Congratulations Wookie!!

[ladeback]

Congratulations go out to forum member Wookie. His son was the 2013 Aloha Council Pinewood Derby Champion. District and council races were held today and his car was wicked fast. I'm sure a combination of DD4H products and the knowledge freely shared here helped in their victory.

 

[DerbyDad4Hire]

Awesome! Miss having you here at our races Ladeback. Hope you are doing well.

 

[Papa V Racing]

CONGRATS WOOKIE & SON!!! ALOHA!!!!!

It is cool to hear about your son's win.. We Love pictures if you can ... We are all about Hearing about the moment... Especially when it comes to our kids being involved....

V

 

[Kinser Racing]

Congratulations!

 

[ChrisF]

I think I was there...it was an interesting Final.

 

[ChrisF]

...two more pictures. Final race of the day. Blue car won. Great day...great fun...congratulations to all the racers!

 

[ladeback]

Thanks for the pictures. "Interesting" is a very good way to put it. The races were held outdoors this year due to some renovations to the pavillion where the races are normally held. The elements, combined with an uneven downhill sidewalk, contributed to inconsistent and "interesting" run times. The green car on the far left in the first set of pictures is Wookie's son's car. The blue car was fast and consistent all day. They won the district race and Wookie and his son took second, but the Wookies were able to get the "W" in the council race with the blue car taking second. I invited the father of the blue car to race with the best in NPWDRL. He seemed interested. Since I didn't have any son's in scouts this year, my better half kindly suggested that I take a break from any and all pinewood derby related activities. Being able to go the the races was a treat. I also snuck in some live viewing of the league races before I left for our council races. I was blown away by the speed of the cars yesterday. The commentary by Mr. Chips was also very entertaining. Hopefully I get the go ahead to enter more league races soon. Happy wife happy life.

 

[ladeback]

double post

 

[ChrisF]

The folks that ran the race did a great job under difficult conditions. Keith who set up the track, had to allow for a little downhill on what ordinarily would have been the flat section. That allowed for times in the 2.85 range. But I have to wonder how not one, but all three cars in a single heat (some of which were not doing 2.8 earlier) ran in the 2.7's? I think the timer glitch that delayed the start of the Final also provided for an anomalous run. The joys of outdoor racing with tons of extraneous light. That blue car was undefeated in head to head racing throughout the Makahiki. The tan car only lost the final race vs blue.

Best wishes and good luck getting the "pass" to play some more. In the final analysis, my son says he enjoyed the working together most of all. The racing was just gravy.

 

[ChrisF]

...for me this was the race of the day: (video screen cap with apologies for the pixellated zoom insets).

 

[ladeback]

I agree. I talked to Keith about the setup. He did the best he could under the circumstances. The 2.7 times were one of the "interesting" things I was talking about. The other thing I thought intersting was Keith's outlaw car. With the faster scout cars hitting the 2.81-2.85 times, his outlaw was in the 2.82-2.84 range. The blue cars cumulative time for the Kapiolani district race was lower than Keith's outlaw cumulative time. I expected it to be in the 2.7 range. Many thanks go out to him and all the volunteers of Pack/Troop 42 for hosting this event every year and letting us use their equipment. I'm glad there are more people from Hawaii on this forum now. I just noticed W&K Creations is also from Hawaii.

 

[GravityX]

Congratulations! Nice finish line photos.

 

[ladeback]

Congratulations are also in order for forum member ChrisF. His son took first in their district and third place in the council race. His car is the one with the stealth paint job on the far right of the last set of pictures. Their car was also really fast and consistent. He tried to be stealthy about their accomplishments too, but Im gonna put him on blast. Great job!!

 

[Papa V Racing]

Congrats ChrisF & Son--

Right on ...You all have some pretty Sweet cars and to race outdoors and be able to finish up ... the race with good weather even though you fought the leaves... Looks like a really good group of boys you all have there...

That is cool ... Again Congrats to all .....

V

 

[Chief]

Wat to adapt to the situation of the track! Sounds like everyone had fun! Congrats!!!

 

[ChrisF]

Nice finish line photos.

It's amazing what an iPhone can do these days!

Since ladeback has put a bit of spotlight on me, I need to tell a little about our team but first have to thank the good folk here (especially John H) who so generously share their methods and experiences. This will be my son's first and only Pinewood Derby since he moves up next year. When I have time later, I'll share a bit of his story and Pinewood journey (I feel like it was 5 years crammed into 1). BTW, that "stealth" paint job...well, that's actually a "no" paint job, because we were working on tweaks and testing cars until the night before and didn't have time to lay down even a primer coat (we ended up going with the more stable car in anticipation of the outdoor conditions). The sharpie sponsor tags were my son's idea.

...back to the race conditions:
Here's a photo of Keith N setting up the track at 7am. If you look carefully, you might see some blue stuff between the cars in the background... That's Ala Moana Beach. So while leaves on the track might not have been too much of an issue, there was definitely the specter of sand on the track. Keith and his crew did a great job wiping down the track between races as the fast times show.

 

[Ninjakat]

Hi Everyone!

New guy here. Thank you to ChrisF for letting me know about this site. Looks like there is a lot of good information here. Wish we had found out about it earlier.

I was there at the Makahiki races with my son and had a great time. Was also nice meeting ChrisF and ladeback There were some very exciting races! Great job by Keith and his Pack having to overcome some difficult conditions.

 

[Papa V Racing]

Great to have you both here .. ALOHA !!!!

Hope to see you folks move into League racing with us someday... You have found a tight group of racers and a Leader who is building something way cool...

PS... That blue I saw makes me Home Sick ... Miss the Islands and the Water Missouri has lakes nothing like Hawaii Oceans and Beaches......

/images/boards/smilies/wave.gif/images/boards/smilies/wave.gif/images/boards/smilies/wave.gif/images/boards/smilies/wave.gif/images/boards/smilies/wave.gif/images/boards/smilies/wave.gif/images/boards/smilies/wave.gif/images/boards/smilies/wave.gif/images/boards/smilies/wave.gif/images/boards/smilies/wave.gif/images/boards/smilies/wave.gif

 

[DEW36]

Welcome to the forum!

Hi Everyone!

New guy here. Thank you to ChrisF for letting me know about this site. Looks like there is a lot of good information here. Wish we had found out about it earlier.

I was there at the Makahiki races with my son and had a great time. Was also nice meeting ChrisF and ladeback There were some very exciting races! Great job by Keith and his Pack having to overcome some difficult conditions.