[Shotimes] pinewood derby

[kickinsho]

Well I would say that Leigh explained it pretty well. Andy found most of the 
information out by visiting various web sites.  He said some of them were so 
technical that they had to be written by someone with an engineering degree. 
He found that the weight should be placed in front of the rear axle an inch 
or so and that it should be up as high as possible.  He of course did most 
of the things listed in Leigh's post also.

I can send a pic if wanted.

We figured that Colton won the Raingutter Regatta, not only for the design 
and permanent sail, he is a French Horn player and has a good set of lungs!

Kris Angermeier
Sheboygan, WI

'91 White Plus
'91 White Plus
'93 Ultra Red ATX

"Women Who Behave Never Make History"
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Donald Mallinson" <dmall@mwonline.net>
To: <shotimes@autox.team.net>
Sent: Friday, May 06, 2005 8:32 AM
Subject: Re: [Shotimes] pinewood derby


>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
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