Pinewood Derby Blues

[hendrickms24]

This year was my son's first PWD. We sat down and he designed the Car into a pick up truck. I cut the car out because he just did not want to. He did come up to me and ask me to add little details on the truck and I did. He picked out the color and he would have painted it if we did not run out of time. He drew some picture on the truck and then I added the wheels.

At the race I watched as his car came in last 3 times and 3rd once. I felt bad and asked him how he felt. He told me with a big grin that he won every race. I said I thought that he came in last and He said yes but still won. I will not worry about how he does in anymore PWD. I also love watching the one scout with the car straight out of the box tire up the track. There is always one every couple of years. To me its always the Adults that cause the problems.

 

Mark Maranto

 

[resqman]

Last year we ran on a home made wooden track. It had 3 lanes. We only ran the two outside lanes because of some mystical but unknown reason handed down from previous derbys. One lane ran ran faster than the other. We used a poster board and marker to build brackets and record wins and loses. We had a laser gate at the end of the track that worked ~most~ races but kept an adult at the end just in case. We had parents complain about not getting to race enough cars, not enough runs, and all the other gripes they could think of.

 

This year we bought a brand new 4 lane metal track, computer controlled timer and display with matching software. We hooked up the computer to a LCD display that showed the results on the wall of the building 15' sq. The software immediately displayed the results of each lane to the 1000th of a second along with max speed. The gate at the end of the track showed the place correctly in every race every time. Each car ran once on each of the four lanes. Each car raced a different set of 3 cars each time it ran so each car raced 12 different cars. The computer generated the heats, brackets, tracked the times, and allowed us to choose either compiled times or average times for overall winner.

 

Each and every heat was a success. Every boy and parent really enjoyed the event. I did not hear a single complaint about fairness. Every part of every race was displayed on the wall after every race. The track record time was constantly displayed and automatically updated if a new speed was set.

 

At check in the night before, the officials checked to ensure that all 4 wheels rolled, that they were BSA wheels, weight was 5 or less, and the overall length and width of the car did not exceed the max by fitting into a box.

 

After the races, we checked the car that set the track record. The wheels had been shaved. As a group we decided not to say anything about illegal entries since everyone had such a positive memory of the derby. Each year we take notes and try to make the inspection more detailed.

 

Some cars were obviously made by the boys. A few showed that Dad had been a big contributor. We had one entry that they boy started the day after last years derby. It was a beauty to behold.

 

Last year my son's car was not very fast. This year we spent about 1 hr using the BSA performance kit on the axles and wheels. The wheels were on crooked, wobbly, and out of alignment. Our weight was only 4.83. But we set the track record for Tigers, Wolfs, and Bears. Only one other car was faster in the entire pack by .002 seconds.

 

I believe that the investment the Pack made in the new track and associated equipment was worth it. While I understand that not every Pack can afford $1500 worth of new track, it seemed to solve all the complaints by showing all the results in a fair and impartial way immediately. All the cars got to race 4 times.

 

Next month we are hosting the District derby with our new equipment at the local mall. Nine Packs have signed up for the races. I look forward to seeing if positive experience holds up when we expose it to other Packs and the public eye.

 

As a Den leader, I held one meeting where all the boys in my Den chose a body shape and we cut it out. The boys had a chance to work on their wheels. For those families who do not have tools or were not particularly crafty, it gave them a good headstart. All the boys in my den submitted a car in the derby. Even had one boy join the Pack and our Den one week before the derby and enter a car. The boys in my den know that our Den members made their own cars. They watched each other make them. Interestingly there was one heat that our Den was in all 4 lanes.

 

A couple of weeks before the Pack derby, we held a parent and sibling derby. This was to give us a chance to pull it out of the box and make sure it all worked. This was also a way to let any parents who needed to over contribute a chance to build their own car to satisfy that urge. While no parents other than PWD officals did offer a car, it was an opporutity to allow parents to showoff.

 

While making a good showing this year certainly makes me an impartial judge, all the boys I and the other leaders talked with enjoyed themselves. Even more so that there were no complaints made it an enjoyable experience.

[Fuzzy Bear]

resqman,

Where did you purchase your track with all of the equipment?

