Pinewood Derby

Jim · 03-06-2010, 06:30 PM

My daughter is a brownie, and this year they had their second annual pinewood derby race. I never expected it when she brought the kit home to build. I've never built one before, but being the drag racer that I was, I couldn't refuse the challenge.

I went online and did a bunch of research, and built her car.

The race was today. Her car ran a total of 12 heats. 6 qualifier heats, and 6 final heats. She took 1st in 5 of the 12 heats. The car crashed a couple times, bringing her average down, but in the end she took 6th place out of about 30 or so cars.

It ran in the 2.68-2.62 range which was very fast for the track at her school.

Like I said, it was the first car I built. I learned a lot today on how to make it faster, and more stable for next year.

Who wants a lane?!?!

93GT · 03-07-2010, 08:28 AM

Congrats. I only built one years ago when my son was in scouts but it won 1st in the first year building class and 4th overall. I remember their scales were way off of mine when I got there so I had to drill a bunch of holes to get some weight out(along with most everyone else). The top cars were so close everyone had to be using the exact same tips/tricks lol. Part of it I found out is getting the cars to line up as straight as possible at the starting line. Being the first time doing it my son just plopped the car down crooked which really affected it. Thankfully the guy operating the lanes helped straighten it out some a few times. I also remember my years in scouts with the pinewood derby. My cars always looked like crap and never came close to winning. Wish the internet was around back then to inform my dad and I of how to build something respectable.

Greg@GLD · 03-07-2010, 08:37 AM

Ahh...memories....

Mikey was a Cub Scout and we did the Pinewood Derby thing. Some of the dads took things a little too seriously though. Some of the cars clearly not built by the kids. One kid said matter of factly that his dad built the car.
We still have Mikey's cars around here somewhere... Those are good times. Cool post Jimmy...

93GT · 03-07-2010, 08:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greg@GLD

Ahh...memories....

Mikey was a Cub Scout and we did the Pinewood Derby thing. Some of the dads took things a little too seriously though. Some of the cars clearly not built by the kids. One kid said matter of factly that his dad built the car.
We still have Mikey's cars around here somewhere... Those are good times. Cool post Jimmy...

I thought as long as your kid holds the spray can at the end it constitutes building it.

I seriously think about 10% of the cars I saw looked like they were built by kids. I remember one that was in the shape of a guitar including strings. It even had various inlays for the frets and such. The stain job and craftsmanship were probably nicer than most professional cabinet builders.

Greg@GLD · 03-07-2010, 08:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 93GT

I thought as long as your kid holds the spray can at the end it constitutes building it.

I seriously think about 10% of the cars I saw looked like they were built by kids. I remember one that was in the shape of a guitar including strings. It even had various inlays for the frets and such. The stain job and craftsmanship were probably nicer than most professional cabinet builders.

Some of the cars at Mikey's school looked like MIT Engineers designed them...
It's supposed to be fun, and we had a lot of it, but like I said, some of the dads took it WAY too seriously.

Jim · 03-08-2010, 10:02 PM

It was a ton of fun building it. My daughter just turned 9 today so there wasn't much she could actually do on it. She did some painting and sanding, but I "prepared" the axels, and wheels. The internet had a ton of tips and tricks posted all over. I even invested in some specialty tools to help out in the future lol.

They are having a Derby for adults in Oshkosh this may at a local Resturant. I'm going to try to get Chuck to build a car too.