after race day advice

[Burpin Chunks Racing]

my first entry will be june pure stock. i have done a lot of reading and thinking on design and techniques. if my car doesnt do well, then i will need major help for i will be humbled in knowing i have no idea what i am duing, with this said.....

will there be someone at the race that can look my car over even if they need to pull the wheels and give me advice on what i am doing wrong or hints on where i need to improve.

i do not have expensive tools and are having to improvise on getting things the way i want it. im not using special wheels or special axles that was purchased. i take whats out of the box and work with it. i know my painting skills need major help, but im not worried about that. because of my limited tools and abilities i am naming my race team. "junk yard racing" because i take what i got and try to make due. but any advice would be appreciated. pinewood derby doesnt seem to be that big where i am at and i have searched and searched and there doesnt seem to be anywhere i can race the car around here to test theories. so i am limited to your track.

[Empty Pockets Racing]

Hey Burp, or should I say, Junk Yard Racing. I can tell already that I like you because it sounds like we come from the same mold. I can totally relate to your ($$) situation, thats why I came up with the name I did. June will also be my first submission at PDDR and it will be a pure stocker as well. From what I understand this is one of the toughest classes with the tightest racing at PDDR. I am very excited and will share with you what I have learned from the forum and will be focusing on. First, research. Go through the forum with a fine tooth comb and gather as much information about tuning and prepping that you can. These guys are extremely generous with advice and help.
Secondly, I don't have "The Block" either, but still try to can't my wheels as best as I can with a vise and a small hammer. Gonna rail ride this time too. Just want the front wheel to touch, not the back, so indent the FDW about 1/8".
Third, polish those axles like your life depends on it baby ! I found out through the forum, that I wasn't doing near enough prep work on my axles. I strongly recommend purchasing the axle polishing kit from either MB or the Jewkes. It has all kinds of different fine and extremely fine grit sandpaper and also includes step by step instructions. Good stuff.
Wheel prep I'm sure you already know about, but there's probably still a few tricks you could learn on the forum. I hope I didn't insult your pinewood derby intelligence by throwing out some advice, I'm just excited about race day and chatting with other newbies like myself. I've learned so much from this forum I'm just always looking to share some of what I have learned. I'm by no means an expert here and have no idea what kind of times I'll run, but I'm sure gonna try my hardest to at least put up something respectable.
As for the paint work......all I can say about that is, beee patient.
Painting a car takes a long time. Many, many light coats. I know its a pain to wait for each coat to dry, but it will look great in the end and won't have any runs. If you decide to clear coat it, be very careful what kind of clear you use. I have had several beautiful paint jobs ruined because of a reaction to the clear. Wait at least 48 hours before applying and my advice would be to paint some scrap pine when you paint the car then test the clear on that before you spray it on your car.
Well, I sure hope I didn't ramble on for to long and nobody fell asleep before they finished reading this post. Have a good night and I look forward to racing against you in June.

[ACME Racing]

Paint is the last thing to worry about. I didn't even paint my next Pure stock entry. I simply shot clear lacquer on it. You can enter pure stock under $20 including shipping and still have fun. Just seeing your car on TV is a great feeling. My first PS car was experimental (for me). I had plastic guide rails under the car to keep it strait. Well it didn't work. I got smoked. Now my second car is running on 2 wheels. So it's experimental (for me). After this experiment if I get smoked I will build more conventional cars. But it's fun trying to come up with different stuff. I wish I had room for a track. This would make the tuning of the cars a lot more easy. Good luck to you and all the PS racers!

[Burpin Chunks Racing]

empty pockets.....

i dont mind advice at all, something i am trying that isnt status quo is my front steer wheel i have it angled the same as the rear. it is also bent to steer it in the direction that i want. i know i was told that angling it the other way will not cause the wheel to ride into the body, but it just makes me nervous. in my mind i dont see why my way wont work just as good..... BUT

to make my holes angled what i did was.... i took a block and angled my table saw to the degree that i desired and cut a section out of the block that is now angled. then i use it as a template and when i place the block in it that i am going to drill, it holds that block at the exact angle. worked like a charm. if im not explaining it good enough then ill take a pic of what im talking about and post it.

[ACME Racing]

The reason to angle your front wheel the other way is so that it rides the rail. Rolling if you will. Having the angle the other way will make it scrape the top of the rail. Scraping would be slower.

[Slingblades_Grindhouse]

I have tested a several different cars...each w/ both methods of riding the rail.
positive camber (wheel tilted in at the bottom) is always faster (quicker E.T.) if all else remains equal

this proved to be true regardless of the type of wheel, stock...lightened...or razor
It also proved to be independent of axle type as well

[Burpin Chunks Racing]

thanks for the info, i have filled in the hole with wood filler and redrill with correct angle. this car is so butchered from me changing it so much, maybe i should just build another one. i have had to sand off the bubbling paint and repaint all ready as well. its ugly, maybe i should multi color it or just leave it in primer. it would go with my junk yard racing name.

[ACME Racing]

You need to get a car in the race. This way you have something to build on. Don't dwell on your paint job. There is always the next car you can perfect the paint on. Now you have to think of the packaging and shipping of your car. Sometimes that take a lot of time and effort.