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gpraceman2

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Everything posted by gpraceman2

  1. The newer BSA wheels have definitely been a nice change, for the most part. Unfortunately, Revell has jumped in and has started producing wheels under a BSA license. These are made in China and the feedback that I have seen on these so far is not so good. It is like taking a step back to the older wheels. [rant] I understand trying to keep costs down, but BSA is an American organization and increasingly the stuff you buy from BSA is being made in China. It seems that they should make more effort to provide things made in USA. [/rant]
  2. There are some good suggestions here. I would like to throw out a couple of good resource websites that might help. Derby Talk - Forum for anything and everything relating to building the cars and running the races http://derbytalk.com GrandPrix Race Central - Ideas, information and resources for running the races http://grandprix-race-central.com
  3. Is this thread about how to slap together a Pinewood Derby Race at the last minute. No!!! Some recently resurrected old PWD threads on this forum and lots of personal experience dealing customers purchasing last minute race software from my company got me to thinking about that. Putting on a good race takes time and planning. Some packs may try to slap a race together at the last minute, but that often doesn't lead to good experience for the racers or their families. So many different types of problems can crop up and need some time to get resolved. It is better to start the ball
  4. We appreciate the feedback on the GrandPrix Race Manager software. Early on with the software we received lots of feedback from users that they wanted to run their race one way or the other and not be locked into a certain way. It definitely has been a balance trying to provide that flexibility but not making the software overly complex. As each new version has come out, we have been working on simplifying tasks and making things more intuitive but still giving our more advanced users more freedom to customize. However, the flexibility that the software provides does mean that users ne
  5. The user can do a Google search on this site, if they are having a problem with the site's search feature. site:scouter.com "Pinewood Derby" This will search the site for the phrase "Pinewood Derby".
  6. packsaddle, I'm not sure why you are bumping a bunch of old Pinewood Derby threads.
  7. @sbemis1: I used RaceView for a few years That company is no longer in business.
  8. @The Blancmange: Lots of options for scoring and brackets. To clarify, GrandPrix Race Manager does not support elimination brackets. The only form of elimination supported is if you wanted to run multiple rounds, but within each round everyone will race an equal number of times.
  9. These new wheels are starting to show up at more scout shops. Still, it is very hit and miss to find them. So far, people have only reported having found them in black and yellow and just in the wheel/axle sets, not in the car kits. Packs, districts and councils should take a look at their rules and see if there will be issues with these new wheels. The new wheels are significantly lighter, slightly smaller in diameter and have coned hubs.
  10. Here's some photos of the new wheels and axles http://derbytalk.com/images/gallery/wheels/NewBSA1.jpg http://derbytalk.com/images/gallery/wheels/NewBSA3.jpg http://derbytalk.com/images/gallery/wheels/NewBSA4.jpg http://derbytalk.com/images/gallery/wheels/NewBSA5.jpg Old axle (longer) next to new axle (shorter) http://derbytalk.com/images/gallery/wheels/BSAAxleComparison.jpg http://derbytalk.com/images/gallery/wheels/BSANewWheelDia.jpg http://derbytalk.com/images/gallery/wheels/BSAWheelPackaging.jpg http://derbytalk.com/images/gallery/wheels/BSAWheelPac
  11. I got an email from Pinewood Extreme, one of the online derby suppliers, about some forthcoming changes to the official Pinewood Derby kit. The statement from Pinewood Extreme is below (bad grammar and all). "BSA NATIONAL SUPPLY RELEASES ANOTHER VERSION OF THE "Offical Pinewood Derby" Wheel. The new wheel is changes everything. New Molds, New Internal Design, Lighter at 2.6grams, Smaller Diameter, Reduced and Tapered Hub. There is a new Axle nail too!" Personally, I think changes to the wheels and axles are well overdue. I think the amount of work required on them has disc
  12. ScoutMomSD - "I have been to Highlands Ranch, did a project with Centura years ago. Its a pretty sanitized version of Denver. Even the garage sale signs have to be pre-approved." Not sure where you got your info. No one I know needs to get a garage sale sign pre-approved. Highlands Ranch is like many areas, it appeals to some but not to others. Same can be said for SD ;-) I lived there for 16 years and would rather live here. HR has great schools, is close to everything, low low crime, four great rec centers to take advantage of, and property values are holding up pretty well (can't say t
  13. I am definitely in the camp with those that believe that once a car passes inspection, it should not then be later disqualified for something that should have been caught at inspection. That would be punishing the cub for the inspector's mistake. Instead, you make a note of that problem and address it for next year's race.
