Pinewood Derby

Brandon Rice

Brandon Rice

Distributed Producer
Ok.... my little bro and sis got destroyed in the pinewood derby race they competed in tonight... Does anyone know how to make a wicked fast pinewood derby car? I want to get a jump start on next year! I want to smoke the competition!
 
Blaine said:
Is that anything like Soap Box Derby? :undecided
Click to expand...

Soap Box Derby = Small cars you ride in.

Pinewood Derby = Much smaller unmanned cars on a track. (Associated with the Cub Scouts... which are affilliated with the Boy Scouts... which are just weird...)


About the only thing they share in common is that they are gravity-assisted vehicles (no motors).

Click the link in my post above yours.
 
Hmmm... when I was a kid, Pinewood Derby races were just a Cub Scout thang... (or so I thought).

Sounds like you've found a new hobby. :) You should organize more frequent derbies and have them quarterly (or something).
 
Yeah. Make a Fast and Furious parody. Have the little girls as chicks, the little cars all pimped out, and Lots of explosions. And those huge speakers in the trunk booming out the dull and uninspired 'music' that kids call rap.
 
Already a Movie

Down and Derby

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0398971/

derby.jpg
 
I remember doing the pinewood derby when I was younger. Some dads would get really really into it and pretty much build the cars for their kids, they had their own little pinewood derby kits and stuff, sort of like a pit-crew. I always just carved mine out with a pocket knife and glued a lego guy inside.
 
I won the pinewood derby 20 some odd years ago in the cub scouts. I think the only thing I was allowed to do with my car was sand it for an hour...

That poster is funny, but doesn't it seem like the type of project Emilio Estevez seeks out?

-Jeremy
 
Brice, I won regional when I did the pinewood derby.

Thats what, local, city, district, then regional. I had teh bestest car ever.
 
I used to drill out the hood the pop in a little weight then fill it with wood putty. Sand it down...paint it. Nobody ever knew how my car ripped it down the track. Some may say cheating...I say ingenuity...
 
they have scales. your car cannot be over a certain weight.

aside from that, they make weights for the cars that you can put in. its not illegal whatsoever.
 
basic physics, man

basic physics, man

I took Pinewood Derby 3rd place overall in 1982. Still have the trophy.

Guys, pick up a DVX battery. Now pick up your DVX lens cap. Drop them at the same time. Which hit the ground first? Exacty. Mass/weight has nothing to do with it. Aerodynamics does. They will hit the ground at the same time (aside from aerodynamic interference).

Watch a short PBS documentary on this:
http://www.teachersdomain.org/6-8/sci/phys/mfw/galileoplane/index.html

1. Make your car as slick and smooth and wind resistant as possible. Make it look like a plane, not a car.
2. The shape of the front end of my car was a sliced 45 degree angle, and it just cut through the wind like mad.
3. I also greased up the wheel bearings as much as they'd allow. I also made sure the wheels would not wobble much, that causes friction and loss of top speed.
4. I centered my soldered mass so it was in the center so it wouldn't apply weight to the wheels and thus cause more friction.
5. I made my car as much into an airfoil as I could so it would have very little resistance and just glide down.

In 1982, I was 10 years old. You can do it.

:grin:
 
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Brice,

I won the pinewood EVERY time i entered. Just make your car into a perfect wedge, put all the weight in the front, then, you fill the wheels with graphite powder and put stickers over them. Scope out the logo below. Anyway, then you paint it up super smooth, varnish it, and you are gonna win bro! Actaully, in looking at this diagram, I think you need to make it even a little more wedgelike.

Untitled-1.jpg
 
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