Champions Journey - Ep 8: Tuning for Speed Part 1 - Soap Box Derby

Episode 8 is the first of a two part series where we’ll talk about Speed, and specifically how to unleash more of it from your Soap Box Derby gravity racing cars. The methods here have been foundational to winning a record five US National Championships. In this episode, we’re going to take you through the top eight set-up factors to unleash speed, and explain the physics and STEM concepts behind each one. In the following episode, we’ll take you out into the shop to show how to perform these set-up procedures to get your cars into top form. Ronan and Rich first discuss the role of the driver as being the single most important element to making a gravity-powered race cars go fast. The driver must know the lines, steer smoothly, know how to react to errors, and most importantly perform well under pressure. To illustrate this, we share content from a 1986 Derby Tech article by the great Soap Box Derby giants Ollie and George Brower, about driving technique, with an illustration that really highlights the difference great driving can make. We go on to talk about what really matters for winning Soap Box Derby races, and share some humorous stories about certain things that perhaps don’t matter quite so much. We then present a list of what we consider the top eight chassis set-up factors critical to speed. Getting these factors spot on is where we focus 99% of our set-up effort. Note, we’re talking chassis tuning here and not going to get into aerodynamics, which is a very important topic on its own. Aero will be covered in future episodes. The Speed Factors are presented here in relative order, with the most important factors listed first. They’re all important, but if your time is limited, or you really want to obsess over getting a certain setting absolutely spot-on, we recommend focusing your attention on the top factors first. 1) Triangulation (aka “Tri”) 2) Tail Weight Distribution (aka “Tail”) 3) Front Axle Alignment 4) Spindle Caster (aka “Toe”) 5) Chassis Stiffness, Tightness, & Stability 6) King-Pin Torque 7) Cross-Bind (aka “Flatness”) 8) Spindle Camber (aka “Up-Down”) We proceed to go through each of these factors one-by-one, to help you understand the Science behind making your Soap Box Derby racer as fast as it can possibly be. We share data from SKF Bearings out of another old Derby Tech issue, cracking the code on the non-linear relationship between wheel load and rolling resistance. Hopefully you're finding these Champion’s Journey videos fun, inspirational, and helpful! If so, **please-please-please** subscribe to our channel, like the videos, and post comments here on YouTube. Those steps from you are all we're asking in return for the work we put in here. Your actions here are absolutely critical to increasing our YouTube Search Ranking (difficult given all the Red Bull “Soap Box” Derby coverage) helping us get the word out to new families who may want to participate in this outstanding activity. Thanks so much!!! - Rich & Ronan