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Cheats, Tricks & Shenanigans
• Sneak in a longer than normal car. Most people assume that all cars are no more than 7 inches out of the box… fools.
• By keeping one wheel off the track, it doesn’t need to turn, and won’t rub against an axle head and car body. You’ll have 25% less friction because you’ll have 25% less wheels.
• Install a bearing hidden in the plastic wheel, then just sit back and relax as those extra Newton’s carry you and your car all the way to the victory circle.
• Use an extended wheelbase to improve your stability and odds of winning.
• Use a set of illegally modified axles. Hey, all’s fair in love, war and vicarious living.
• Hubcaps: Some racers use round paper stickers over the outside of the wheels to store a little extra “luck” in the form of graphite or lubricant.
• Use reduced diameter wheels, or modify the wheels, to ensure a quick and illegal trip to the finish line.
• Create a car using “other-than-supplied parts." Isn’t a scout supposed to be resourceful and creative?
• Finally, if you really can’t handle losing in a tiny wood-car race, you can always buy a pre-made, surefire, winning car on Ebay.
Share your tricks
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#2
put the mass of the weight in the back of the car so it has longer time pushing down on the car(track).
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#1
Modified axles and weight reduced wheels are not illegal per se. You don't reduce the diameter, instead, you thin the inside wall of the wheels to reduce weight, and thus angular momentum of the wheels. You want as much of the potential energy from the elevated started position translated into forward velocity.
The energy equation is roughly: potential energy at start (height * total mass) = velocity * total mass + wheel rotation * wheel mass + frictional losses. Any reduction in spinning weight yields more speed.
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