Once the body is properly mounted, I always make a point of going back to look at the bulletproofing. This again will be different for different types of racing. On oval tracks I suggest you strengthen the body around the fenders and other tear points like the mounting holes using tape with the fiber threads in it. I feel the extra weight you may carry using tape is acceptable and preferred over a possible tear that could cost you many laps to repair. Fast and hard hits are normal in most oval racing and especially on shorter tracks. With road course racing it is more desirable to have a light body with a lot of flex, so you body armor (clear lexan with one sticky side) to reinforce the pin holes and tear points and the down area from the rear spoiler to the bottom of the fender.

As you become more aware of the types of bodies that work best on your local track, don't get locked into just one model. Experiment a little. Try different configurations and mounting heights. Often in road course racing a little higher body mounting will give you better down force and therefore better braking and cornering characteristics.

Oh, one last note. Take a few extra minutes to make the body look nice. A fast gook looking car is always cooler than an ugly, fast car. Even if you are not a skilled painter, you can work wonders with some nice decals. Don't just use a marker to write your numbers on

use decals! Paint your driver and cockpit! Have some pride! For meI chose a color scheme using my two favorite colorsgreen and yellow. All my cars use this color scheme and have a trademark green that fades into yellow from front to back. And having a color scheme also has another advantageI can tell my cars from others on the track much faster and minimize the possibility of confusing my car with another during a race. I have seen lots of crashes caused by one driver confusing his car for another that was painted the same color.

Well enough on bodies. Next installment, we will begin to cover chassis setup.

I hope this information is helpful to you. As you may remember from the introduction to this series, we try and cover information for mostly novice racers in this column, but many experienced racers tell me it is also helpful to them as well, because it reminds them on the basics they need to attend to if they want to be consistently fast.

Thanks and happy racing...Speed Racer

See also: SlotSide's Wing Car Body Setup.