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| Pinewood Derby | Rate Topic |
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| Posted: Sun Apr 22nd, 2007 12:58 am |
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1st Post |
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zippofan 3T WIS 
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Hi All, Today is our Cub Scout Pack's annual Pinewood Derby. Every year our Cub Scouts (ages 7-11) build cars out of blocks of wood, plastic wheels and nail axles to race down a 32 foot gravity track. The cars cannot be more than 5 ounces and must be within size specifications per Pack rules. I get a little nuts around now, the Derby is my favorite event and am a "Pinehead" (see http://www.derbytalk.com for more info :D). My older son was Pack and District champion last year but is now a Boy Scout and can no longer race. Luckily my younger son still has a few more years left, plus we have a Dad's race to encourage the fathers to build their own cars and just help the Scout build their own. Over the last few years we have computerized the race and gotten away from double elimination. Each Scout gets to race his car 6 times, and the lowest cumulative time is the winner. The software also calculates their scale speed. My wife and I encouraged the Pack to replace our old wooden track with a new aluminum one so it is guaranteed to be a fast race! While we build the boys' cars for speed, I like to build models. Here are the cars I built for the Dad's race over the years. The 1961 Ferrari 156 F1 is this year's car and the first Formula One I have built. I usually build Indy cars that I have seen race or wish I had! I will post more pics and the race stats tomorrow when it is all over. The great thing is that the District race is next week, we get to do it all over again! Cheers, Griff Attachment: openwheelobs.JPG (Downloaded 24 times)
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| Posted: Sun Apr 22nd, 2007 01:16 am |
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2nd Post |
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srh_pres 3T WIS 
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Very cool Griff... Pinewood Derby has come a long way in car design since my son was into it... best of luck...:cool:
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| Posted: Sun Apr 22nd, 2007 01:18 am |
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3rd Post |
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zippofan 3T WIS
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Here's both of our cars together, the Pack theme this year is Law Enforcement so my son made a police car :D Cheers, Griff Attachment: karldads.JPG (Downloaded 23 times)
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| Posted: Sun Apr 22nd, 2007 01:20 am |
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4th Post |
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srh_pres 3T WIS
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Looks very aerodynamic... should do well... hand6.gif zippofan wrote: Here's both of our cars together, the Pack theme this year is Law Enforcement so my son made a police car :D
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| Posted: Sun Apr 22nd, 2007 02:08 am |
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5th Post |
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zippofan 3T WIS
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srh_pres wrote: Very cool Griff... Pinewood Derby has come a long way in car design since my son was into it... best of luck...:cool:Thanks Steve! That's just because I am nuts about making models :D The kids cars look more like wedges or wings. From left to right, my cars are a generic Indy Roadster, 1968 STP Lotus Turbine - Graham Hill (almost Indy Winner), 1965 Lotus 38 - Jim Clark (Indy Winner), 1970 Colt/Ford Johnny Lightning Special - Al Unser Sr. (Indy Winner), 1971 Mallard Roadster Miller High Life Special - Jim Hurtubise (the last roadster to ever run a USAC 500 mile race), and 1961 Ferrari 156 Formula 1 - Phil Hill (the only American born to win the F1 World Championship) Cheers, Griff
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| Posted: Sun Apr 22nd, 2007 07:18 am |
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6th Post |
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Tony Duronio 3T WIS 
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They look great Griff. Looks like a labor of love on your part. Good luck to your son...I hope he smokes 'em:D
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| Posted: Sun Apr 22nd, 2007 09:32 am |
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7th Post |
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KenC Admin 
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Wow!!! How cool is that?.............those are fantastic!!! yourock.gif And Griff, let me congratualate you on your loyalty to your driver....it seems you hire the same on every year!!!  In all seriousness...those are outstanding!
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| Posted: Sun Apr 22nd, 2007 10:09 am |
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8th Post |
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zippofan 3T WIS
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Thanks guys! It is a labor of love, each one probably has 40 hours or so of Dremel time. All the details are made of paper clips, brass tubing and the turbochargers on two are from rubber grommets. A company called Pine Car makes little engines that are actually weights. Same with the drivers, he's pretty good and his name is Griff too, what a coincidence :-) We have plenty of tricks, the axle nails are straightened, mold marks filed off, then sanded down to 2400 grit, then polished with a Cape Cod cloth and finished off with Mothers Billet polish. The wheels are hand machined to be perfectly round and flat with no mold marks, sanded down to 600 grit and this year I polished them with Polywatch, worked great! We aren't allowed to use liquid lube, it has to be graphite so we found a new type with finer graphite particles. I hope it gives us the extra edge! Off to do final adjustments then set up gear (computer, projector, track, gate etc.) Cheers, Griff
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| Posted: Sun Apr 22nd, 2007 10:15 am |
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9th Post |
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KenC Admin
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zippofan wrote: Thanks guys! WAIT...WAIT....What watch are you wearing to the event! 
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| Posted: Sun Apr 22nd, 2007 10:56 am |
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10th Post |
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oagaspar Site Founder 
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Great stuff Griff!....brings back memories of the derby with my son when he was youngerhand6.gif There's even a movie on cable about the dad's who take the competition way too far:D:D.....you built some beauties there Buddy!cool10.gif
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| Posted: Sun Apr 22nd, 2007 11:06 am |
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11th Post |
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zippofan 3T WIS
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"Down and Derby", we watch it every year! I ummmm....am sorta like that dad, LOL. G-Shock 1500 today, it will get bashed around setting up the track and the big screen for displaying the race stats :D Attachment: gshock1500a.jpg (Downloaded 17 times)
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| Posted: Sun Apr 22nd, 2007 09:26 pm |
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12th Post |
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zippofan 3T WIS
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We did it! My younger son won his Pack Derby :D He has the new track record at 2.615 seconds, 208.6 (scale) mph. His cumulative time was 15.748 for 6 races, average speed was 207.8 mph. I came in second in the Dad's race, I lost by 0.001 second (!) with a cumulative time of 15.927, 205.5 mph average. That is the different 0.1 ounce makes, his was 5.0 ounces, mine 4.9 ounces. The best thing was that except for the dad's car that beat me, both of ours were the most consistent with a 0.007 standard deviation over 6 races each. Plus, it was my wife's birthday today, so having our son win was a nice present :) Cheers, Griff Attachment: winners.JPG (Downloaded 11 times)
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