NCH Valve Cover Races

[Chauncey]

Alrighty, folks. I'm sittin' here doing a whole lot of nothing and figured I'd try to do something "productive" and get the word out for our latest new thing.  This summer/fall will be our first attempt at holding some valve cover drag races.  They will held at the 5th Annual Hillbilly Carshow in Braham.  To those of you that have no idea what I'm talking about, it's just like the pine wood derby the boy scouts do, only your block of wood is now a valve cover (see sample pics below).

The track will be built by Team Chauncey Racing, a division of The NCH.  Meaning, myself and Krandall.  We haven't come up with a "concrete" idea for the track, but I think it'll be something like this: a plywood ramp with sides and a divider.  The track will have two lanes, like a standard drag strip.  There will be some sort of starting mechanism that will allow both racers to be released at the same time.  It'll most likely be something sticking up from the bottom of the track that will flip forward and out of the way.  Therefore, we probably can't have anything mounted on the "front" of the racers (see rules below).  As far as size goes, originally we were thinking 4' wide plywood, making each lane 2' wide.  However, after checking out several things online, I'm thinking we'll probably make it narrower (gotta confer with the brother on this one).  One, for cost of materials. Two, for weight of materials.  We'll see what happens.

Lastly, this was Les' idea a couple years ago and if I remember right, his only two rules at the time were 1) It has to be an American-made valve cover and 2) There will be a weight limit of 10 lbs. (for racing).  Wheels can be made of pretty much anything you can think of, I guess.  Skateboard wheels, toy truck wheels, RC car wheels.  Who knows.  

Speaking of which, I'm thinking we'll have two awards.  One for fastest racer, determined by the drag racing, and one for Best of Show.  Maybe the best of show won't have a weight limit?  We'll see.  Again, this is just me talking right now and I'll have to run this all by the other Chaunce to make final decisions.

Anywho, sample pics:

[Chauncey]

RULES

These are now the "official" rules.  It's possible that they might change slightly, or even be added to, but if we do I'll be sure to notify people by creating a new post in the thread.  My personal opinion on the rules is this: they're there so that it's a basis of what to go by, but not so much that it can't still be fun.  I personally encourage and would like to see whatever people can bring to the table.  The crazier the better.

The Cars:

-No engines or propulsion.
-No moving weights.
-Wheels can be attached to the car in any manner, but must not extend beyond the front of the valve cover.
-Nothing can extend beyond the front of the valve cover. (Due to the starting mechanism, and to make sure they start at the same place.)
-Cars shall be based on an actual rocker cover from an automobile engine.
-Cars must have four wheels, each no more than six inches in diameter. (Thinking about deleting this one.  Thoughts?)

Critical Dimensions:

-30 inch maximum overall car length. (This figure is up in the air, depending on feedback I receive from you guys. However, 20" is pretty dang big already!)
-10 inch maximum overall car width, including axles/wheels.  (Due to the width of each lane.)
-No height restrictions (within reason, of course).  This is a personal "non-rule" because I'm secretly hoping somebody builds one to look like a pirate ship.  Hint hint.
-10 pounds maximum weight by official scales.

Edited - August 1st, 2010 - 6:30 PM

[Chauncey]

TRACK

The track construction is well underway and is coming along quite nicely.  Have a few tweaks to make in order to get walls and stuff to line up perfectly, but it'll come.  Also going to paint it and hopefully add some flair.  5th year for the NCH show and 1st year for the races, so we gotta do it big.

Track dimensions:

2' overall width
10 1/2" lane width (width varies slightly due to the lumber, so car width will be MAX of 10", just to make sure they go down all the way)
24' of race track w/ 8' of stopping lane

We didn't think to take any pictures, but I'll try to next time.  It actually looks a lot like this one right now, just a little narrower.  And ours will have 3 sections raised/angled with 1 flat one at the end.  

Close to final product:



Edited - August 23rd, 2010 - 10:00 PM

[Chauncey]

MISC.

This post will be reserved for any other misc. info we need to share with people, as well as adding in thought/opinions/suggestions we get from everybody else.  Things will be posted here to keep it all in one place, mainly for our own sake to keep our "notes" in order.

Having said that, feel free to provide us with some input/ideas!

[hillbilly les]

nice homework number 3    gittner dun

[NCHKustoms]

awesome! id better get to work!! 

[Chauncey]

Anybody planning on participating in this thing?  Randy and I had a pretty stellar meeting of the minds tonight at my place.  Came up with some awesome ideas for both our racer(s) and our show cover.  It's getting way too legit.  These things are gonna be frickin' sweet!

[tink]

i hava a super fast turbo 2.3 valve cover that i can chop into

[Chauncey]

Git er done!

[Farmboy]

i got a super fast chrome 2.3 valve cover myself

[tink]

eroting aluminum is way faster than chrome

[Farmboy]

i dont know

[Mrs. Hillbilly Les]

I would bet Hackler's will run there's again on an "official" track.

[Krandall]

as of now. There will be 2 trophies.

1 - Best of Show

1 - Fastest Valve Cover

[NCHKustoms]

 
I cant wait for this!!

Should be pretty cool and fun!