Pine wood derby

My wife and I have built several cars for pine wood derby racing with much success, (several 1st place trophies for design and speed), with our 2 daughter's that were involved in Awanas church groups.

There are alot of sites with design and speed tips to be found by doing a google search. One thing we have found is you can never go wrong with a design theme that is patriotic. Our daughters have each won 1st place with the patriotic theme.

The key for speed, is to build the car to weigh as close as possible or right at 5 oz. I melted down lead wheel weights and drilled holes in the bottom center of the car, then poured the melted weight into the holes. Rounding the edges of the plastic wheels with sand paper will create less drag also. Try to put one of the front wheel axles into the groove deeper than the other so it will not touch the track, which is another trick for less drag. And most important, use a generous amount of powdered graphite lubricant on the axles.

Be creative and have fun.

Bill