NCH Valve Cover Races

[Chauncey]

Hope y'all are making progress on your little (or big) racers!  We made a substantial amount of progress on the entire situation this weekend.  Got the majority of the track construction knocked out in one afternoon up at the Hillbilly HQ.  It's 2' wide, probably gonna be a 24' long racing area with an 8' section added on for the stopping area, so 32' overall.  It's a lot bigger than I thought it'd be once we set it up and you're standing right next to it, but I think it's gonna be awesome.

We used 1x4's for the outside walls of the track, and a 2x2 running down the middle to divide the lanes.  Gonna try to get it painted up like a dragstrip and make it look all official like.  My idea as of now is to paint the track surface black and have the walls be white, such as any normal race track you'd see.  Maybe paint on a track name in black letters, just cuz.  Then, when cars bounce off the walls going down there'll be all sorts of scuffs/scrapes/scratches that we can leave on there and hopefully add to the whole race feel.  Oh yeah, and if your racer blows a rod or something through the oil pan, don't be a NOOB and keep driving straight down the middle of the track.  Pull it off to the side!    

I made a test car out of a small chunk of scrap wood and some of Randy's old skateboard wheels, and Les had a gigantic old Chevy valve cover that we strapped down onto it to make a few passes.  It worked out quite nicely.  Got a few things to tweak here and there, but we're definitely on the right track.  Pun totally intended.  Also, after the master chief called it a night, Krandall and I whipped out our secret weapon(s) and got to work designing/building/testing our first prototype racer.  Thing's gonna be rad.  Definitely got us both a bit excited and giddy even tho it was nearing 130 AM and we were both quite sleepy.  And yes, I said giddy.  That's what all of you will be shouting when your racers are falling behind:  "Giddy up!  "  Haha.

Look for some info in the "TRACK" and "RULES" section to be updated soon.  Had a few ideas for rules and the dimensions of the track/lanes will come into play when making the sizing restrictions for the racers.

[Chauncey]

Important Notice

By the way, for those of you that are planning to participate, please please please, if you're going to use some giganticly long valve cover, let me know how long it is as soon as you can.  The length of the longest valve cover will determine the length of our starting area.  If nobody chimes in with a figure, we'll just have to implement a certain number and include it into the rules.

As of now, we're able to be pretty flexible as we haven't begun construction on the starting mechanism.  However, once we do so, there'll be a set maximum length that it will be able to handle.

[pchop]

This sweet Im onboard for sure.  I will have to measure the width of my racer.  It maybe to wide not so sure yet but it will fit the lenght.  I cant want to see how this turns out.  Anyone have any pics of theres yet?

[tink]

farmboys brother got us a couble valvecovers off of one of these will it work

[Chauncey]

Sure thing, Tink.  But where the hell is it on this thing?

[tink]

i think its on the other side

[Farmboy]

i hope it aint too heavy

[Krandall]

I think if you port it, you can drop some weight.

[NCHKustoms]

Porting works on alot of things... i ported the chaincase on a snowmobile once.. worked awesome!! ALSO Just tonight i ported my water pump and oil pan on the truck! Must have shaved at least 1.3 lbs!!
PORT IT ALL! 

[Chauncey]

I heard if you port the gas tank you can drop a ton of weight!  Get at that next. 

[NCHKustoms]

Got mine ready to roll! A few minor deets and im all set!

[Chauncey]

Made a TON of progress on the track this weekend.  Will be uploading pics later today.

Got 95% of the construction done, as well as painting the whole thing.  Realistically we could run 'em as is, but we've got some sweet ideas in the "added flair" category that we're gonna try to pull off.  In the end this thing's gonna be frickin' awesome. 

Hope everybody's making some progress on their racers.  Only 3 more weeks 'til race/show time! 

[Chauncey]

NOTICE

We made the starting section this weekend, as well as 95% of the track.  The length from the very end of the track to the starting bars is 32", leaving enough room for the valve covers to be 30" long with a little wiggle room.  I'll add this to the "official" rules on the first page as well.

PICS

3 Sections built:

Randy putting in work on the starting mechanism:

Whole track structure built, from the start area:

Ashley and Ryan workin' on his (or her?) car:

Getting all willy nilly with the paint:

Somewhat final product:

Wally decided to help out:

[NCHKustoms]

[hillbilly les]

chaunsey,, be afraid   very afraid     this is the begining of a monster