Drilled Rear or Bent Axles for Pinewood Derby Car body

Few things to address here. IF you order 3 degree drilled rear axles, you can not place BENT AXLES in them. This will cause a compound bend that will be near impossible to align without some serious time and testing. It all comes down to time when choosing. Just to be clear, when the pro racers say one method is faster, what they are not telling you is that they drill sometimes 20-30 bodies to get the perfect body. If you only have 1 shot, 1 night to complete your build, TIME will be your biggest determination.

Why Drilled Rear?

Car body drilled at negative camber parallel with slots / body. There is no toe in or toe out that will cause steering. The negative camber will force the wheel to ride away from the car body on the axle head. No adjustments needed when properly drilled. The only adjustment needed will be the front steer axle.

PRO’s

• Gives advantage of rear camber or always pushing the wheel against the axle head thus eliminating fishing tailing due to axle alignment. (however you may still fishtail due to weight / cog placement).
• Uses straight axles. No adjustments
• Quickest possible alignment if time is a key factor

CON’s

• It is what it is. no adjustments. May be slightly off, or not the fastest the car can truly be.
• If axles are not straight, you may get unwanted steering that can not be adjusted

Why Bent Axles?

PRO’s

• Can make minute adjustments to each wheel to ensure that the steer wheel is the only wheel touching the center rail for fastest possible outcomes
• Allows corrections if axles are not perfectly straight
• Allows perfect tuning

CON’s

• Requires every single axle to be adjusted
• Takes more time
• Requires a greater understanding of tuning since each wheel is a steering wheel.