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Pinewood Derby Stories and Photos from Maximum Velocity
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PINEWOOD DERBY CAR SHOWCASE
Canyon Dragon - John & Jake Harig
This is the second year for Jake, and he won 1st place again. This year the 'Canyon Dragon' car was fastest overall. The name comes from the base coat of 'Canyon Orange' and, of course, dragon decals.
We used your wheels and axles, and the block was yours with drilled holes, extended wheel base and raised wheel. COG was 0.9 inch forward of rear axle, much too aggressive for what I now realize is a rough wood track. I used a 1/2 inch diameter steel tube cut 2.5 inches long that protruded 1/2 inch out the back end to look like a jet engine nozzle. It also served as a weight chamber for your tungsten cylinders and beads. The part I liked best was using an ear plug to hold the weights in place - the approach worked sweet at the weigh-in.
Mach 5 - John & Billie White
My daughter Billie and I raced our Mach 5 in the Awana Grand Prix this past fall. She was placed in the adult/leader group. The competition was TOUGH, but she placed third for speed and third for design. We raced this year on a new aluminum track. Many of my old secrets didn't seem to want to work, but it was still a fun race.
Arrow of Light - Millisa & Cody Kramer
This is my son Cody’s car for his last Pinewood Derby. As a Webelo II, he has been working on his Arrow of Light achievements for the last year; so this year’s car design was based on that. After cutting out so much of the block and inserting a dowel for the arrow shaft, the car barely weighed anything at all. So there are weights across the entire bottom of the car, in a hole drilled out of the back. The fin on the top is even a weight! It weighed exactly 5.0 ounces. The axle holes were not quite straight, slowing down the car a little. It came in a very close 3rd out of 5 cars in his den, but it won Best of Show for the Pack.
