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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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KenC Admin
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zippofan wrote: Thanks guys! WAIT...WAIT....What watch are you wearing to the event!  |
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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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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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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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KenC Admin
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Griff......... Congratulations...that is terrific!!!!  Now, to put it in terms that Steve and I can understand, it's sorta like, your wonderful son who is a winner is like a GATOR and you came in second like a BUCKEYE.............. have I got that right!!! |
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zippofan 3T WIS
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KenC wrote: Griff.........Thanks Ken! LOL, I don't follow college ball that much, so you must be right! Cheers, Griff |
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KenC Admin
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Oh yeh................ 1) Happy Birthday to your wife! 2) Does your son get a new watch for winning? yourock.gif |
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srh_pres 3T WIS
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Congratulations Griff and to your son too... I knew it looked like a winner. And like Ken said, happy birthday to your wife too... :cool: |
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zippofan 3T WIS
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KenC wrote: Oh yeh................I will tell my wife! :) Interestingly enough her sister gave her a new watch for her birthday (a Phillipe Starck fashion watch), I just got her the purse she wanted. My younger son is the gamer, my older son likes watches. If you look at the photo of us, you can almost see him thinking, "hmmmm, what new game can I get for my PSP/PS2/GameCube/GameBoy" :P Cheers, Griff |
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zippofan 3T WIS
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srh_pres wrote: Congratulations Griff and to your son too... I knew it looked like a winner. And like Ken said, happy birthday to your wife too... :cool:Thanks Steve! What a relief...whenever I go into these things I never know, no matter how much preparation there is still quite a bit of luck involved. Between setting up the track, computer, software, screen, projector, intercom and sound system I don't have much time to think about the race until it is actually over! We took my wife out to dinner at her favorite restaurant for dinner too :) Cheers, Griff |
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zippofan 3T WIS
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Update: Pinewood Derby District race today, my son placed first in his rank (Bears) and 3rd overall against 60+ Scouts from all over our county. It was a looooong day, 4 hours on my feet calling races, but it was worth it! Dad is very proud :D Cheers, Griff |
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srh_pres 3T WIS
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Very cool and congrats again! zippofan wrote: Update: Pinewood Derby District race today, my son placed first in his rank (Bears) and 3rd overall against 60+ Scouts from all over our county. It was a looooong day, 4 hours on my feet calling races, but it was worth it! Dad is very proud :D |
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KenC Admin
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Dad has a right to be proud! Your son sounds like a fine young man! hand6.gif |
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