5 Tips to Building the Fastest Pinewood Derby Car Boy Scouts of America
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If the official scale weighs you in at 5.1 oz, simply remove a small amount of putty to bring it back to 5.0 oz. For best speed results, get your car as close to that weight as possible. B) So the wheels will run as freely as possible, place each axle in a hand-drill chuck to hold it steady, then smooth the burrs with a fine emery cloth or file. Please use one of these supported browsers to improve your experience.
About 40 racers rolled 57 handmade pinewood derby cars down a 48-foot aluminum track in Northbrook - Chicago Tribune
About 40 racers rolled 57 handmade pinewood derby cars down a 48-foot aluminum track in Northbrook.
Posted: Mon, 19 Feb 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Use Axle Guards
100 Eden Prairie Cub Scouts put their cars to the test in Pinewood Derby - Eden Prairie Local News
100 Eden Prairie Cub Scouts put their cars to the test in Pinewood Derby.
Posted: Mon, 05 Feb 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]
When designing your car, it's essential to remember that friction is not your friend. Too much friction slows the car as gravity helps it race down the track. To reduce friction and ensure an ultra-fast car, lubricate the metal axles. However, ensure you follow the rules so your Scout isn't disqualified! The Pinewood Derby High-Speed Graphite is an odor-free, extra-fine dry powdered lubricant.
Project step-by-step (
The key is to remove some material from the sidewall and tread. By lightening the outside edge of the wheel it is able to spin up to speed quicker when the car starts rolling down the track. This plan shows you how to make a miniature skateboard car from a block of pine wood.
Tips to Building the Fastest Pinewood Derby Car
Our PRO tools will save you time building your car while helping make your car faster. The PRO Driller, featured here, is just one of our many PRO Tools. Our Award Winning Car Design Plans include everything you need to cut that car out of your block. Each plan includes design templates and shows every cut with 3D images so you can't make a mistake. Axles often arrive with slight imperfections, bumps, and grooves that should be smoothed out.
Winning Tips and Hints
Before the race begins, it’s crucial we make meticulous preparations. By paying attention to the finer details, we greatly increase our chances of having the fastest Pinewood Derby car at the starting pin. The annual Pinewood Derby is just one of the engaging activities that Cub Scouts participate throughout the year. Cub Scouts take a break during the summer, however, the Boy Scouts of America hosts a number of Cub Scout Day Camps which include nature, sports, aquatics, and crafts.
A) Check each axle for any burrs on the underside of the head. D) Do not forget to leave a place for weight if you need it. Weight may be placed anywhere as long as it is not taped on and does not exceed the official specifications. Your personal data will be used to support your experience throughout this website, to manage access to your account, and for other purposes described in our privacy policy. We are no longer supporting IE (Internet Explorer) as we strive to provide site experiences for browsers that support new web standards and security practices.
Metal / Plastic Tracks
Weight is one thing that is not included in your car kit. You can get creative and add just about anything you want for weight. These leave a lot of leeway in what can be done to a car—or so I thought. Before you start on a Pinewood Derby Car with your child, check to see if their Scout Pack has any additional rules. I discovered our pack’s rules are several pages long.
Winning Pinewood Derby Secrets tells you ALL the secrets you need to build a fast, winning car. The PRO Driller allows you to re-drill the axle slots, drill new axle holes, or drill axle holes to make an extended wheelbase. When your wheel rubs against the axle head it can cause the wheel to wobble because the corner of the axle head is not a perfect 90 degrees. Cutting a groove directly under the axle head removes this source of wheel wobble, but it is difficult to do by hand. Consider our Grooved Speed Axles that have a groove cut directly under the axle head.
Step 3: Polish and Bend Axles
The next step is normally bending the axles up, to 2.5 degrees which gives the wheels negative camber. This causes them to tilt toward the body at the top, so that the wheel migrates to the end of the axle, away from the car. There is less friction when the wheel spins against the nail head than when it bounces back and forth between the head and the body. If you chose to do this modification, this handy tool will help bend axles perfectly, every time. Our pack rules prohibit bent axles, but there is still a way to angle straight axles up, at 2.5 degrees, which is what we did. As there is nothing wrong with league racing, the once-a-year builder does not understand all the build techniques nor do they know the terminology used for racing.
As a young girl, my father and I would spend several weeks transforming a block of pine into a sleek racing car. Our school hosted a pinewood derby each Spring and it still remains one of the most memorable things my father and I did together during my childhood. He always got very passionate about our cars, tinkering with designs and strategizing over where to place the weights for speed. In December, my son’s Cub Scout pack announced that their Pinewood Derby race would be scheduled in February. So, it was time to start planning our car—I say our car, because it is expected to be a collaborative project between a parent and their scout. During the process we discussed various options, and priorities, but I left the final decisions up to him.
Fortunately, I found a YouTube video by Mark Rober, which does exactly that. If you are unfamiliar with Mark, he’s a former NASA engineer responsible for the Glitter Bomb vs. Porch Pirates videos. These modifications are all allowed within the Scouts official rules.
Here’s a list of some useful safety guidelines found on the Scout Shop website. B) Slide the axles and wheels onto the car and glue into place. Use an epoxy or non-resin glue, making sure to not get any on the surface of the axle where the wheel rides. Brainstorm with your adult mentor to come up with a design that's a fun challenge, but not too difficult to build. Now that you know how to setup your car, watch this video on how to build the car using current tools on the market along with proper tuning techniques as discussed above.
Remember, every little bit of weight in the right place makes a difference! Our PRO Graphite, with molybdenum disulfide, has helped people win races for over 15 years. Our Track Tests show an average speed increase of 17%. Our non-hardening Tungsten Putty is ideal for getting your car up to the maximum 5.0 oz limit. Drill a hole in the bottom of your car and insert Tungsten Putty as the last step to bring your car to 5.0 oz.
Not all Pinewood Derbies are the same, so make sure to check with your local Scout District/Council rules to see if anything is different. Correct lubrication can make a significant difference in the speed and smoothness of our car’s run. When sanding your car block, sand in the same direction of the wood grain for a smoother finish. Taper the front of your Pinewood Derby car up slightly. This will prevent the front of the car from scraping the track when the car moves from the ramp to the horizontal section of the track.
If you are like most, you’ve read so much information on the internet about how to build a winning pinewood derby car. If you are not building them every week of the year, a lot of the advice & tooling needed to make these builds aren’t items that most folks have in their toolbox. I will do my best to give you the proper advice on how to build the best pinewood derby car for your race based on your pack’s track. This is a combination of personal experience and evidence-based data presented over years of pinewood derby racing enthusiasts. As Cub Scouts, it is thrilling to watch our gravity-powered vehicles 🚗 zoom down the track. Our car designs are more than just eye-catching; they are meticulously crafted engineering feats.
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