COMING TO THE NPWDRL!

First off I want to thank all of you who have supported us and have helped us build and grow the largest pinewood derby league there has ever been. Your loyalty has been incredible through our ups and downs over the last few years. I am very committed to giving you the same loyalty by providing the very best racing experience possible. I pray that I will be able to keep your support and be able to provide the quality you deserve and have earned. After many conversations with Joel we both agreed that you deserve nothing less than having a permanent, 1st class venue to race in. I got out and found just that...
Here we go fellas! We have a new home for the league and business. A brand new building, 60 x 30' shop that will have a permanent track setup. We will be adding multiple cameras. I will make sure and have top notch internet so the feed will be hands down the best. I will have a 24/7 shop cam so you can tune in any time to see whats going on in the shop. There will be a retail option for you to pick up supplies locally and test and tune your cars. It will be a pinewood derby heaven. You deserve nothing but the very best.

Also we are changing a few of the race day rules to make it as fair as possible for the proxy racers.

1. Once the car is checked in there will be no wheel cleaning at any time throughout the entire event.

2. Once the cars are checked in the prestagers and the stager will place the cars on the track. The live racers can make adjustments to their cars and make sure it is staged properly. This will insure all racers are on a level playing field and there is no "over handling" the cars.

The Pinewood Performance Shop is BACK!!! Say goodbye to racing in the basement and garage! Now you will have a first class venue with everything pinewood derby at your fingertips. I am so excited to bring this back. Now is the time to start making your wish lists.
 
Congratulations John and the NPWDRL. A NEW home! This is Kaizen!

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Wow!!!!!!
That is AWESOME news!!!!
I am happy for the success of the league.
This is fantastic!!!!
 
Thanks for bending over backwards for us and going above and beyond John. This is a great move for the world of PWD.

Hopefully someday I can make it out there live and carve my name in the workbench
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Wow that is awesome news. Can't wait to see it. Will it be ready for the August race?

For the multiple camera thing. I had a thought the other day about how to do the steady cam shot that follows the cars from start to finish. I know some promotional videos have done a Go Pro on a car but for a league race you wouldn't want that on the track.

The solution I was thinking would be a simple mini zip line with a release that piggybacked on the start gate signal. Getting the speed tuned in would take some testing and getting the right angle to get the majority of cars to remain in the shot. With using incremental weights you could get it calibrated based on the different classes. Getting it from start to finish slightly faster then the track record. You could get even more fancy and have the pulley on the line motorized instead of gravity powered and have it on an analog trigger to control the speed.
 
I like Joes camera idea where a camera is mounted on a zip line and stays side by side with the car so it doesn't upset the track or airflow.
 
I like Joes camera idea where a camera is mounted on a zip line and stays side by side with the car so it doesn't upset the track or airflow. A one lane track set up parallel to the track in use could have a car with a Go-Pro mounted at a 90* angle to capture the footage. The starting systems would need to be synced.
 
ToAll The Camera Ideas Are Great But....FOr Starters A SolId Live Feed Is Going To DO Wonders As Well As The Constant Live Shop Cam...... Will We See The R&D Stuff Too?
 
Kinser Racing said:
Awesome! Congrats! Nothing more I could wish for except a nice work area of my own, with a track.

Where's it located?

South Jersey. Do you have EZ Pass for the Garden State Parkway?
 
Now this is definitely KAIZEN!!!! You guys have no idea how much better this is for all! Don't expect everything all at once. 1st things 1st, a actual home for the track not to be moved or reset up every month. While the track is great and easy to set up it's just one less job for John and us Minions. The live feed! We should now be able to control the bandwidth usage. I know he has plans for 3 cameras on the track and at least 1 in shop, remember this stuff cost a LOT of $$$$$, so some will take time. Not to mention the extra monthly cost of the building! This is money coming out of Johns pocket for all of us racers, so PLEASE continue to show your support to him and the NPWDRL! I feel like a kid at Christmas morning, this is such a good thing for us all! THANK YOU!
 
I'd be in support of a flat donation is most of the racers would agree. We take a lot for granted and John making endless parts for me just doesn't seem right to support the planned infrastructure.

Thoughts anybody?