Pinewood Derby 2023

Make plans now to join Pack 1910 for the end-all-be-all of racing events -- the PINEWOOD DERBY! Pinewood Derby Kits were distributed at the December Pack meeting but if you didn't grab yours, contact Mrs. Driggers.  She still has some!  

Our Pinewood Derby will be SATURDAY, JANUARY 28.

Track set up will be Friday, January 27.  Thank you for those who are volunteering to make this happen.  This will be Mr. Ford's last race to MC so having a designated group of adults ready to jump in and learn the ropes to run it next year is paramount. 

IMPOUND THIS YEAR: Official registration will be held two different dates at Mr. Ford's home.  Please check your email for times and his address. This is where you car is tested to be sure it meets the criteria of length and width.  You want to be as close to 5 oz as possible and we have to make sure axles weren't altered, etc. 

There are all kinds of ways to enhance your car's performance. I've collected some for you here to check out.

Put the weight in the rear! Improving upon the weight distribution of the car once you've cut the body out.

Are you a physics geek that wants to know the whys behind the how? Check out this and this.

A favorite blog of mine actually summed it up quite nicely

All the speed in your Scout's car will come from POTENTIAL ENERGY being converted to KINETIC ENERGY. When the car is at the top of the track, ready to go down, it is full of potential energy, or the force of gravity pulling the car back to earth. If the track were to suddenly disappear, the car would fall to the ground, converting the potential energy to movement, or kinetic energy. 

Theoretically, the fastest the car can go is the speed at which it would be traveling as it fell right before it hit the ground. Of course, your car (or your son’s car) won’t be going that fast since it loses some of it’s kinetic energy to FRICTION and other forces. Friction losses come from the rubbing of the wheels against the side of the car, against the axles, and against the track. There is also a little bit of friction from air, called drag. Energy is also converted into rotational energy, i.e. the spinning of the wheels. 

So in essence, we want to maximize the potential energy in your car and minimize the losses due to friction and other forces. While I can’t give away all our secrets, here are a couple of tips to do just that.

Need to find a template to cut your car? Check out here or there's a ton of designs here. Want to know how to make a FAST car? See this post on Scout's Life.

Oh, and don't forget to tie into our Pinewood Derby Theme -- CUB SCOUTS! Your car's design/build should have something to do with CUB SCOUTS!  You can tie in your favorite element of Scouting, use the colors blue/gold or feature anything about your rank or favorite scouting activity!  The sky is the limit!

There is so much good information and plentiful ideas out there! Just let your fingers do the walking! You'll be overwhelmed in no time.

Building a Pinewood Derby car is a great bonding experience for parents and their scouts. We understand, too, that participation and involvement with the build will be age-appropriate. Lions and Tigers at about 20% of the work, Wolves about 40%, Bears about 60% and once they're Webelos-- we would expect them to do the majority of work on their cars. Winning is fun, but that shouldn't be what this whole experience is about.

However, if you just can't keep your hands out of the toolkit, we ARE having an OUTLAW CLASS so that YOU CAN BUILD YOUR OWN CAR! Let your Scout experience the process with your guiding hand, but the lessons gleaned from the build (win or lose) be your scout's to learn.

Along the same lines, we have a great movie called Down and Derby available for families to check out and watch together before the race. See April to check it out.