Pinewood Derby

[joedls]

My 10 year old son and I just completed a car for his Pinewood Derby race next week. Here are a couple of pics. Anyone else have pics of Pinewood Derby cars they have worked on?

 

[somethingspecial]

Joe, That is one radical ride. Your son should be very proud. I don't have pictures unfortunately, but I made mine in 1974. I was soooo excited about it. I made mine to look like Richard Pettys stock car. red and blue with STP stickers. #43. I waited all my life to race at the pinewood derby and the day of the race, I came down with chicken pox. I cried for days because I couldn't go to the race. Well, That is my whine, anyone have any cheese. LOL. Mike

 

[Mustanger]

I used to be in the Royal Rangers (a scouting boy's club at our church) as a boy and then as an adult leader, and we made many pinewood derby cars ... one of my favorites was when I shaped the car into a hotdog bun, and put a real hotdog w/ mustard in it ... to bring up the weight, I remember sticking a heavy nail into one end of the hotdog! ... it also had a "vanity plate" that I clipped off the Oscar Meyer hotdog packaging ... I called my entry "Fast Food" but in one race/heat, my car jumped the track and fell onto the ground, and when I picked it up, there was dirt caked on the mustard - everyone was then calling my car the "Dirty Dog!" (LOL) ...

 

[Perkchiro]

Hey Mustanger, a Royal Ranger huh? Pretty neat. My son and I built a pinewood derby car for his Royal Ranger event a couple of years in a row. Never won anything but we sure went through a lot of powdered graphite. Lots of fun and great memories.

 

[Mustanger]

Yeah, Royal Rangers was alot of fun ... maybe when my little boys get a little older, maybe I can get them (and me) involved ... here's their website:

http://royalrangers.ag.org/

 

[PFSlim]

I have a couple of pictures to post as well. A few years ago, my son Zach had one that finished as Most Colorful. We didn't race that well, but it looked great.

This year, I am the Pinewood Derby coordinator. My son Patrick will be racing a Cobra we made.

I will post pictures as soon as I can.

Paul

 

[joedls]

Here's a pic of my son Dominic, his car, and trophy, when we did the Pinewood Derby in 2004.

 

[Perkchiro]

Great looking kid Joe! You should be very proud. You say his good looks came from your wife?:grin:

 

[joedls]

Great looking kid Joe! You should be very proud. You say his good looks came from your wife?:grin:

Absolutely!! He sure didn't get them from me.

 

[Midnight Special]

Here's a pic of my son Dominic, his car, and trophy, when we did the Pinewood Derby in 2004.

That's really cool! My oldest & I did one back in his preshool days. We used graphite powder on the wheels & he won 1rst place His was blue w/ red lightning stripe. I'll look for pics

 

[joedls]

That's really cool! My oldest & I did one back in his preshool days. We used graphite powder on the wheels & he won 1rst place His was blue w/ red lightning stripe. I'll look for pics

In 2004, I did the typical thing that I do. When Dominic signed up for the race, we got on the Internet and found alot of info about how to make the cars faster. We ordered up a whole new kit instead of the kit provided us by the Indian Guides. We also ordered trick axles, trick wheels, axle polshing kit, graphite, the whole nine yards. We built a hell of a car. Then the night before the race, I happened to notice that the back of the flyer for the race had a bunch of rules. Needless to say, our car was illegal. So we pulled out the kit provided to us and built the car that night and the next morning before the race. That's the car in the pic. Dominic won 3rd place, out of about 20 cars in his age group. He was ecstatic.

This year there is a Dad's race after the event. The only rules are size and weight requirements. So I dug out the illegal car and submitted it last night. The race is Saturday. Wish us luck. I'll keep you posted.

 

[PFSlim]

Here are our two cars. The red one with flames is the one that Zach raced a few years ago. He took the "Most Colorful" trophy from the guest judges. The car raced pretty good, just not fast enough.

The red cobra is Patricks we will race this weekend. It is inspired by my brother Brian's 428 replica cobra. Once again, I don't think it will be fast, but we hope the guest judges like the design.

Paul

 

[joedls]

Here are our two cars. The red one with flames is the one that Zach raced a few years ago. He took the "Most Colorful" trophy from the guest judges. The car raced pretty good, just not fast enough.

The red cobra is Patricks we will race this weekend. It is inspired by my brother Brian's 428 replica cobra. Once again, I don't think it will be fast, but we hope the guest judges like the design.

Paul

They got my vote. Both of the cars are very cool!

 

[case12]

You guys make me feel like a pitiful dad. My son's race is next weekend and we havent even started his car :embarass:

Did you guys use the kit given to you by the scouts, or did you make your own out of block wood. My wood working skills are a hammer, a saw and some nails. But, I can paint pretty good.

Help - I need some pointers. Other wise he gets a block wedge painted black.

(I dont have time to search the web for hours - so tips here will be helpful).

Should I go for show, or for race?

Casey

 

[joedls]

Casey, I'm definitely no expert, but I can offer a couple of tips. The "wedge cars" seem to be the fastest. If you don't want to go through the hassle of cutting the wedge out of the block you get, you can find one at a hobby shop that sells kits. If you go that route you may want to pick up an axle polishing kit. You wanna make sure whatever you're using for axles don't have any burs. If they do, use a file to knock them down. Pay attention to the wheel alignment, too. And get some graphite to "lubricate" the axles/wheels.

But most of all, have fun with your kid!!!

 

[Mustanger]

Casey, I'm definitely no expert, but I can offer a couple of tips. The "wedge cars" seem to be the fastest. If you don't want to go through the hassle of cutting the wedge out of the block you get, you can find one at a hobby shop that sells kits. If you go that route you may want to pick up an axle polishing kit. You wanna make sure whatever you're using for axles don't have any burs. If they do, use a file to knock them down. Pay attention to the wheel alignment, too. And get some graphite to "lubricate" the axles/wheels.

But most of all, have fun with your kid!!!

Casey,
Make sure you check, like Joe said earlier, if there are any special rules that you need to follow to be legal ... have fun with it, and encourage your son to do most of the work ... when I served as a judge at these derbys, we would give an extra edge to the car that was done by the boy vs one that was done by the dad ... however, still participate and have fun!!! ...

 

[Mustanger]

... for a racing tip, trueness and smoothness of wheels rolling, and max weight allowed, will be a bigger factor than aerodynamics ... that's why I've witnessed Model T trucks and "Hotdogs" beat wedge cars ...

 

[joedls]

... for a racing tip, trueness and smoothness of wheels rolling, and max weight allowed, will be a bigger factor than aerodynamics ... that's why I've witnessed Model T trucks and "Hotdogs" beat wedge cars ...

I think Ruben's correct in his assessment regarding aerodynamics. But I believe the wedge cars win the most because of the weight distribution, more weight in the back of the car.

 

[case12]

Thanks, ....off I go to the basement tmmrw to start the work.

Joe, are you sure they dont allow superchargers on the pinewood derby cars? I hear it helps with HP - at least on a GT/CS. :smile:

Casey

 

[joedls]

Thanks, ....off I go to the basement tmmrw to start the work.

Joe, are you sure they dont allow superchargers on the pinewood derby cars? I hear it helps with HP - at least on a GT/CS. :smile:

Casey

I don't know what rules you're organization has. Maybe.....

My son wanted to somehow attach an engine from one of his model rockets.