Little wooden cars

Spent the past week working with my son on his Pine Wood Derby car.

He did even more this year on it. First year he won the first 2 heats but then one of his wheels popped off when it was trapped at the end and ended up coming in near the bottom of the Tigers

Last year we made some improvements to the design, he did a lot of the work on it with sanding, painting, putting decals on, waxing it, and polishing it and he came in 3rd out of the Wolves and won Best Car in Show

This year he did work with the power tools, sanded, painted without help, put on decals, helped with deburring the axels, picked out his wheels based on roundness and smoothness, and really did a great job. His car came in 1st in Bears and again won Best Car in Show.

Went to Pack Finals and lost to a 5th Grader (WebII) who if he touched the car during the building of it then he's a savant with tools Anyway, we had a great time. I did all the Pit and Starting work for the Pack and the Cubmaster did all the computer and announcing. We spent from 4 to 10 Friday setting up and from 10 to 5 yesterday running little wooden cars down a 3 lane wooden track to speeds of 194.8mph!

Great days man!

Stuff like that you remember for ever!

THat's awesome! Congrats to your son on his prizes!

Excellent Doc ! Congratulations to you both and I'm glad you guys
had fun !!! By the way Doc..It sounds like when it comes to wooden
derby cars..You are both..Dedicated to Perfection !

I still remember my last Pinewood derby car as a scout....blue mettalic paint, white spokes, red #5 decals....the older I get the faster it went!! Great times today Doc.....and keep the memories forever. Congrats on the awards! I did win best looking car trophy...not fastest though.

Thanks guys. Cub Scouts is different now - 5 years not 3. When I was in it was Wolves (2nd), Bears (3rd) and Webelos (4th). Now its Tigers (1st) with Webelos II (5th) added. So, my son will have 2 more years to perfect his car and his tool technique. Nicest part was when he told me that Pine Wood Derby is his 2nd favorite day of the year, right after Christmas, because we get to spend so much time together.

Congratz to your son Robert! I miss the days when I had those special times with my sons! Now they're grown men and off on their own...31 and 29!!! UGH!!!!!!!!!!!! Enjoy all the time you can with him. Before you know it he'll be out on his own!

bodypeersur1 wrote:

Congratz to your son Robert! I miss the days when I had those special times with my sons! Now they're grown men and off on their own...31 and 29!!! UGH!!!!!!!!!!!! Enjoy all the time you can with him. Before you know it he'll be out on his own!

Know what you mean. Time is flashing by already.

Way to go Doc and son!! 198 mph are you serious. Man those little cars are moving!!

Dale wrote:

Way to go Doc and son!! 198 mph are you serious. Man those little cars are moving!!

194.8mph was our record for the day Yes, they move down the track and its all gravity. 5oz limit on the cars, no wet lubricants, have to use stock wheels, wooden block, and axles. Of course you can polish the axles, true the wheels, cut the block and shift the weight to the rear, etc.

Last year we shifted so much weight to the read that when my son's car got to max speed about 1/2 way down the track it would pop a wheelie Then it would drift back to 2nd place. We corrected that this year by moving one of the .5oz weights over the front axle. Seems to have done the trick

Docrwm wrote:

Dale wrote:

Way to go Doc and son!! 198 mph are you serious. Man those little cars are moving!!

194.8mph was our record for the day Yes, they move down the track and its all gravity. 5oz limit on the cars, no wet lubricants, have to use stock wheels, wooden block, and axles. Of course you can polish the axles, true the wheels, cut the block and shift the weight to the rear, etc.

Last year we shifted so much weight to the read that when my son's car got to max speed about 1/2 way down the track it would pop a wheelie Then it would drift back to 2nd place. We corrected that this year by moving one of the .5oz weights over the front axle. Seems to have done the trick

I remember those days. No wet lube. We had those little tubes of graphite powder. Cherish the days Robert with your son. They don't last.

Docrwm wrote:

Spent the past week working with my son on his Pine Wood Derby car.

He did even more this year on it. First year he won the first 2 heats but then one of his wheels popped off when it was trapped at the end and ended up coming in near the bottom of the Tigers

Last year we made some improvements to the design, he did a lot of the work on it with sanding, painting, putting decals on, waxing it, and polishing it and he came in 3rd out of the Wolves and won Best Car in Show

This year he did work with the power tools, sanded, painted without help, put on decals, helped with deburring the axels, picked out his wheels based on roundness and smoothness, and really did a great job. His car came in 1st in Bears and again won Best Car in Show.

Went to Pack Finals and lost to a 5th Grader (WebII) who if he touched the car during the building of it then he's a savant with tools Anyway, we had a great time. I did all the Pit and Starting work for the Pack and the Cubmaster did all the computer and announcing. We spent from 4 to 10 Friday setting up and from 10 to 5 yesterday running little wooden cars down a 3 lane wooden track to speeds of 194.8mph!

Cool.

Very cool, we used to build them just to crash them.

Thanks for sharing that story. I bet it was a blast.

great times with your son working on them and having fun! Perfect

Docrwm wrote:

Dale wrote:

Way to go Doc and son!! 198 mph are you serious. Man those little cars are moving!!

194.8mph was our record for the day Yes, they move down the track and its all gravity. 5oz limit on the cars, no wet lubricants, have to use stock wheels, wooden block, and axles. Of course you can polish the axles, true the wheels, cut the block and shift the weight to the rear, etc.

Last year we shifted so much weight to the read that when my son's car got to max speed about 1/2 way down the track it would pop a wheelie Then it would drift back to 2nd place. We corrected that this year by moving one of the .5oz weights over the front axle. Seems to have done the trick

Great story!! Just a tip...put some graphite on the nails that hold the wheels on the car...this will remove friction, increase the rate the car picks up speed and will allow a higher top end for speed.

You may have already done this, but I thought that I would mention it.

andrema wrote:

Docrwm wrote:

Dale wrote:

Way to go Doc and son!! 198 mph are you serious. Man those little cars are moving!!

194.8mph was our record for the day Yes, they move down the track and its all gravity. 5oz limit on the cars, no wet lubricants, have to use stock wheels, wooden block, and axles. Of course you can polish the axles, true the wheels, cut the block and shift the weight to the rear, etc.

Last year we shifted so much weight to the read that when my son's car got to max speed about 1/2 way down the track it would pop a wheelie Then it would drift back to 2nd place. We corrected that this year by moving one of the .5oz weights over the front axle. Seems to have done the trick

Great story!! Just a tip...put some graphite on the nails that hold the wheels on the car...this will remove friction, increase the rate the car picks up speed and will allow a higher top end for speed.

You may have already done this, but I thought that I would mention it.

Thanks, we use graphite but then we also use the stock pieces per our Pack's rules. The cars that won, well...lets say that if I had a computer controlled lathe I MIGHT be able to produce cars that are as nice - maybe.