Pinewood Derby Photos
The Track
As you can see in this picture, the track drops about 4 feet, then has perhaps 30 feet of flat run to the finish line.
The finish automatically assigns place order.
The Race
Our pack races each group of cars in all lanes, our track has four lanes, though some packs have more or less. Racing each car in each lane eliminates questions about faster lanes, so each car will make as many runs as the total of cars being raced. (Three cars will race three heats, while four cars will take four heats.) Placings are then added up and low score wins - ties are broken by racing the two cars against each other, again using at least two heats.
In the early stages of the race, overcoming inertia is the key, and mass is the way to ensure that your car accelerates quickly.
As you can see, cars can develop pretty impressive speed. Here, on the flats, minimizing friction becomes important.
You can see my son's car on the far right getting trounced in (I think) the pack championship race.
My Favorite Cars
Doubtless inspired by the folks at Oscar Mayer, this was my favorite car.
This car, based on Pepperidge Farm's Goldfish Crackers was also a favorite. You just couldn't not smile when you looked at it.
This pencil car was also quite visually striking.
As you can see in this picture, the track drops about 4 feet, then has perhaps 30 feet of flat run to the finish line.
The finish automatically assigns place order.
The Race
Our pack races each group of cars in all lanes, our track has four lanes, though some packs have more or less. Racing each car in each lane eliminates questions about faster lanes, so each car will make as many runs as the total of cars being raced. (Three cars will race three heats, while four cars will take four heats.) Placings are then added up and low score wins - ties are broken by racing the two cars against each other, again using at least two heats.
In the early stages of the race, overcoming inertia is the key, and mass is the way to ensure that your car accelerates quickly.
As you can see, cars can develop pretty impressive speed. Here, on the flats, minimizing friction becomes important.
You can see my son's car on the far right getting trounced in (I think) the pack championship race.
My Favorite Cars
Doubtless inspired by the folks at Oscar Mayer, this was my favorite car.
This car, based on Pepperidge Farm's Goldfish Crackers was also a favorite. You just couldn't not smile when you looked at it.
This pencil car was also quite visually striking.
posted by Scooter at 1:40 PM
2 Comments:
Cool pics from the race. Interesting about the whole "moment of inertia" being the key. Small, light wheels help with that in bike racing, not sure if that carries over at all.
The Scouts are ahead of the technology curve, I hear Nissan is debuting the pencil car at the Detroit auto show next year.
Mike,
It carries over, but rules say wheels must be unmodified (otherwise I'd be drilling & cutting like crazy).
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