[Judge-1969]

Anyone ever part-take in one of these? Had a great day today with my son at his Pinewood Derby with his scout troop! It was his third year participating in the Derby and his car knocked it out of the park!!! He won all 6 of his races and had the fastest car so he took first!!! Of course dad helped out a little! Don't think the other kids really appreciated or knew for that matter who the Bandit is! LOL So glad he is taking after his dad with the Pontiac love! Now he wants a real '78 TA....and so do I!!!!

[400 4spd.]

Congratulations to both of you. I'll bet he cherishes that car for a long time. In the 90's I helped my son with his entry. After he was older and was preparing to move out of our home, I learned that the derby car and blue ribbon sitting on a shelf were some of his most prized possessions.

[Hikin Mike]

I was a Boy Scout and I participated. I have two daughters, so we didn't have that....but both kids were involved in AWANA Clubs and we did do "Grand Prix" cars. I knew how to build a fast car.

[400 4spd.]

Lots of tricks to a consistently fast car. My research showed me that weight placement, camber/toe, and axle friction reduction were most critical. A cool paint job is a bonus!

[shawn e.]

Damn I miss those days! AWESOME thanks for sharing!

[goatless]

My son's last Pinewood car. We made it like the '70 T-37 we were building at the time. He did quite a bit of the shaping and painting on the details. It wasn't the fastest car of the day (though it did pretty well) but damn sure was the coolest car! Followed closely by the Bonneville wagon I made for the dads race.

[rustedgoat]

I came in 2nd place. I lost against a group of tool and die machinists that worked for the kids father. The kid didn't do a thing. I don't recall all the tricks they used, but remember the inspectors were arguing about the the nails and the wheels. My car was mostly built by me, my father helped me pour melted solder to get it up to weight and I think getting the axles in straight. Was a great time.

You and your son should watch "Down and Derby" funny movie about how the fathers take over the builds of their kids project.

Always thought it would be cool to have a derby race at one of the big car shows. Could only imagine the grey areas racer would find.

[Hikin Mike]

Originally Posted by 400 4spd.

Lots of tricks to a consistently fast car. My research showed me that weight placement, camber/toe, and axle friction reduction were most critical. A cool paint job is a bonus!

Yep. Most of the cars I made had the wheels moved towards the ends, to increase stability. I polished the axles/wheels, used graphite as a lube, weight was in the back and the car ran on 3 wheels.

[Chris65LeMans]

I was in the Cub Scouts for two years and have two Pinewood Derby champion trophies. The first year, I knocked off the guy who took 3 in a row, and the next year he was 3rd behind me with my younger brother in 2nd.

This is my son’s first year in Cub Scouts. After a dismal showing at Space Derby; now the pressure is on!

[dataway]

Wonderful lessons in physics they don't even know they are learning, but will remember for the rest of their lives.

[Judge-1969]

Originally Posted by 400 4spd.

Congratulations to both of you. I'll bet he cherishes that car for a long time. In the 90's I helped my son with his entry. After he was older and was preparing to move out of our home, I learned that the derby car and blue ribbon sitting on a shelf were some of his most prized possessions.

Thanks! That is so awesome to find out how much it meant to him! This experience had me thanking my own father for helping when first place many years ago when I was a kid. For some reason, I don't ever remember doing so. So it felt good!

[Judge-1969]

Originally Posted by 400 4spd.

Lots of tricks to a consistently fast car. My research showed me that weight placement, camber/toe, and axle friction reduction were most critical. A cool paint job is a bonus!

Agree with all of this and Mike's post too! We worked hard to acheive all those things. He was competing against about 60 other cars. It's always nerve racking though because I don't have a "real" way to test the car on a track. So what we build is what we get!

[455firebird1969]

That’s cool, thanks for sharing. Back in the sixties my Dad helped my big a brother build a winning car. All I remember about his car is he used graphite on the wheels/axles for lube. He won 1st place at the local Cub Scout indoor event. They also built a bigger race car that my brother drove, but I forget the name of that series? It was the same as the little cars, in that the cars simply drifted down a hill and the first across the finish line was the winner. I’m pretty sure it was a scouting event, but I’m not sure, that was a long time ago.

[Steve C.]

Great job, love the bird on the hood.

Not an advocate of this, just a tid bit.....

Five tips for fastest pinewood derby - CHEATS:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJw4DTcWwrg



.

[Verdoro 68]

Congrats! I had so much fun building our cars with my son. It's a great lesson in craftsmanship, physics and sweating the details. We rolled it into his science project for the first year and built a test track in the backyard. For the two years he was in Cub Scouts we took home the win. He was so proud, he brought his car and trophy to school for show and tell

I ran the blue/white one in the middle pic in the dad's race and took home the win too

We definitely spent a good bit of time optimizing our cars with all the tricks. Canted axles, lightened wheels, polished axles, shaved hubs, ran the wheels/axles in on the Dremel, set it up to run on 3 wheels, tungsten weights, etc. Gotta admit, I was just as nervous as my son the first time they went down the track!

[shawn e.]

I would bring my refrigerant scale home and dial in the weight! I never trusted someone else "Adjusting the weight"!

[OCMDGTO]

I had a great time with this as a kid. I remember my first one Dad helped me with, it wouldn't even go all the way down the track and was probably the slowest before we found out about the graphite deal. It had a monkey with a football helmet driving it and I ended up getting a trophy for funniest car so not a total loss. Years later as a teen I made one for my little brother and it was one of the top cars, surprisingly.

[marxjunk]

my Dad supervised mine between Falstaffs, in 1970, it looked like a sprint car and was ugly, but we won..and it was awesome...there where kids there with sleek cars, that where hollowed and had lead in the front etc...their dads where engineers and the such...

i had the uggliest green turd there...and it wipped the whole field...it was supposed to be for the kids, but Dads where all over it back then..the onlu thing my Dad helped me with was sanding the axles smooth and opening up the wheels, and taking burrs off..and he made me do it..

[Stuart]

I still have my cars from 1966 / 1967 sitting on the shelf above my desk. I do get disgusted at the number of dads who do 90% of the work for their kids, although I understand that some troops have started a separate class for dads only to minimize it which is a good idea.

[hurryinhoosier62]

I helped my nephew build his Pinewood Derby car in 1988. It utilized an amazing amount of aviation technology....