[Shotimes] pinewood derby

[Donald Mallinson]

I helped my son's build a few pinewood derby cars. The one that got the 
most interest, but was slow, was the one we built with all the left over 
parts from my modeling days.  Realistic engine, zoomie headers, spoiler, 
lots of decals and driver.   The best one was very slick and organic 
looking with nothing sticking out.  I smoothed the tires, polished the 
axles, made sure everything was straight, and then I put on a set of my 
old model "moon" wheel covers, but not before filling each wheel with 
graphite.  No need to replenish the graphite! 

We got through three rounds. 

I remember we had the weight down low and centered in the body. 

So Kris, and others,  give up the secrets, where should the weight go?

Don Mallinson

bjshov8 wrote:

>I guess it's like everything that people get involved in- it eventually gets
>real technical and competitive.  My daughter's church has something like
>this but they do it for boys and girls.  She and I built a few cars and I
>built a few to enter just for fun.  Searching the internet you can find lots
>of hints plus a lot of people that claim to know the real secrets but want
>to sell them to you.
>
>I read about putting the weights in the back, the theory being that the cars
>start on a slant so the higher up the slope the weights are the more
>potential energy is stored.  As I discovered the downside of this is that it
>makes your car a little squirrely and if the track is a bit uneven like ours
>was your car might be prone to jump the divider.
>
>I also learned to polish the axles and use graphite for lube.  We weighted
>the car a bit on the heavy side then took a drill with us to weigh-in so we
>could fine tune the weight to just under the legal limit.  The cars that I
>built were widened so that the wheels were actually shrouded within the
>body, thinking it might reduce wind resistance but it also made the cars
>look more realistic.
>
>Some of the things I found on the net looked like they were designed
>strictly for performance and didn't look like any normal car.  I like to
>make mine look like something- one year I made my car look a bit like the
>Ford GT.  I wanted the car to work well but tried to remember that we were
>doing this for fun and if we didn't win we still had fun.
>
>
>  
>
>>It's all in the placing of the weights!  My son Colton came in first with
>>his version of a SHO Pinewood Derby car.  Every single Cub Scout beat him
>>    
>>
>in
>  
>
>>the downhill portion but on the straight away, he killed 'em