My son's last and only Pinewood Derby was last year. In part, thanks to the knowledge shared here, it was a good run, and he got to race in the District and Council races where he finished well.
This year I was planning on no pinewood, but in talking to my friend I found that last year his son Ben's car barely got to the finish line and obviously didn't place well. I agreed to help with a goal of imparting a little theory and knowledge and maybe winning a few races. I told them to shape their block and hand it off to me so I can do a few operations before we got together to final assemble and lube up. They did a great job shaping (but cut the length a quarter inch short, and used the block backwards from what I would have preferred). That was the simple stuff though. I found that Ben must have been issued the heaviest block ever!
Not wanting a challenge to get the best of me, I did the best I could at making the block competitive (including some major surgery).
Result: Ben took second in his pack. (First place was my friend's son who had the fastest car at Council last year...but needed a little help from me this year...but that's a story for another time)
I also worked Ben's sister's car a little for the Family Race, where she came in 2nd. (First was my friend's daughter...same one as above).
My son is now a Boy Scout. Because he joined Cubs late (his last year of being Cub eligible), he was assigned to a Webelo's 1 den that is doing now their last Pinewood this year. So we're going back to help with the builds and run the races in a couple of weeks. One of build we're helping with might be the challenge that is even too much for us. Bryce heard us talk about Speed Theory, but decided to go his own way;
...and if that wasn't enough, I took someone's cast-off scrap, and decided to try to make a competitive car out of it.
Wish us luck and stand by for the follow up!
This year I was planning on no pinewood, but in talking to my friend I found that last year his son Ben's car barely got to the finish line and obviously didn't place well. I agreed to help with a goal of imparting a little theory and knowledge and maybe winning a few races. I told them to shape their block and hand it off to me so I can do a few operations before we got together to final assemble and lube up. They did a great job shaping (but cut the length a quarter inch short, and used the block backwards from what I would have preferred). That was the simple stuff though. I found that Ben must have been issued the heaviest block ever!
Not wanting a challenge to get the best of me, I did the best I could at making the block competitive (including some major surgery).
Result: Ben took second in his pack. (First place was my friend's son who had the fastest car at Council last year...but needed a little help from me this year...but that's a story for another time)
I also worked Ben's sister's car a little for the Family Race, where she came in 2nd. (First was my friend's daughter...same one as above).
My son is now a Boy Scout. Because he joined Cubs late (his last year of being Cub eligible), he was assigned to a Webelo's 1 den that is doing now their last Pinewood this year. So we're going back to help with the builds and run the races in a couple of weeks. One of build we're helping with might be the challenge that is even too much for us. Bryce heard us talk about Speed Theory, but decided to go his own way;
...and if that wasn't enough, I took someone's cast-off scrap, and decided to try to make a competitive car out of it.
Wish us luck and stand by for the follow up!
