Art & Inspiration Pinewood Pride

We had a dad race one year with a $10 buy in that went to the troop. We had to cut it short, I got knocked out late. There were about 8 cars entered. I still have mine... and most of my kid's cars.

 

I built these two with my boys. The black roadster won overall two years in a row. Polished axles, lotsa graphite, weight right on the money. They are now Boy Scouts, and I miss this stuff…

 

Every year the same dads showed up with cars THEY built for their kids. Of course they were grossly overweight.

The best one I saw was one kid poster-painted his car out of the box. He and the dad assembled the car on race day at the venue. The dad looked like he just got off the train from work.

No tricks, no finesse. The car went a couple of rounds then it was knocked out.

 

The year before my two sons were eligble to race we watched the races. After the races I casually inspected the track. Small retractible pins protruded up through the lanes on the starting line and I casually placed a 3x5 card against the pins and pressed an impression of the pin into the card.
Next year we showed up with two cars. One had a "wing" in the front that was just a few thou lower than the top of the pin. A tunnel was carved out down the center of the car such that when the pin retracted the car clearly started rolling before its competitors, putting a significant hole shot on them. That one made it to the finals before the winner "caught him in the lights".

The other had weight in the rear of the car, placing the CG as high as possible (still @ legal weight). That one also went rounds.

Fun times Good memories.