Pinewood Derby Cars

[zesty]

My son's pack just settled on plans for this year's pinewood derby. I'll be making a bunch of cars again as I help my kids and the neighborhood kids. Thought it'd be cool to hear pinewood stories and share tips.

My son had a really slow car the first year and he was very disappointed. Both of us set about learning how to make a fast car after that. Last year, he got 1st by a comfortable margin. He does all the work on the cars but I helped with the research on what makes a car fast.

My daughter absolutely crushed her girl scout troop. The track wasn't even built right for how fast her car was. A wheel was damaged during one run because they had to have a kid catch it as it flew off the end. She still beat everyone after that. The sad thing was that the awards for "most sparkles" and whatnot were big trophies and a bunch of candy. My daughter's award for the fastest car was a tiny plain trophy. It's like 4" tall. She was pissed about that. Rightfully so because she did all the work on that car.

Anyway, I'm excited about helping the kids. Painting tips would be great because that's my weak area. I'm happy to share knowledge on speed if there's any interest. It's not expensive or difficult if you're just a little handy. Getting 1st might be tough but getting in the finals should be doable for anyone.

 

[The Old Jaybird]

set wheels so they run on the edges not the full width, setup car to run on 3 wheels only, 2 rears and a front. Build as long a wheelbase as allowed, run at maximum weight allowed, you will need access to a scale. My son won in IL and in GA. I just used spray hobby paint, but always thought it would be cool to finish a car with stain and varnish like fine furniture.

 

[Sharpsburg]

Tungsten weights to get her up to the weight limit.

 

[kuduman]

My dad helped me and my brother win the locals I think three years running-- mid-sized town in S.C.. Still got the cars, 40 some years later. Weight, straight, and polishing. We put about six coats of automotive paint on ours-- they looked like car show cars.

The state of the art has advanced mightily, so I've heard.

What memories! Good luck.

 

[zesty]

set wheels so they run on the edges not the full width, setup car to run on 3 wheels only, 2 rears and a front. Build as long a wheelbase as allowed, run at maximum weight allowed, you will need access to a scale. My son won in IL and in GA. I just used spray hobby paint, but always thought it would be cool to finish a car with stain and varnish like fine furniture.

Made this for my wife to use on our little practice track.

Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

 

[UptaCamp]

set wheels so they run on the edges not the full width, setup car to run on 3 wheels only, 2 rears and a front. Build as long a wheelbase as allowed, run at maximum weight allowed, you will need access to a scale. My son won in IL and in GA. I just used spray hobby paint, but always thought it would be cool to finish a car with stain and varnish like fine furniture.

This, also canted axles to rail ride it on the track, graphite powder in the axles and polish the axle nails.

This engineer got down to the science of it all.

 

[zesty]

Here's my practice car to play with the kid's cars.

Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

 

[zesty]

This, also canted axles to rail ride it on the track, graphite powder in the axles and polish the axle nails.

This engineer got down to the science of it all.

Beat me to it on that video link. It's excellent. We did all that except the canted axels. We just made it a straight runner because we run on a really old wood track. Our pack rules require 4 wheels on the track also.

 

[hma153]

as been said, max out the weight, polish axles, lots of graphite, etc... gravity is your friend, weight is king.
the troop just did blast cars. a bit different but similar. CO2 canister engine. go lightest weight allowed. race is too fast for aerodynamics to come into play. lightest with least friction wins those.

 

[Justin87]

This, also canted axles to rail ride it on the track, graphite powder in the axles and polish the axle nails.

This engineer got down to the science of it all.

That's one of my son's favorite YouTube channels. I watched this video with him a few weeks ago. I was surprised by some of the tricks he came up with that seemed to really work.

I was in the boy scouts just long enough to win first place in the pinewood derby. My great uncle helped me build it. He honed out the holes in the wheels. I think that was what gave me the edge.