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3 or 4 wheels touching no bent axles, rail riding?

Discussion in 'General Pinewood Derby Discussion' started by Derek Hufty, Feb 3, 2021.

  1. Derek Hufty

    Derek Hufty Lurking

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    Must have 3 or 4 wheels touching and can’t bend axles. I don’t have skills or tools to put the axles into the groove at an angle and not sure if it’s allowed. So considering all this do I still try to adjust the wheels so they rail ride or just try to make it as straight as possible?

    Thanks.
     
  2. T-Bone Racing

    T-Bone Racing Workshop Leader

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    I don’t have a ton of experience with this, but typically when you can’t bend an axle, racers will try to angle the hole. If you can’t do this, I’d still play around with getting it to steer because scout axles do have a little bit of bend in them.

    Hope that helped!
     
    Mojo Racing likes this.
  3. Hangtime

    Hangtime Pinewood Ninja

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    You should be aware that the slots may not be perpendicular to the long axis of your block, or parallel to each other. Try to determine what effect that will have on drift, and use that to help achieve the result you want. ( You don’t want to steer left if the car want to go right... ).

    And I can tell you from experience that a poorly executed rail rider makes a good doorstop.
     
  4. Mojo Racing

    Mojo Racing National Contender Pro Racer

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    Hangtime had a good point.

    When I give presentations to packs, I have a block that I use, showing that the axle slots are not straight. The axle is 1/16" off between the right and left sides. It makes a great presentation, but it's not good at all for racing.
     

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