DONE! Well boys I got the modem replaced just in time to find the BB back up and running!:grin: I worked until 2:20 AM on the practice car (the green GSX) and double checked the boys work that they did on their axles and wheels. I did go back over them and replace one axle of Jamies and one wheel of Brians. They can get a little happy with the file and sandpaper. I took the boys back out to the shop and let them install their wheels and axles. We rolled them on a clean area of the shop floor and adjusted the axles to make them go straight. I sent the boys in the house to get their baths and I kept working to tweek their set ups. They all go almost perfectly straight for now. Mine was the worst for going bad right. After I corrected my alignment problem I tested my green car against Brians red car and mine was faster every time. But I have some illegal wheels! If the wheel trick works I will let y'all know what I did but if it doesn't I will let y'all know what not to do! I tryed the glue mixed with graphite trick on the axles and wheel hubs but it would not work for me. I even took the axles and turned them in the drill while I held the wheel to burnish them in, but they would only free wheel spin for about 7 second where the polished axle with graphite would go from 15 to 20 seconds depending on which wheel was used. I think we are ready for Saturday, I know that I am:grin: The only question that I have is............... DO Y'ALL HAVE ANY TIPS FOR RACE DAY! Thanks for all the advice. This has been by far my favorite thread:TU:
Re: DONE! Take along some graphite, whatever you think you'll need to add or reduce weight to pass the tech inspection. Maybe some tools to help somebody who dropped their car in the parking lot... Then - Relaaaaaaaaaaxxx, and have fun! :bglasses: To the boys, it's just a game, but in reality it's a game with a purpose: to help You teach your Sons about all those things Dad's need to teach their Sons. That's what I love about Scouting, it's not "winning" or "losing", it's "Do Your Best". (Sorry about the "Baden Powell Moment", but last weekend we had one Dad who lost his perspective and...well, enough said! :spank: ) Have a Great time, and let us know how it goes!!! :TU: :3gears:
Thanks for the advice. I think we are ready. I got the boys to put there cars in plastic boxes with tissue paper so I hope we aren't the ones who drop them in the parking lot. :3gears:
Good Luck today!!! And I added flames, taillights and front marker lights. If I get a chance I'll shoot a pic.
Good news, bad news and not over yet! Well Saturday turned out good, but could have been better but that problem was beyond our control. The good news was Brain my 8 year old with his 71 GSX (just like Karen Millers car) came in third! We were both happy and he got a trophy. This was an improvement from last year inwhich he went out early. The bad news is Jamie my 6 year old lost first round but since it is double eliminations he had to loose again. Well his second round competitor broke so they advanced him to the next round so we saw from the latter sheet after the race. Well the problem was he never got to run a second time! When they said that the next run was for first and second we went up to ask why Jamie never got to run his second time and they told us that he had run 3 times! He did run first round, advanced due to breakage for second round but the sheet showed that his opponent had beat him third round but they had no answer for why he never got to run and it was too late to start an argument so we just remained calm and let it slide. Jamie was a good sport and there was not a sign of a tear! We didn't want to become irate parents! And the not over yet news is Jamie wanted his military humvee to win most patriotic so his car was left to be judged for this. They will not annouce the winners for two weeks at the Blue and Gold banquet So we have to wait for this. If he wins then he will have a trophy like his big brother. In the third race for the Bear den which did not involve us there was an odd number of cars and after first round the odd person was left out just like Jamie. Well they decided that that person had a chance to win 2nd, 3rd or 4th so they said they would tie him for second and get him a trophy at the Banquet! You would think that after running this event for 5 years these small problems would not happen. There is one person that is in charge of the latter sheet and that is all he has to keep up with> The boys already want to start on next years car. And truthfully so do I. I talked with one of the winners dad while his son was racing and he cut his axles down in the middle to reduce wheel friction and moved his axle slot as far out as possible. I thought these were illegal but he went up and recheck the rules and they are legal so next year these will be done to our cars. Thanks for all the help fellars! With out y'all we would not have done as good. I hope we start another thread just like this one next year!:grin:
I forgot to tell y'all about my car. After putting in the axles with easy thumb pressure it rolled way to the right and I had a hard time adjusting the axles due to the axle slots were just too big. I set it close and glued in the axles and let the boys race it on the track with theirs. Well Brain beat it every time and them the car got worse and then the wheels came off You could watch the car and it kept bouncing off the rail and would wobble most of the way down the track. So I have more work to do for next years experiments. Later PS. The boys just loved that they could both beat Dads car and I could only laugh at there enjoyment.
Congratulations! Glad to hear that fun was had by all, it's amazing how much fun kids have beating adults! Sounds like your son got rooked, which stinks, but glad to hear he took it as a life lesson, even though those aren't any fun. You might bring it up somewhere along the line, not as a gripe (altho it is), but as a suggested area for improvement. For a variety of elimination (and non-elimination) methods, go here or here for two decent sites, there are lots more out there. I don't know why the double-elimination system is so hard for some folks to understand. Start out with room for two rows of cars on a table: Row A = cars with no losses, Row B = cars with one loss. (Cars with two losses are eliminated, we give them back to the Scout with a participant's ribbon) All cars start out on Row A. Heat 1, You race all cars in pairs (order don't matter), and when a car loses a race, it gets one mark (we put a little sticker on the car when it passes tech, and mark on it.) All cars with one mark go to Row B. Now you've got half of the cars on Row A, the other half on Row B. Next Heat: THE KEY POINT is to always start a heat by racing the Row B cars against each other. This will eliminate half of the Row B cars as one of them will lose, get two marks, and it is eliminated. IF (and you will) end up with one extra car, you run it against one of the Row A cars. Then you run all of the Row A cars, and IF (and you will) you end up with an extra car, it races against the first Row B car in the next heat. As long as you always race the Row B cars first, THEN the Row A cars, this method will give you an accurate ranking of the 1st and 2nd place cars. The third place car really may or may not be the true 3rd place car, I think it's a 50/50 chance. The only way to get the true 3rd place car is to do triple-elimination, which would take all day for 30 cars, and most people don't know or care at that point. Of course, your mileage may vary! Again, Congratulations! :TU:
Thanks for the links I will check them out this evening. The person in charge of the run off had a sheet of paper with the car numbers on them and I didn't look at the sheet long enough to figure out how they used it. When it got down to four cars the two winners should run to determine first and second and then the two loosers should run to figure for third. I still don't know how Brian got third but I'm happy. Later
