Jay-Dog

Nice looking Vette. My son won his local and now his car is sealed up in a box until April for district race. I wish we would have spent more time checking out these tricks prior to this. Good luck and have fun. BTW, some scout packs have separate brackets for dads.

SignMan59

are you going with the Tri Power? Dont forget the BB cars had a special hood if ya do.

firefighter

Damn you guys got alot of tricks for these pinewoods.

7T1vette

It is nice to win and that means you need to take advantage all of those [legal] speed 'tricks'. BUT.... don't lose sight of the primary reason for this Father/son/daughter activity. When the car gets prepared, let your son/daughter do ALL of the "driving". Don't over-coach them and don't get hung up on winning.

Dustup7T2

That's the right attitude and encouraging advice.

Have fun and Good Luck to those fine entries!

blk79nj

Here are the rules... Nothing about all 4 wheels must toach, it's probably hard to get them all to touch anyway. Perhaps it's a local rule.

ALL CARS MUST PASS INSPECTION TO QUALIFY FOR THE RACE

Following are the inspection points

1. The car weight shall not exceed 5.0 ounces. The official race scale shall be considered final.
2. The overall length of the car shall not exceed 7 inches.
3. The overall width of the car shall not exceed 2 ¾ inches.
4. The car must have 1 ¾” clearance between the wheels.
5. The car must have 3/8” clearance underneath the body.
6. The wood provided in the kit must be used. The block may be shaped any way that is desired.
7. The wheels supplied with the kit must be used. The wheels may not be cut, drilled, beveled or rounded. You may remove the seam from the wheels.
8. The axles supplied with the kit must be used. They may be polished or lubricated.
9. Wheel bearings, washers or bushings are prohibited.
10. The car must not ride on any type of springs.
11. The car must be freewheeling, with no starting devices.
12. No loose material of any kind, such as lead shot, may be used.

Each car must pass inspection by the official inspection committee before it will be allowed to compete. The Inspection Committee has the responsibility to disqualify those cars that do not meet these specifications.

Duke94

One other "trick" is to install a colored mylar stripe right along the bottom edge so the wheel hub will rub on it instead of the paint.....less friction.

SignMan59

Basically unless your father is an MIT graduate, you aint winnin' the derby.

I let "jr" do his own car the 1st yr. He got ran over. I was so peeved the dads obviously built the winners. The next year...me and my buddies did the business end of the car and we let "jr" paint and sand the body.

pletner

My Dad also inlaid a small magnet at the nose of my car, so that when the metal starting gate dropped, it pulled the car forward for a quicker start.

GD70

The 4 wheels touching was a big deal in the pack we were in. The pack leader would check for that. Maybe just a local rule. They would sometimes break the offending wheel-axle loose and re-hot glue it for the kid so they could race.

7T1vette

The magnet idea will get you 'busted'. Stay within the rules. The worst thing that can happen is to get disqualified at the inspection station and never get to run the car. Your kid wants to run the car...not necessarily win.

blk79nj

This was a 'soap box derby' controversy also. Somebody had an electro magnet in the tip of their car, so it would be off during inspection. They would then turn it on when the gate was against the car.

Ron R

Would it help to scuff up the tires any? I'm not sure, just wondering if anyone has tried it and what the results were. It seems sometimes those cars slide on their wheels more than they roll.

firefighter

Would a bottle rocket in the butt of the car get you disqualified? lol Or even better yet the ones they use for the model rockets.

spedaleden

I remember those days, great times and have fun. Let us know how she does.

jonfor

the vette is being built as a ringer for my 4 year old. he is not old enough to race or expected to build a car without dad's help. my scout is building an early 70's GTO (at least that's what he is calling it). his car is very two dimensional. the only thing i did on that car is help with the shaping and, of course, the axles will be worked. i left some obvious flaws and asymmetry in his car during shaping as to not look too "dad built". i'm going to make him sand it out at the next den meeting in front of everybody.

i bought a mandrel for the wheels yesterday and "trued" them up. monday at work i'll get some super fine sandpaper and finish them next week.

i'll post pictures of the vette when fnished. after the race the car will be a keeper but the template is for sale for $10K on this forum.

anyone know if instead of graphite power, i can use DGF in a spray? we have the high dollar stuff they use on the space shuttle at work.

7T1vette

Gosh, why not grind up some diamonds and use that dust as a lubricant...they're just carbon, aren't they? The Pinewood Derby (and similar events) are intended to be run on somewhat of an 'honor' system. Do whatever you feel is "fair".... {There will always be 'cheaters' and folks that stretch the rules. But, why be one of them when you can use this as a values/learning experience for your kid? If you cheat, your kid will know it...and learn from you....}

Duke94

My son lost in the first round (only took 2 minutes) and just had to sit the rest of the time. He was pretty turned off by the whole experience.

PRNDL

Go for it!!! This activity teaches simple life lessons, ie #1 Winning is much more fun than losing, #2 Rules are made to be broken #3 Don't get caught! (NASCAR #1 rule)

Some scout troups actually recognize the conflict and create a separate competition for Dads.

TheSkunkWorks

Some of you may find this stuff interesting, particularly the Vette w/in-car camera.

http://www.maximum-velocity.com/pine...imes_v6_i8.htm