Do you reapply graphite before the tournament? Proper race etiquette
Hello Racers and Friends,
I am just reaching out to see how you all go about this. If you're hosting a tournament, I know most people dust their cars before they mail it out but do you top them off with a dust or do you race it as is? I'm just trying to see what other race hosts do. Obviously I test the cars to make sure that they roll good but I don't race the cars just yet until the tournament because I don't want to ruin the fun LOL. So if you do a test run to make sure that the car rolls, Do you redust the car then store it until the race or what do you guys do? Thanks in Advance!
Discussion
We only add graphite to cars if they fail to qualify or don't run. That's mostly because it's so expensive to get to NZ, I want to give everyone the best chance of racing. Also, sometimes the journey here seems to shake all the graphite out of cars.
For some long running tournaments like the Canyon Outlaws, we add graphite after a few months/years of racing as they sometimes need a boost after that much racing/abuse, compared to a one off comp.
- Got it that makes sense. WOW NZ niiiccee! Its awesome to see guys from out of the US to race us Americans. America is very diverse so its cool to see you participating. But yea I can see the dust falling out on the way to NZ. Thanks for your input! — D_Built_Garage
- It’s especially important to have your cars in the best shape possible when participating in these particularly destructive tournaments like canyon outlaws or even more extreme cases like junkyard joust. — Kingjester
Never dust them, never test them and never touch them until it's time to race
No. Period.
You run what you got sent.
The only exception is if the car arrives damaged. Then you contact the racer and ask what they want to do: have you work on the car to get it running or send a replacement.
- Thanks SpyDude. Its a good thing to know for the behalf of any new host too. I appreciate your input. — D_Built_Garage
Of the few races that I have hosted, I don't do anything to anybody else's car. How I receive it is how i'm going to race it.
- I like that! I second that. I believe it’s up to the racer to mail and prep their car on how they want it to run. I appreciate your feedback Elevation! Say we gotta do our 80g race soon! — D_Built_Garage
Cars that are mailed out for a race, should be race ready. Unless it gets damaged in shipping, there should be no need to touch them. However, it's one of mine, I feel the host should do everything they can to boost its performance including extra graphite, a fresh wheel sanding, and even a total rebuild if its gonna get me to the finals! Good luck hosting your first race, I sent ya 2 entries that are gonna need some work :)
As stated above...if there is obvious damage from shipping or the car doesn't run, it's up to the host to decide what course of action to take...but the host MUST let the builder know what's up...and however a car gets to the host track is how it should be run...unless the host specifically states they are gong to dust the cars...which makes for a a lot of extra work for the host. I would also highly recommend sending cars in a protective container of some sort...just saves any worry
- Sounds good Crazy Canuck. Your package arrived very neat! I appreciate your input! — D_Built_Garage
Never touch anything on someone else's car. That's a huge no no, leave it exactly the way they send it unless there's obvious physical damage and there's ample time to repair it, if they ask you to do that. There's many different brands of graphite and people are very particular about what they use. Best to not risk putting a different brand in there that doesn't match theirs and could potentially clump up in the wheel and slow it down