 |
| Paul Gale Photo Credit Zero Error Racing |
Legendary Derby Expert, Paul Gale and Derek Fitzgerald met again at the 2010 National Derby Rallies Championship in Akron, Ohio. Through the years, Mr. Gale helped us and several other teams understand the laws of physics as applied to gravity racing. We thought we would again share one of his race stories.
About twenty years ago, while living in South Dakota, I received a request for assistance from a family racing AA in Colorado. They were building a Senior Division car (these were build from scratch cars) and asked me for any advice that would help the car go as fast as possible. The driver was fourteen years old and large for his age (the maximum driver age was fifteen at the time). Basic car construction, axle mounting, weight distribution, driver fit, etc. advice was provide to them.
When it was time for their AA Local race, I made the trip down to provide advice on how to set the car on the ramp and drive the lanes. This was my first time at the Denver race site and I spent about an hour in the morning reading the track and ramps to determine the best way to align the car on the ramps and drive the lanes.
The race was on a city street with a little more crown than most streets. The track surface roughness was fairly consistent across each lane and there were no major obstructions such as maintenance access covers. It was a typical street track that indicated a quick drive to the outside after release from the ramp and then straight to the finish line.
I provided this advice to the family. What I did not know, never having seen the driver in action before, was that the driver could not hold a straight line after moving to the outside. He kept trying to steer back to the center of the lane. He wove back and forth all the way down the track. Needless to say, it was two runs down the hill and out (this was before lane and wheel swap racing). The family was very disappointed and decided to retire from racing.
The next year, the local did not have enough cars to fill the field and have a legal race. They needed one more car to fill the field so that the winner could make the trip to Akron. The local contacted the family I had assisted the previous year and requested the driver compete so that the race would be legal. The family agreed to race. They pulled the car out of storage and just cleaned it up for appearance.
I again attended the race but this time my advice was to drive straight down the hill. Do not attempt to drive the crown. The driver drove absolutely straight down the hill without any weaving back and forth. He won the race and went to the Akron Championships.
He could drive straight from the ramp but could not adjust to driving the crown and then straight. The moral of this story is that there is no single “best” way to assemble a car or race a car. The parts in your kit are not the same physical size and shape as the parts in other kits. The assembly of parts in your car is not the same as the assembly of parts in other cars. They may look the same but are not the same. Your driver will not have the same skills as other drivers, which is OK. Derby racing is finding the best way of using the parts you have and finding the best lane drive based upon the skill of your driver.
Paul Gale
0 comments:
Post a Comment