What COG (balance point) Should I use?

Wood track with center strip: I suggest a COG of no less than 3/4 of an inch. Ideal is probably 1″ or maybe just a hair more. Keep the weight as close to the track as you can for the energy advantage, meaning as low as you can stack it on the wood body. 3 wheel center rail riding with camber wheels. will have the best advantage. Adjust your rail riding steer to 1″ on 4 feet of travel. Because the wood may splinter and no one really checks for this, I suggest a thicker or full factory rim wheel edge to ensure that the car will roll smoothly especially for the steer wheel. I believe that a thinned-out edge will cause excessive friction and not allow the wheel to slide all the way down the track. So, no wheel weights under 1.5gram. Utilize the “stealth cut” design wheel where there is the full rounded factory edge if you are allowed to use a weight reduced wheel.

Wood track WITHOUT center strip. These are just straight chutes for racing. Fastest cars will be straight shooters that never touch the bumpers. I suggest a COG of no less than 3/4 of an inch. Ideal is probably 1″ maybe just a hair more. Keep the weight as close to the track as you can for the energy advantage. Straight shooter…get that tuning board and adjust, adjust, adjust. Advantage here will be wheel weight. The lighter wheel you can use, the faster your champion racer will be which means the 1 gram wheels will give you the fastest runs. Camber all the wheels that are touching the ground. 3 wheel racer is preferred, adjusted so that you have no drift. No restrictions as this type of track you just pray you got a good line out of the gate.

Metal/Plastic Tracks

Most of the info about PWD found on the internet and in books is based on the metal/plastic type of track. Properly set up metal tracks give the most consistent data for PWD. A well-maintained metal track is the best racing track. Most of the metal tracks contain a center guide strip for each lane.

Wheels are a little fickle with a metal track. The lightest wheels are normally faster. If you have too aggressive of a steer, the very thin wall of a 1-gram wheel causes excessive friction as it runs down the lanes. You can hear it as it races down the track. I have seen 1.5g wheels with thicker edges run consistently faster than the 1g wheels that are not “perfectly” tuned. My only conclusion was the excessive friction from the “knife edge” of the 1-gram wheel slowed it down.

Metal track with center strip – I suggest a COG of no less than 1/2 of an inch. Ideal is probably 3/4″ maybe just a hair more. There are a few highly guarded secrets in PWD, this is one of them. So many different suggestions here. Again, know your track. Are the seams even and flush, are there any burrs on the rail? Keep the weight as close to the track as you can for the energy advantage. I recommend a 3-wheel, center rail rider with camber wheels. Steering drift of 3/4-1″ on 4 feet of travel. I like to stack 2oz of weight behind the rear axle for the longest push.

Metal / plastic tracks WITHOUT center strip. I suggest a COG of no less than 1/2 of an inch. Ideal is probably 3/4″ maybe just a hair more. Keep the weight as close to the track as you can for the energy advantage. Straight shooter… get that tuning board and adjust, adjust, adjust. The advantage here will be wheel weight and weight placement, even aerodynamic advantage if you have the time for some fenders. No restrictions as for this type of track, you just pray you got a good line out of the gate.