Pinewood derby

[Young Ed]

We competed this past weekend. Got a 3rd place, and then scouts choice and cub masters choice awards. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Plymouthy Adams]

which one has the hemi?   gnome-mobile looks to be steam powered what with the open fire...and the one is a tribute to the Z-car

 

looks like the gang had fun.....

[Young Ed]

Z car he named Zag and it won third overall. That's Leo's and he was so happy to win finally as this is his last year in competition 

[plymouthcranbrook]

I remember those days back in the early 80’s with my son. The Cub Scout troop he was in had a track but it was mostly junk so a few of the other leaders and myself built a new one. I wonder whatever happened to it as once he went into Boy Scouts I don’t remember ever seeing it again. Fun though.

[Young Ed]

The group that runs ours has an aluminum track that breaks down into small sections. They setup at our location and then handle all the timing of the cars. 

[Dan Hiebert]

Ah, yes.  I remember doing the Pinewood Derby thing when my brother and I were Cub Scouts in Dallas...in the late '60s.  Our area had the races at the Lenore Kirk Hall elementary school's auditorium.  I remember that it was fun, and my car did not look anywhere as good as yours.  Couldn't get my son interested in Scouting, though.  Congrats on the placing!

[cheesy]

36 minutes ago, Dan Hiebert said:

Ah, yes.  I remember doing the Pinewood Derby thing when my brother and I were Cub Scouts in Dallas...in the late '60s.  Our area had the races at the Lenore Kirk Hall elementary school's auditorium.  I remember that it was fun, and my car did not look anywhere as good as yours.  Couldn't get my son interested in Scouting, though.  Congrats on the placing!

Same here, though it was in the grade school cafeteria in Wisconsin. I was already a Weblos and on my way out by the time our troop held one. As I had to look up how to spell Weblos, all I remember about my car was that it was green.

 

We had girls, so it was Brownies and cookie sales.

[Plymouthy Adams]

there was no scouting where and when I grew up....might be why I found army basic training so much fun.!

[Ulu]

When I was a Cub Scout, Dad and I built a replica of a fenderless car called The T Bug that we saw in Hot Rod magazine. The front of it looked like a Ford model-T & the back of it looked like a boat tail Bugatti.

 

I searched the Internet in years past for a photograph of this car, but I never could find one.

 

It was probably someone short-lived project car and it became, in time, something else.

[SteveR]

In the 80s I carved out the basic car for my son. He wanted it to look like a 1980 Lamborghini Countach with open wheels. He finished the sanding and then painted it black with about 7 coats of Clear Lacquer on it. This this had a very high gloss to it. He took it to the meet in a sock because it would show up finger prints on it. There were about 5 classes of trophy. Unfortunately he did not win anything but came second in 4 categories. In the best finish he lost by a flip of a coin. He was gutted. I said that you should be proud of yourself. No one else who won were in 4 categories like you were and you still have a very stunning car.

I use to love going to these events when my boys were in Cub scouts.

[RobertKB]

My son won the city-wide KUBKAR races in 1989 when he was 11. We called his car “The Silver Bullet”. Most important thing I found was to get the axles and wheels aligned and turning extremely easily. 
 

 

 

[Young Ed]

Another derby just wrapped up. Everyone in the family took home an award of some kind except me! Good thing I had a hand in all 5 builds.

 

 

 

 

 

[DonaldSmith]

Grampa got carried away on this one, a few years ago.   (Should have let the kid do it, but it was fun.)

 

 

[Young Ed]

It's very easy to get carried away. I spent a few hours making mine and most of the people there didn't get the reference.

[Merle Coggins]

Was yours the Daytona or the block of butter? 

[Young Ed]

29 minutes ago, Merle Coggins said:

Was yours the Daytona or the block of butter? 

The Daytona.

[Plymouthy Adams]

in a perfect world the Butter-bus would be the winner as it self lubricates.  If not whole butter it could not win even if by a margarine.  

[Young Ed]

The butter car actually came in third which is pretty good for just racing a block 

[Plymouthy Adams]

the flying butter brick...got to love it.....I refer to my Morris van as the Flying Brick....the little bastard with the drivetrain upgrades will do 80 MPH on the interstate and likely could do more....not that I think it appropriate....even 80 was more than I expected but the chassis upgrades allowed that speed, before the upgrades...60 was a bit hairy...this is about 20 over what most folks call flying along in one of these bricks.

[Merle Coggins]

3 hours ago, Young Ed said:

The butter car actually came in third which is pretty good for just racing a block 

 

I don't believe aerodynamics plays much of a factor in this application. 

[SteveR]

13 minutes ago, Merle Coggins said:

I don't believe aerodynamics plays much of a factor in this application.

Aerodynamics do play a part but not as much as weight distribution, wheel alignment and friction.

 

One of the cars I carved out for my son was a 1934 Ford coupe. I shortened the wheelbase. It came in last every time but he loved the car and was not bothered about his placement.

[Young Ed]

Correct weight distribution/ placement is the key. When it's just a block the weight isn't in the sweet spot. The overall winner was just a thin slice of wood with all the weight right in front of the rear wheels