  14. Looks like we've got two topics thrown together here. First, on the Subaru commercial... Buffalo Skipper - "Looked like a BestTrack to me. I imagine they enjoyed the quiet plug." Actually, it was a Micro Wizard track and timer. I heard from the owner of MW that they had it all overnighted for the shoot. Shipping must have been rather costly! Hopefully, after they shot the commercial they donated the track and timer to some deserving group. On the uniforms, I have a feeling that Subaru didn't want to pay any licensing fees (especially to BSA), so they tried to make the boy's un
  15. Unless BSA has updated the little insert in the kits, I read the following: "Important: The Race Committe should decide on rules and race procedures, then have them printed and distributed to all participants at least two weeks before the race." The so called "Official BSA rules", consititue a small paragraph on the sheet included in the car kits. Many feel that these are quite insufficient, so they put out their own rules, which BSA looks to officially condone. I do agree that the sheet does not state a required spec for wheelbase. With a rather inexpensive tool (Pro Body To
  16. I'm not fond of the pre-cut kits, regardless of who sells them. However, I am not against them. I'd rather have someone get one of those than purchase a fully or mostly built car. There is still plenty to do to get the car in running order. Besides, I have heard of many workshops that have used bandsaws to cut out the cars. It ends up being the adult cutting it out and then handing it to the kid to start sanding. I certainly would not have the kids use a bandsaw for safety reasons! One church I attended was paranoid about liability, so they would not let the kids use even a scrollsaw f
  17. Twocubdad - "I think we should all go on eBay and flame this guy" If only it were that easy. It is not just one guy, it is quite a few. Even one of the major online derby suppliers started carrying fully and mostly built cars. Anyways, I've had discussions with many past and present sellers and they will try to justify what they do in anyway they can. Some have sent me some rather nasty replies and basically told me to mind my own business. No U.S. laws are being broken, so eBay is not going to do anything about it. IMO, if the cheating aspect bothered these guys at all, then they
  18. evmori - "So does the Pack have a rules for the Pinewood that state no pre-built cars are to be used & a new car must be used each year? If not, no cheating is occurring." A very good point. I do think many rules are poorly written and open up these avenues for people to go against the intent of the rules, if not the letter of them. OKC_Scouter - "Unfortunately, with the exception of the rule "Cars should be built by the Cub Scouts" (which can be difficult to prove at best), there is nothing in the rule sheet included in each derby kit that would disqualify an engineered car bo
  19. OneHour - "... but be careful that it has its flaws as well!" All tracks have their pros and cons, so it is worth doing some research before buying. Most all of the different commercially available tracks have been discussed on the Tracks forum of Derby Talk, so you can see what people using and running on these tracks say about them. Of course, you can also check out the information posted on the manufacturer's website.
  20. It might be tough to find anyone willing to part with their 4 to 6 lane alumninum track, unless the pack is dissolving. Occassionally, you will see tracks for listed on eBay or on the Trading Post on Derby Talk, http://derbytalk.com.'>http://derbytalk.com. Shipping can be rather expensive and I'd be worried about how the average Joe would package it up, unless you are extremely fortunate that they are in driving distance. Some people will sell their practice tracks, but those are generally two lane tracks. Maybe you can do a fundraiser and get the added money to purchase a new tr
  21. There is a forum on Derby Talk pertaining to Cubmobile racing that you might want to check out. http://derbytalk.com/viewforum.php?f=31
  22. DenZero = "I suspect that it would be easily confused by strong ambient light." That was my concern. Not the light from the Lane Brain unit itself.
  23. Having a shiny car may very well cause a problem with a finish line sensor. This is especially true if the track surface is reflective (metal or even a glossy finish). If the bottom of the car is shiny, then light can bounce off of the track surface and underside of the car to cause problems with the sensor detecting the car passing over. There is at least one timer manufacturer that warns of this issue. One countermeasure is to paint a flat black stripe across the finish line area to reduce the chance of light bouncing off of the track. Another countermeasure is to recess the track sen
  24. Twocubdad - "We had a very large pack, 100+ boys. When I became CC, I looked at the Perfect-N method which use software to generate race heats that correct for match-ups and lane variations. I figured that if we could run one heat every 2 minutes it would take us something like 16 hours to run the race." I'm not sure how you got the 16 hour figure. Well, actually I think I know how you did. So, let's use 100 racers as an example. With a Perfect-N schedule, you will end up with 100 heats. If it took you 2 minutes to run each heat (really that is a rather slow pace) then it would tak
  25. > I'll just say, that as a guy who runs 10's of thousands of computers running > overnight modeling runs for trillions of dollars of securities, we use a lot of > open source (aka free) software, because not only is it sometimes better, but the > support we get from the developers (whom we do not pay) far outshines any support > we get from commercial software (whom we do pay). That can be true for some software, sometimes as you indicated, but not all times. It depends on the market, the software and the size of the user base. For the Pinewood Derby market,
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