Scuderia Kouba is pleased and honored to announce the U.S. Marines have joined the team for the 2018 PDX Adult Soapbox Derby!
2,228 July 23, 2018 6:37 pm
Re: 2018 Portland Adult Soapbox Derby (45 replies, posted in NASTE)
Race day is quickly approaching and we have ramped up our work to get fully prepared!
Scuderia Kouba has scheduled a day for car pushing practice with the United States Marine Corps. Sounds pretty cool huh? On Wednesday morning August 8th we will be setting up for practice in the Vancouver Mall parking lot. We plan to use a small portion of the parking area on the west side of the mall, close to Thurston Way in Vancouver. Thurston Way is one of the Vancouver Mall exits off of SR500.
We plan to be at the mall location by 8:30 am with all the Scuderia Kouba cars. We need to unload and get set up and ready for the Marines arrival by 9:00 am. I estimate the practice session will last no longer than one hour as the Marines have a busy schedule of their own. After that it will just be a matter of loading the cars back up and cleaning up the test site. I realize mid morning middle of the week is not a good time for most, but if you have time available and would like to help us out with this endeavor please let me know. Any help will be greatly appreciated!
===========Bill
2,229 July 20, 2018 9:27 pm
Re: NASTE Odd Thursday Night Racing Rules & Current Thread (2,156 replies, posted in NASTE)
July 19th Race Results:
F 1
1 Daniel 69.7 Laps
2 Al 66.3
3 Rico 65.9
4 John Gill 61.4
5 Mitch 60.9
6 Greg 60.4
Can Am
1 Al 73.5 Laps
2 Rico 71.0
3 Daniel 70.3
4 Mitch 70.1
5 John Gill 65.4
6 Greg 62.4
Open Class
1 Al 77.6 Laps
2 Greg 75.8
3 Daniel 74.8
4 Mitch 73.1
5 Rico 72.8
2,230 July 19, 2018 9:17 pm
Re: 2018 Portland Adult Soapbox Derby (45 replies, posted in NASTE)
Scuderia Kouba has been trying to find volunteers interested in joining our team as car pushers. We are pleased to announce our quest is over. This year Scuderia Kouba has enlisted the help of The United States Marines! Yes, you read that correctly! The U.S. Marines' insignia will be proudly displayed on the Scuderia Kouba cars. In a visit to the local Marine Recruiting Center here in Vancouver, we had 5 Marines volunteer for our team as car pushers! These volunteers are helping us out ON THEIR OWN OFF DUTY TIME! We are very proud and honored to have them onboard! THANK YOU MARINES!
2,231 July 18, 2018 8:00 pm
Re: Controller Bags/Covers (4 replies, posted in For Sale or Trade)
Not yet!
I'll put you on the list for the bag Doc. You'll have to get your own shot!
2,232 July 18, 2018 6:11 pm
Re: Controller Bags/Covers (4 replies, posted in For Sale or Trade)
You got 'em Al. I won't be able to make it tomorrow night. I'll try to make the first August race and bring the trophy and some of these bags.
2,233 July 17, 2018 7:02 pm
Topic: Controller Bags/Covers (4 replies, posted in For Sale or Trade)
Fellow racers, if you are looking for something nice to protect your controller during transport and storage, I have some nice Crown Royal Liquor bags. If you haven't seen them before, they are made of a soft velvet-like material and have a draw string to close them tight. Courtesy of The Stagecoach Saloon in Fairview Oregon and the Scuderia Kouba gravity racing team I have acquired a small stock of these bags. We are making them available for FREE to any slot racers that frequents this site. I am planning to attend the August 9th Odd Thursday Night Race at Al's at which time I will bring a supply of them with me. If you would like to get one or two of the bags please respond to this message here on the forum. If you are unable to attend the race at Al's I can either leave the bags there with Al, or ship them to you by U.S. Postal Service. ========Bill
2,234 July 14, 2018 11:26 am
Re: 2018 Portland Adult Soapbox Derby (45 replies, posted in NASTE)
Videos from July 13th test session:
The drive up to the test area.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SBmojR … e=youtu.be
This what 41 mph looks like.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1rcKPD … e=youtu.be
Entire test run including the shut down hill.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpoo7EF … e=youtu.be
2,235 July 14, 2018 11:18 am
Re: 2018 Portland Adult Soapbox Derby (45 replies, posted in NASTE)
Testing July 13th:
Our test site features a nice uphill climb following the long straight downhill section. This is a great test run with the steeper grade uphill portion aiding in the slowing of the cars. An important factor in the event of brake failure or brake fade. Without braking the cars will crest the top of the hill, but are slowed enough even if the brakes fail completely the car can be run off the road onto the shoulder and stopped.
Here's Chris MKV, and Jenny MKI at the end of the first run. This photo was taken from the bottom of the uphill shut down section.
We only had one slight mechanical malfunction during the entire day of testing. It happened during a tow back and resulted in a trailer back instead of a successful tow back. Jenny Burns did an awesome job of keeping the MKI out of the ditch! It was definitely a successful day of testing!
