Pinewood Derby - a different perspective.

VERY cool!

 

I like the idea of the outlaw/dad cl***...bet you could see some creative stuff..had a buddy who worked at General Electric he was a trouble shooter for jet engines.when his son did a pinewood derby car he took it to work narrowed,turned and trued the wheels, miced and polished the axels,used somekinda deal with a laser involved to align the wheels...the car was confi****ed and they were gonna tear it apart to find out what he did...his son won and was going to some kinda next level race...he wouldnt let them mess with it ,told them did ever think somepne might just have it figured out...they all turned and looked at him like, well? he goes I aint gonna tell you...They let it stand.One of the officials told him in all his years of pinewood derbys he had never seen a car run like that one..Hate to think how much money GE had in labor on a derby car.....dave

 

Car must have been really slow on the 2nd half of the track if you had a half-track lead and still lost.....

 

Wow, thought I was the only one to use a vial of mecury for ballast. Shudder to think what the EPA would do about that nowdays.

 

My son and I ran one for the first time last month,I thought about coming on here to ask advice but didnt.
We had fun and had the most radical looking car, but didnt win by a long shot.

 

the only thing i can add to this thread.
I loaned some hand tools ,hand drill and coping saw to help a friends son's car build his first racer .. turns out he did not get the axles drilled hoizontal they were drilled so that the wheels barely touched at the inner edges .. and one axle hole was just a tick higher than the others .. so when run the car was basicly touching just the inner edge of the wheels .. and that when in motion it rode only two wheels , one front and the opposite rear..
I guess the reduced " rolling drag"helped just enough and the angled axles "camber steered?" the car going down the track straight.

.the body was just a barely carved block.. " they called it simply ugly".
by accident and odd design he won a few heats to get a placing trophy .. really pissin off some adults with all the tricks .

 

I went far one year with a car that looked like a finger painted wedge. My mom helped me install the wheels using a ****er knife as a hammer.

 

Here is my sons first car from last month. It did not win the race but he had style!

 

cool

 

the car was run in the parent division

the wooden body was basically a cylinder, the plastic tube had two low dams that contained the mercury to the rear when it hit the level. Without a baffle the slosh effect damn near stopped the car. Tried using a washer with a center hole, but never could get the flow right. Lots of trial and mostly error.

Just don't let the judges shake the car, tends to blow the plug out.

Nuts

 

you guys are reminding me of my CO2 car racing days..haha All of mine were Bonneville styled cars and I placed all 4 years of High School.....

 

(I know this is an old thread, but it caught my eye...what can I say?) FAST FRIENDS, a local non-profit I started, has "Outlaw" races at our events, and will this year run a series at local car shows, including our own. I hope we can generate enough interest with the adults and cheating-inclined youngsters to keep it going. We have two rules...the car has to fit the track and can't use anything that makes fire (no rocket motors). Things are about to get nutty...

 

I was always under the impression that the lighter the front wheels the better so when the car " steered by brail" when the front tires contacted the curb it would correct course more easily.......