Your worst Pinewood Derby build

[Halo Blu]

Back in the 70's, "Jacked-Up"/Lifted rear-end cars were "COOL".
My Brother's 1970 Mustang was "JACKED-UP" with the rear bumper being at least 3' from the pavement.
So... in my Pinewood Derby/ Cub Scout logic... I thought- A higher bumper-Made it FASTER! Boy! Was I Wrong!!!
I used popsicle sticks to "JACK IT UP", and everytime it LOST the race, it would stop-- And then FLIP over the pillow at the bottom, and break into a million pieces! (as it flew across the waxed tile floor, and slammed into the concrete block wall!)
That's my worst- What's Yours???

 

[DerbyDetermination]

Last year's car for my son's pack race. I had planned the car meticulously. Nothing too risky, 1/4" thick ladder body with wood laminate covering, 1" COG, axles polished properly, bores polished, wheels sanded and magic erasered, alignment checked and rechecked.

I had given my son plenty of time to work on everything, but missed a few work sessions in the last week before the race, so the night before I had to rush to put the wood laminate cover on it. Everything was going great up to that point. I just had to glue on the cover and clear coat the car.

I put the car in a toaster oven on very low heat in an attempt to cure the wood glue faster. Warped the whole car very slightly, invisible to the naked eye. It threw the alignment off, couldn't get all four wheels to touch.

Eight heats with four cars each. Third place in two heats. Fourth place in six heats. My son was very disappointed.

The winner last year ran 3.08 +/- 0.01 in every single heat.

I am determined that we are going to build a fast car this year, and hope to beat that number by a solid margin. That is where my screen name comes from.

 

[The Iceman]

I was lucky my first debut in cub scouts but testing is another story. I've flipped my son's car before in the stop section. (I had a line of weights too low and caught) I've dropped weights going down the track many times. I built a car running intimid8rs and was so hollowed out that the microvibrations were so loud it would scare you! lol

When I started doing 45 degree cars I made it so narrow it would fall off the track every time even with a pin! (had to add 3 washers to the raised wheel) So now when I first test run my 45 degree cars I pile up a bunch of blankets at the end of the stop section! /images/boards/smilies/smile.gif

 

[Vitamin K]

My son's car was a disappointment last year. Set it up as a rail rid- (oops, runner) with about 1" COM. However, time got scrunched up ahead of race day, and tuning was put off until last minute. A few hours before check-in, I was testing the drift and the roll of the car just didn't feel right. I couldn't put my finger on it, but something wasn't as smooth as it should have been.

When race day came along, his car placed 2nd in his den. Meanwhile, my car that I'd built to the same specs for the open division set the all-time track record.

Do not short yourself time on testing, people. You'll pay for it. /images/boards/smilies/smile.gif

 

[B_Regal Racing]

Just look at my avatar. Need I say more?