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PINEWOOD DERBY CAR SHOWCASE

Reverse Wing - Paul & Jordan Messineo


Jordan and I decided to build the Wing upside down to have greater access to the weights. Since this was our attempt to try to win we were not sure how much time we would have if the car was under or over the limit. I was talking to Jordan about this concern, and Jordan said "Why don't we turn the car upside down to get to the weights." Well it worked. Jordan was the reason we won with that idea - at least I want to think so.

Silver Bullet - Jeff & Jack Jouett


Last year we built the Low-Rider and it finished second in the pack and (after some work) first in the district. This year we designed our own car. It will be a surprise as nobody has seen it yet. We had a few sons and fathers come to my shop to work on cars, but we kept Jack's tucked away. Jack likes the suspense, and can't wait to unveil his car. There are a lot of fathers and sons in the pack waiting to see what we came up with. I don't know how his car will finish, but I'll be very surprised if anyone beats him. He worked very hard on it and I think it is going to be a very fast car.

The Tank - Mark & Hunter Sensabaugh


The design idea for this car was totally from my son Hunter. He is 5-years old, so he must race in the adult division at our pack race. He really likes all things military, but especially tanks. When I asked him to decide what he wanted his car to look like, he said "a tank" without hesitation. We cut the block on both ends to leave the center section, then used a Dremel tool to round the top to make the turret. We then used a dowel rod for the barrel, drilling a hole in the turret and gluing it in with wood glue. We weighted the car internally using 3/8 inch lead weight by drilling holes through the body and then using wood filler to seal the holes. We used the Pro-Hub tool to polish and angle the hubs and the Pro-Body tool to relocate the axle holes to their farthest possible locations on the block. We used the other Pro-Tools as well. The weight placement had the car balanced about 1 and 1/4 inches in front of the rear axles. When we got to the race the official scale showed the car 0.15 grams light. That's when we added a lead piece on the top as the turret hatch which put the weight at 5 ounces. The tank came out smoking fast and was clearly outrunning the other adult built cars by about two car lengths. The only other car close was the scoutmasters, who ran a pretty close second. As they were calling the winners names my son said he wished he would win a trophy. Then about a minute later they announced him as the winner of the adult class. Needless to say the look on his face was worth a million dollars!

From Pinewood Derby Times Volume 5, Issue 11

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