Round 1 Pioneer Endurance Proxy

[midagekid1]

Just checked out the second track that will be hosting the Pioneer Endurance Proxy cars in Edmonton. All I can say is "WOW" The track is the 'Idle Time Racing' road course or what I like to call it, the 'Pretzel'. This 65 foot 4 lane Carrera track has equal right and left corners and does not have a straight more than 4 feet in length. A very challenging terrain that will test these cars to their limits. Course directors are making final adjustments to the surface and any prep work that has to be completed. Voltage what I have been told will be set at 10.5 volts. I will be saving the pictures just before the race which will be run shortly. Thought I would give all the car owners a bit of a teaser. Repairs to any cars that need them has begun and all cars will be extensively checked out. A list of any repairs completed on any car will be made on the forum. That's all I can report for now.

[tin_indians]

[Pepsi62]

Thanks Tom, hope the repairs go well on the #62 Camaro and it bounces back to its brilliant self
Looking forward to seeing how they all run on the Carrerra track

[midagekid1]

The #62 should be running full steam once repairs are completed....time will tell if we were successful...The problem appears to be that with the plastic axle spacers on the rear wheel and the amount the axle goes into the hub of the wheel, the depth is fairly shallow compared to other car brands. If we will remove the spacer which will allow for a bit more depth and also when we glue the wheel to the axle, you drill a small diameter hole in the plastic wheel, and when the wheel is pressed on, a tiny bit of glue will flow out of the hole hopefuly ensuring that the entire axle end has glue. If you try to squeeze the axle onto the hub without any space, the glue usually is forced out and you don't get a good bond. The racer that is looking at all the cars will do this for any loose wheels.

[midagekid1]

Race Report for Round #2 by midagekid1

I went over to the location where the Pioneer cars will be racing in the next few days for Round #2 and took a ton of pictures of the cars and the Carrera 65 foot track...these will be posted asap...what was interesting were the number of repairs that were completed on the cars. The host (Idle Time Racing) made a list of all the repairs completed for each car. This racer is an excellent builder in all aspects of the hobby from making brass chassis`to machining his own crown gears and is a Jedi Master in this hobby. I will include the list of repairs when I do my next posting. There were lots of loose tires as well as gluing spoilers, grills etc. back on.. The cars were all gone through one at a time and checked out very well. The wheels were repaired in a very neat way.. each wheel was given a slight twist to see if they were loose. If the wheel was loose when checked, it was taken off and a tiny hole was drilled from the inside hub to the outside, then the wheel hub and axle were cleaned of any contaminants. This was completed by using lighter fluid being dropped into the hub and flowing through the tiny hole on the outside to flush out any gunk. Then the wheel was completely dried off before the next step. Crazy glue was added to the axle and a bit was dropped into the hub. When the wheel was squeezed on, a very tiny bit of glue came through the hole on the outside of the wheel, ensuring that the glue made it all around the hub and axle. We all know if you try to glue a hub back on just by dropping glue into the hub and there is no way for the pressure to be released, glue usually squirts out from the hub and you might get a good bond but usually you don't. Also when the wheel was pressed on, a spacing tool was used to accurately leave enough space between the tire and the plastic spacer that is on each wheel. If two wheels were loose on the same axle, each wheel was repaired separately. Sound like quite a bit of work but it went quickly... It was noticed if there was split in the hub, it was usually at the seam where the two pieces of the plastic hub were joined together and failed at that point. The only answer to that is when the hubs were molded and the pieces were joined together, the seam part probably was not hot enough or was cooling to rapidly to allow for a good bond. As we all know, most of the plastic parts are made in mass production so quality control might be lacking. This is only a hypothesis so I don`t have conclusive proof but that seems to be where the split usually is. The final bit of news is that the cars were qualified and the results will surprise a lot of people involved in the Proxy. These will be posted as soon as I am able to. That`s the race report for today.