- Nov 24, 2011
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This is a must read, by the Pinewood Derby king!
DerbyDad4Hire said:How to easily win a cub scout district race:
Hope this helps.
- Drill your holes using the Silver Bullet, Block or whatever similar jig you have created. Drill the front straight and the rears with the supplied cant pin or 3 degrees. It is very important here to use the right drill bits. The jobber carbides I sell are worth EVERY penny and are a must have. Contrary to opinion, you don't have to have a perfect drill press. I won every race I entered using cars drilled with the cheapest Harbor Freight press. If the press is not square then all the wheels will be drilled crooked but AT THE SAME crooked angle. Of course this does not mean you don't want it fairly close. The MAIN THING is that the table is FLAT and you have set up a consistent fence system. Make sure your drill job is good before you do ANYTHING else. NEVER BEND YOUR REAR AXLES unless you have no other way to fix a bad drill job. At this point you can cut slots into your drilled holes if slots are required.
- Thin to win! But not too thin. Don't waste your time trying to hog all the weight out of the front. Keep the car around 5/8" thick and you will be fine. Put about 1.8oz of weight behind the rear axles and the rest right in front. NEVER cut out the sections of wood between your axle holes and do not cut all the way through your car.
- Use quality wheels and axles. Your axles should press snug into the car without a lot of force. You don't want to have to glue them in. Make sure you prep your wheels and axles using proven methods. Please realize that there is way more bad information out there than good and stick with the proven products that are used at the highest level of racing (NPWDRL). You can get them from me or whatever knock off you choose. You can still win with the right prep on the stock wheels and axles with a bit of work. This is hands down the best forum to get the proper information. Yes I do support it but there is no ban of talk of other products unlike every other board. This is as unbiased of a board that you will find. If you want to know how to run with the fastest then you need to talk to, race with, and join in with the fastest. If you are reading this then you have already taken care of this step.
- I am shocked to hear anyone complain that a car would look clean and complain that there was no graphite. If the rules say dry lube only then i will run my oil process every time. It appears dry at race time and meets the wording of the rules. The only reason people fight the oil is because they are unwilling to learn how to do it and they want to slow the rest down. This might be the DUMBEST pinewood derby rule made from receiving bad information.
- Narrow the front dominant side of your car about 1/16". The biggest issue with scouts cars is that they drag the rear wheels the entire way down the track.
- Make you car a Rail RUNNER, not a rail rider. Rail riding is the irresponsible advice of bending rear axles. There is not 1 competitive pro that uses rail riding and if someone claims to I will call shenanigans until proven. Rail running is bending your dominant axle and spending minutes tuning the car. The dominant axle will sit in a positive cant position and the rears will be negative. Slight adjustments to the front axle will make your car steer. To be safe make it turn towards the non dominant side at a rate of 3" over 4'. Rail running will allow you to take your car apart for a cleaning and reprep without worrying about getting it back together with relative ease.
- Make sure the gap between your body and wheels is around 1/32". A massive common mistake is a huge gap and every tool sold does not give the gap you need. You can easily eyeball this. Just enough gap for the wheel to turn freely. Too much slop = a sloppy car.
- Make sure and build your car to meet your rules. Understand them before you start.
- Never Hammer your axles!
- Never force the axles in so that you have to get a hernia trying to remove the wheel. Relax the holes until there is a nice fit.
- Cover all holes in the car with tape.
- DON'T MAKE IT HARDER THAN IT IS! Follow simple instructions, use the right parts and you are golden.
- If you do lose then congratulate the winner. Avoid being a poor loser and accusing of cheating. It does no good even if you are right. The fact is that the cheating in cub scout races makes NASCAR look like nursery school. Enjoy the race and follow these tips and it will take a large amount of cheating or a very good racer to beat you.