FB

[GopherJudy]

We only have pack Pinewood Derby, that's in place of Pack Night & in January. All of the boys get their cars/boats as Christmas gifts at December's pack night, we have someone dress up as Santa & give them out. But we too have some parents who don't follow the rules. When Mark was a Bear one of the cars was disqualified & it was one of the boys in his den. The CM picked up the car & noticed that the wheels & axles were not legal, he used a car from Michaels & the axles are the width fo the car, not the 4 nails you get with the official car. Now our CM has 1 inspection about a week before the race & lets you know if you need to add or subtract weight from you car & if the car clears the track. The night of the race he has another inspection for weight again. Now since the one scout had the illegal axles the next year the cars were inspected even further, especially for the axles. I think it's a real shame that some parents will cheat just so their son can win, when everyone else follows the rules & the CM reminds everyone of the rules at December's Pack Night.

 

My son has to do most of the work himself. As a single mom, my husband died when Mark was 2.5 years & my daughter Lori was 5.5 months I don't have a variety of tools. My son will draw the design of the car & my brother will help him cut it out using power tools. Mark has to sand it, paint it & put whatever decals he wants on it & I help him with the wheels, they are a little tricky. I have a low-temp mini glue gun & he uses that to put a dab of glue over the axle by each wheel, we were told this was ok by the CM.

 

I understand the frustration of knowing that a car was illegal. I found out that the same boy as a Bear, now a Webelos II, his father admitted to me that he bought his sons, the younger boy is a Wolf, pre-cut cars from a craft/hobby store & just used the official wheels & axles. Now, I'm also the AWDL & the I heard the other boys in the den talking about it & I didn't know what to do. I asked one of the other parents in the den, we went out into the hallway, the race is in the school cafeteria, & she didn't really know what to do either & thought it might be better if we didn't say anything. I'm sure that you guessed it, both boys with the pre-cut car bought from some store, won 1st place in their den. The CM did his best to inspect the cars, especially the axles but how is he going to know it's a pre-cut car with official PWD axles & wheels? The car's painted & the wood doesn't show through.

 

This past January was my son's last PWD & he wasn't too happy that he didn't win a trophy. I told him that he did a great job on his car & he did most of the work himself. I think he was also made because of the other boy in his den with a store bought pre-cut car & not the official PWD car.

 

It would be a shame if a few cheating parents ruined it for the whole den & pack. I guess the inspections just have to be even stricter & more time consuming.

 

Judy

[resqman]

I sent some email to the fella in our Pack that arranged the purchase of the new track etc. This is the information he returned.

 

Here are three links to what we bought:

http://www.pinewoodderbytrack.com/ (Piantedosi 4-lane, 40 foot aluminum track, $750 + shipping)

http://www.etekgadget.com/ (SmartLine 4-lane timer, $289 + shipping)

http://grandprix-software-central.com/ (GrandPrix race management software, $60 + shipping)

 

Total cost: $1240 (this includes some incidental costs and a separate computer extension cable I bought for $20 which some people might not want/need).

 

Our Pack requires our boys to use the BSA kit and the Pack issues one to every registered boy. The pre-cut kits from hobby and craft stores are basically doing the work of the Dad. Instead of Dad cutting the wood, the supplier cuts the wood. Instead of the boy designing the car, the supplier designs the basic shape of the car. The boy/Dad still should sand, finish shape, paint, decorate and apply the axles and wheels.

 

I see the cheating occuring on two levels. The boy is cheated of time working on a common project with a parent. Secondly I see a scout who is cheating against the other scouts in the PWD. The parents are supporting this cheating and not teaching good values.

 

I personally don't worry about the shape of the body from a speed viewpoint. There is much discussion on the web that the due to the length of the track and the size of the cars, that aerodynamics plays very little if any in the speed of a car. There is plenty of andedotal stories of large,ungainly, and un-car shaped cars beating low, aeordynamically correct vehicles.

 

The PWD is just one more tool to help the parent and child have a common activity. My son and I enjoy the entire process of design, execution, and racing. It is always fun to win but it is also a life experience that not everyone can win.