6 replies to this topic

[Duffy]

Here's why:
 
I build chassis, I thrash & prep, I field my cars and then drive them. Having gone as far, evidently, as I can by just getting to the track & plopping down, I want to get beyond the race-to-race focus I now have and more into a larger awareness of what I got and what I can have.

So:

Starting to try to keep notes. This track This car running in This seasonal climate and This amp draw from Those motors, and and and.
And starting to try to tease insights from all that, that I can take into the next race.

So:

How do YOU keep track, and of what? What'll you share with the guys that're trying to up their own game by looking at where & how they were, and how to move forward from that?
 
I think this is worth a thread. Let's just see...
 
Du

[Gator Bob]

Duffy my friend,

 

I think it makes perfect sense to build notebooks as a tool for improvement. I was doing it ad hoc just as I did in 1:1 racing.

 

Problem is I can enjoy the documenting process and set-up fast cars using the notes, but since I can't drive them well the notes don't really help in that regard.

 

It becomes mental masturbation to go along with poor on track jerky driving.

 

Rick B. is working on getting a release to distribute a program that works toward that end. Excel works fine if it doesn't materialize or someone else finds or writes a new version.

[MG Brown]

I prefer my notes in a Moleskine notebook.
 

 
If it's good enough for Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, and Ernest Hemingway, it's good enough for me.
 
Mind you, my notebook has the names and addresses of the best bars I've been to, but I am sure that at least Hemingway would approve.

[John Streisguth]

uh, Bob, what in god's name is with that new avatar??

[Tex]

uh, Bob, what in god's name is with that new avatar??

 

Don't laugh; I'd been drinking.

[Mike Patterson]

I only keep track of one thing: Guide spacers. I've been racing at Tom Thumb for so long that the basic setup is now part of my DNA. So when I go someplace else, I make a note to add or subtract guide spacers from my basic TT setup. I should add that i race only on King tracks.

 

And setup is only as good as your driving ability. You could have a rocket, but if you can't drive it, it's not going to do you much good. I know this.

[Guy Spaulding]

Braid depth for each track. Pinion gear, tire selection and expected lap times for each class

 

But, since we run built motors, I keep another spreadsheet

 

For setups, magnet mfg & air gap, 

For Arms, timing, stack length & dia., comm size, balance date, cuts since balance

For assembled motors, brush mfg, fiddles, amp draw, and race performance