2,236 July 14, 2018 11:07 am
Re: 2018 Portland Adult Soapbox Derby (45 replies, posted in NASTE)
July 13 testing:
A brake pedal connected to cables is used to actuate the front brake calipers. Chris Kouba design of course!
Chris and Beau completing the installation of the tail section on the MKV.
We were amazed to discover the duct tape start line we laid down on the pavement at our test site last year was still there!
2,237 July 14, 2018 11:00 am
Re: 2018 Portland Adult Soapbox Derby (45 replies, posted in NASTE)
July 13th testing:
The MKV features brake calipers on both front wheels.
This setup designed and built by Chris Kouba resulted in excellent stopping power.
This is the steering system designed and built by Chris for the MKV. Due to the very limited cockpit space, the steering yoke operates on a horizontal push pull plane rather than the standard automobile type steering.
2,238 July 14, 2018 10:54 am
Re: 2018 Portland Adult Soapbox Derby (45 replies, posted in NASTE)
Chris and Beau worked on test run preparation of the MKV.
The size of the MKV requires removal of some of the body panels for transport. Chris and Beau reinstalled the bodywork in just a few minutes.
Both the nose section and tail section of the MKV are removable for transport.
2,239 July 14, 2018 10:49 am
Re: 2018 Portland Adult Soapbox Derby (45 replies, posted in NASTE)
July 13th:
Mirror fairings designed by Jimmy Jones were installed on the MKII in time for the test session.
The mirror fairings were mage from small plastic funnels. Cost of this mod was $1.18....for the pair.
The brake upgrade on the MKII required some minor body modifications.
2,240 July 14, 2018 10:45 am
Re: 2018 Portland Adult Soapbox Derby (45 replies, posted in NASTE)
Test session July 13:
Jeff and Jenny Burns prepare the MKI for the first test run of the day.
These guys are an awesome team within Scuderia Kouba. This year they will be teamed for the PASD on the MKI with Jenny taking the wheel and defending her Fastest Woman On the HILL title! 
2,241 July 14, 2018 10:42 am
Re: 2018 Portland Adult Soapbox Derby (45 replies, posted in NASTE)
Test Session July 13th:
Jeff Burns designed and built rear tail section on the MKI.
Rear brake modifications on both the MKI and MKII feature motorcycle brake discs and Wilwood single puck mechanical calipers. The improvement in braking was awesome as reported by all drivers!
Chris Kouba not only designed and fabricated these new wheel covers, he built the vacuform table to manufacture them!
2,242 July 14, 2018 10:37 am
Re: 2018 Portland Adult Soapbox Derby (45 replies, posted in NASTE)
July 13, 2018 test session:
7:00 am and the MKI and MKII are loaded and ready for transport to the test site.
The MKI sporting its newly installed rear tail section, designed and built by Jeff Burns.
2,243 July 14, 2018 10:32 am
Re: 2018 Portland Adult Soapbox Derby (45 replies, posted in NASTE)
Scuderia Kouba had a great test session on Friday July 13th. The day started early at our normal meeting place, The Stagecoach Saloon. After Chris, Bethany, Jenny, Jeff, Jessy, Johnny, Dennis, Beau, and I had breakfast we all headed out on the long drive to our secrete (OK maybe not too secrete) testing site.
The MKI, MKII, and MKV all performed well. The speeds posted by the MKI were equal to or slightly better than the speeds posted during last year's testing. The MKII speeds were down but only by 1 mph. The big news for the MKI and MKII were the brakes. The new brake systems adapted to both cars vastly improved their braking ability, a welcomed improvement! But the star of the show was the new MKV! On its maiden run the MKV posted a speed 2 mph faster than anything previously posted by the MKI or MKII. That is impressive! The front braking system on the MKV also worked very well. There was only one minor incident throughout the day of testing. A slight equipment malfunction with one of the wheel pants on the MKI on the tow back from one of the test runs almost put Jenny into the ditch. Thankfully her lightning quick reactions kept the car on the tarmac and she got it stopped safely.
It was a hot day but we were blessed with a nice cool breeze for most of the day. We made over 6 runs throughout the day and recorded some good data. More car improvements were planned as well as a few minor repairs. That's why these test sessions are so important and one reason Scuderia Kouba performs well on race day! We test hard, we make adjustments during test and record the test data. We break stuff on test day hoping to eliminate breakage and poor performance on race day! And we have great team members helping out with the entire process! Without our awesome team members Scuderia Kouba would not exist. A great big thanks to Bethany, Jenny, Dennis, Beau, Jessy, and Johnny for all their help in making this test day a success! And of course, THANK YOU to Chris and Jeff for building us these awesome toys!
Unloading at the test site.
