you want to be top dawg at TN you need to bring your A-game…[/quote]
Wow. Any other tips? I am running rail riders but this is our first race. I think these fuckers are going to go pretty fast but I’ve never been to a race. So I don’t know what to expect from the competition. I tried notching the axles to reduce friction before polishing, but I couldn’t get a clean cut and a straight 3 degree bend so I went back to standard axles, just honed and polished.
[quote]Dr. Pangloss wrote:
I’m just sayin’, if you want to be top dawg at TN you need to bring your A-game…[/quote]
Is all the weight on the back? Where is the CG compared to the rear axles?
CG is just in front of the rear axle, about even with the front of the back tires. You can see I’ve got some lead weights hanging off the back. You’ll be fine, I’m guessing most dads aren’t going to turn their dining room into a woodworking shop in order to produce the fastest car.
My son’s car took first, mine took second in the dad’s group. It looks like you got the big stuff: max weight, keep CG back, sand down seam on wheels, cant wheels. I also spent quite a bit of time polishing the axles by hand and making sure their perpendicular to the body. And graphite, lots of graphite.
I also redrilled the slots for the axles using a jig and polished the inner surface of the wheel. Lastly, I made sure the surface of the car where in inner hub of the wheel rubs against it was smooth as can be and rubbed some graphite on that surface for good measure. You don’t want the car slowing down because the wheel is dragging against the body.
[quote]Dr. Pangloss wrote:
CG is just in front of the rear axle, about even with the front of the back tires. You can see I’ve got some lead weights hanging off the back. You’ll be fine, I’m guessing most dads aren’t going to turn their dining room into a woodworking shop in order to produce the fastest car.
My son’s car took first, mine took second in the dad’s group. It looks like you got the big stuff: max weight, keep CG back, sand down seam on wheels, cant wheels. I also spent quite a bit of time polishing the axles by hand and making sure their perpendicular to the body. And graphite, lots of graphite.[/quote]
Is there a good way to add graphite after the wheels are on? I loaded them pretty good, but I want make sure to keep them lubed.
(I also polished the inside of the wheel hubs with a pipe-cleaner, polish, and drill and ran 400, 600, 800, 1000 grit, then polish on the wheels and axles while mounted to the drill press spinning and 2200 rpm).
Sounds like you have a good handle on things. You can simply squeeze the graphite into the hole even after the wheel is mounted. Then keep spinning, spinning, spinning until everything is smooth. You’ll want to apply graphite right before you hand the car to the race official.
Good luck!
[quote]Dr. Pangloss wrote:
I also redrilled the slots for the axles using a jig and polished the inner surface of the wheel. Lastly, I made sure the surface of the car where in inner hub of the wheel rubs against it was smooth as can be and rubbed some graphite on that surface for good measure. You don’t want the car slowing down because the wheel is dragging against the body.[/quote]
I’m feeling pretty good about wheel alignment. I used and jig and the press and then strung the car to our treadmill to adjust the tracking.
[quote]Dr. Pangloss wrote:
Sounds like you have a good handle on things. You can simply squeeze the graphite into the hole even after the wheel is mounted. The keep spinning, spinning, spinning until everything is smooth. You’ll want to apply graphite right before you hand the car to the race official.
Good luck![/quote]
Thanks! This has been really, really fun actually, and me and the boy are learning a few new skills and a little about physics.
[quote]coolnatedawg wrote:
That Vette sounds gorgeous!![/quote]
too bad it makes me want to go blind
Let’s make it look like a F12 Ferrari but uglier in every way.
Ford are releasing a 450hp Mustang in Australia at the end of the year. I think the flagship model will be a 6 litre V8. It’s reported that it’s going to be under 70k - possibly well under. There has never been a performance car like that on the market here at that price before. And petrol is now under a dollar a litre and looking stable. Seems like a good choice for a new car. Has anyone ever driven a recent model GT Mustang? Any thoughts about them? Longevity? Reliability? Cost of keeping it on the road + insurance for a 450+ hp car? Colour? Black? White? Racing red? Green? Silver? British racing green would like interesting on a modern sports car. Of course they don’t offer colours like that so I’d have to get an aftermarket spray job.
[quote]Dr. Pangloss wrote:
I’m just sayin’, if you want to be top dawg at T Nation you need to bring your A-game…[/quote]
A-game brought. I crushed all the other parents and scout leaders in the big kids race. My boy got second in his den, then won his pac semi heat beating he boy who won his den, then took 3rd out of 50 total for the pac title and trophied. I was a really fun day.