Pinewood Derby
 

Anyone else building cars right now? My son is 6 and this is first car. He picked the design and helped me paint it. We race tomorrow.

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...o/43ebd143.jpg

Remember, all the weight in the front!

Chuck them wheels up in a drill n smooth em with a super fine grip sand paper

You actually want the weight in the rear. All the weight is in front of the rear axle. We did a test run at the weigh in tonight, its pretty fast and beat the other cars on the track.

Did that already pox, polished wheels and axles. I also set the right front wheel up 1/16 higher, it doesnt touch the track. 3 wheels on the track is faster

Man, the memories!

Really? All of the cars that hauled azz had the weight up front, but also was a completely different design.

I wish i would of extended the wheelbase. It should do ok though

Gonna have to check that bad boy out tomorrow.

Davey, they start at 930Am

We put a little baby powder on the axles before the race and had it down to the gram when we weighed it. Trial and error was the only way we figured out the best weight placement. My nephew had built a Hummer, looked cool. Good luck

It weighed in at 4.96 oz. Ive been putting graphite powder on the wheels and axles It makes a difference. Adding weight all depends on where the pivot point is on the car

We had a nice paint job and ended up gluing nails on the roof of it. That was his "guns" on top of his Hummer. We didn't have any graphite powder and it was last minute for us and we used baby powder, maybe not as effective but it did help.

That boy has one hell of a pit crew!

Lol, thanks Lucas! Maybe i can give you some pointers when its time to build Wyatt's

I've still got mine from when I was a kid. Dad carved it all out and painted it for me. Sucker still shiny today! Good ol Centari by Dupont!

wish I still had mine. Cant wait for my boys to be able to do the same.

I still have all of mine. My grandpa helped me build them all.... Great memories

I built a pinewood race cars back when I was involved with the cub scouts. We (I) had an Adult catagory and a few Dad's built cars. I designed mine in a cigar shape and put a little more paint on it to get the max. weight just right after filling it up with some lead.

Graphite makes a big difference. Running on 3 wheels.....????? that is knew to me, but makes sence.

I even built a "4 car" race track for our Pack to use.

Thats some old memories for me right there and my two boys will be at that age in about 2 years so I am sure it will be good times again.

still have my sons in his case in room 3 time nuber 1 ours was longer and sleeker ended up with a penny cut a little off and super glued to hood looked funny but she was fast.and i helped 3 or 4 kids with theirs right before the race.their dads was offshore or at work.and belive it or not i put the grafite on their tires just like my sons this was one of the best times of my life.will be doing in 2 years with grandson

Mine wasn't pretty to.look at, but boy was it fast!!! Chiseled out a bit of wood underneath and screwed in some brass......graphite wheels, and all the extra weight makes all the difference!!

Looks like we did something right! 1st place Tiger Division and 1st place Overall

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...o/0cb7a8da.jpg

Heck yeah outcast!

good job dad and way to go cub scout!!!

pinewood derby
 

Congratulations on the race , We never did well with the races so we went for unusual . The elcamino is the project car now.

I had a 1980 "Sissy Truck" when I first started driving, it was about 5 diff colors but that sucker would run.... had a IROC-Z engine in it:D

Congrats on the win!


Lifelong fan of the Super Bowl 44 Champions New Orleans Saints!!!!!

3 yrs 3 1st places. The yellow one was the fastest. Son dropped it and broke the rear spoiler and blower off. He worked 2 weeks on it with a dremel. Found a web site for all the tricks but cant remember the name. The under carriage is hollowed out to fit the weights. We distributed the weight even from front to rear to balance the car. This gives it a sling shot effect when the track levels out. Also set the axils so the wheels wobble slightly to prevent toe in and help with wheel alignment. Slightly bore the hubs so only the top wheel hub touches the axil. Sand the wheels as smooth as possible. Remember ground clearance,weight, balance, drag, and aligment is the key to win.

How old is your son ? Those cars look like some that beat ours at the cub -dad weekends.

He was 8 or 9 then and is 17 now. We were with OLQH.

My son is 16 now . Did you'll go to the cub-dad weekends @ The Boy scout camp near Dequincy ?

It was cub dad at Edge Wood.

Yeeep !!!! You'll probably are some that beat us. Really fun weekends.
My oldest son ( 23 now ) caught his first fish there.

Yea all the dads in our troop was laughing at me when I showed up with 3 wheel barrow loads of gear. That stopped when they were all huddled under the porch of the tent eating trail boss poboys made of deer and elk sausage & drinking bud light out of styro cups...lol

Yes we hammered the bream that weekend. LOL we probibly hung out cuz I remember a few dads fishing with us around the bridge and over flow areas. We just about fished the entire bank of the lake that last day. We were one of the last to leave. Hey have to go we are going to try the river south of ward 8 today for some fish.

Sometimes I think whoever laid out the trails must of had a few bud lights. Sure do a lot of walking to cover very little ground.

Go to hobby lobby & buy their wheels. Built 3 cars two years in a row 6 total. Won 1st,2nd & 3rd place both years.

Brings back memories. In 1978 I was in cub scouts in Baton Rouge and my dad along with his friend got the task of rebuilding the track. My dad was real good at electronics and made the speakers to make the room room engine noise and built the finish line light.
As far as my car it did ok but again that was in 1970's when we still had pine box derby where you built your own car with wheels, steering, and someone pushed you down a hill.

Over on the West side of City Park? Been there... Did that.