2,244 July 9, 2018 7:33 am
Re: 2018 Portland Adult Soapbox Derby (45 replies, posted in NASTE)
We are taking a head count for this Friday's (July 13) test session. We are planning for a full day of testing at our Dufer site with all three cars, the MKI (last year's PASD winner), the MKII, and the brand new MKV. The MKII can accommodate a variety of driver sizes (because I'm a pretty fat kinda guy) so guest rides will be available. Anyone that would like to ride along with Chris or I for the full day are welcomed. If you would like to come out in your own car for the day or even a partial day that would also be great. We will be using onboard GPS devices to record data from changes in the car's set ups, and to compare car's performance with last year's records. As with last year's testing I'm sure lunch and possibly even dinner will be worked in somewhere, sometime. We had a lot of fun testing last year and I'm sure this test session will be no different. So if you can and would like to come out please let me know.
2,245 July 6, 2018 7:16 pm
Re: NASTE Odd Thursday Night Racing Rules & Current Thread (2,156 replies, posted in NASTE)
As a previous track owner and promoter of the NASTE Odd Thursday Night Races I scheduled the race rotation with input from the participating racers. The same goes for the classes raced in the NASTE Point Series Championship. Since I am currently absent from that role I post the schedule and class rotation according to directions I receive from Al. In my opinion it is up to whenever and whatever the racers and Al decides. Generally I would start the point series races in September. At this point in time I do not know what my level of involvement will be in the 2019 NASTE Point Series Championship. The one suggestion I have for the 2019 season would be to return to the series format we have used in the past that allow racers to throw out at least one of their worst finishes. For example if the series consists of 10 races a racer's 9 best finishes would be scored for points. In the event of a possible tie the 10th race would be used for the tie breaker.
2,246 July 6, 2018 6:10 pm
Re: 2018 Portland Adult Soapbox Derby (45 replies, posted in NASTE)
Chris, Beau, and I had a work session at the Scuderia Kouba Shop yesterday. Chris has been hard at work on the MKV and the results reflect his efforts. The MKV is totally awesome and our expectations are high for it's performance! It looks fast just sitting there! One of our goals for the MKI and MKII cars which raced at the PASD last year, is to improve their braking power. As many of you know the bicycle disc brakes we were using were not adequate. The brakes on the MKII had totally failed on our first Dufer run after the test session on Larch Mountain. Those brakes were replaced with an upgraded bicycle disc brake assembly for the PASD race, but those brakes repeated the same dismal results. This year Chris has designed a new brake system using motorcycle ventilated discs and Wilwood mechanical calipers. The Wilwood calipers are designed for emergency brake systems on cars. In addition to the new brake disc and caliper set up I replaced the brake hand grip lever with a longer and more robust model which resulted in an improved grip on the lever and longer throw. After the upgrades were completed on the MKII we took it out for a test run on the hills by the SK Shop. The improvement over last year's brake system was remarkable! After completing a few low speed passes on the smaller of the two test hills, I gave it a full test on the big hill. I found I was able to slow dramatically even on the steepest part of the hill. At the conclusion of the last test run I found I could even lock the rear wheel. On the tow back up the hill I drug the brake to get it good and hot. Even after heating the brake up I had very good stopping power with no brake fade. After the last test the brake caliper cooled down in less than 15 minutes. Now I fully understand that concern over brakes on a gravity car may seem contrary or even misguided. But I will say after my WIDE OPEN NO BRAKES run down Larch Mountain through two hairpin turns this is an upgrade I am very happy to have! Thank you Chris!
2,247 July 6, 2018 3:41 pm
Re: NASTE Odd Thursday Night Racing Rules & Current Thread (2,156 replies, posted in NASTE)
In the meeting we held on February 15th it was decided Can Am and USRRC would become stand alone classes and as such raced separately. When I split the two I added USRRC as our 14th class. Other than that the rules for each class are unchanged.
2,248 July 6, 2018 7:43 am
Re: NASTE Odd Thursday Night Racing Rules & Current Thread (2,156 replies, posted in NASTE)
The official rules for the NASTE Odd Thursday Night Classes have been updated to reflect the changes for the 2019 racing season.
Please let me know of any errors.
==========Bill
2,249 July 6, 2018 7:13 am
Re: NASTE Odd Thursday Night Racing Rules & Current Thread (2,156 replies, posted in NASTE)
Race results from July 5th race at Rippin' Ridin' Raceway:
Classic Sports Car 1
1 Jeff 65.1 Laps
2 Al 64.3
3 Daniel 63.8
4 Monte 63.5
5 Greg 63.3
6 Mitch 62.3
7 Gary 61.6
8 Rico 61.3
9 Stan 57.3
10 Jon 47.7
GT 3
1 Al 69.3 Laps
2 Rico 67.0
3 Jeff 65.9
4 Mitch 65.6
5 Gary 64.7
6 Greg 62.2
7 Monte 62.1
8 Stan 60.6
9 Daniel 60.0
10 Jon 52.8
Open Class
1 Greg 79.0 Laps
2 Al 75.9
3 Mitch 74.4
4 Rico 73.7
5 Stan 72.3
6 Jeff 60.5
7 Jon 52.5
2,250 July 6, 2018 6:58 am
Re: NASTE Race #7 at Howie's (11 replies, posted in NASTE)
I think that would be an excellent option Howie! It would benefit everyone.