Derby Talk

I can only speak for myself, but I think most of the time, you see these thin cars it is because they try and remove as much wood (weight) as they can so they can concentrate the weight (lead/tungsten) around the rear axle to try and maximize potential energy of the car (raise the weight to the high...

Is there anyone here that is coming in town for the Mid-America derby?

1. The rules for the district were the same as the Mid-America race. 2. There was no prep work done on the wheels that I provided for the race, they were straight out of the kits. 3. Greg will have to answer this one :-) I am not sure if Greg helped prep the wheels when he put them on. He may have j...

Well, if my car was VERY fast, then yours were VERY VERY fast as I was lagging behind your stellar times.

I am glad I could help with the wheels. I usually bring my supplies as I never know when something goes wrong.

Thanks Seth. Your widow looks might fast also. I am not sure we have our build process down, but we are getting there. I made a few mistakes with this car, but luckily still ran fast. The night before the race, I was doing a final inspection and noticed that the rear of the car was too low and did n...

Yes, it was a 42' best track. It is the same track that will be used at the MAC derby. We were very surprise that we broke the 3 seconds barrier. All the cars did seems fast that day. Greg said they had worked on the track polishing it and smoothing out all the joints. Seemed like it made quite an i...

https://sites.google.com/site/hortmanfamily/library/IMG_3593_2.jpg We ran in Soaring Eagle District Race this past Sunday. This was the fastest car we have ever built! We came in 2nd in the Bear division and 3rd overall right behind Greg's (xanthrum) 2 kids. Greg's kids ran 2.9573 and 2.9586 while ...

Here is one of my son's car that will race in our district race this Sunday, then will race in the Mid-America Derby.

Walgreens has both types of shafts. I picked up a box a couple of months ago that was the old "walgreens" brand and it had the plastic shaft. I then went back and picked up their Studio 35 brand. One box had the plastic shaft and the other right next to it had the paper shaft. You just nee...

Very cool! I was thinking of doing something similar. I was thinking of using some stiff foam for the axle holder vs wood. I use a styrofoam block now, to hold my axles, but they still seem to "walk away" sometimes. I like to idea of keeping track of which wheel goes where. Again, VERY COOL!

FatSebastian wrote:MaxV's advice on this subject appears a recent edition of the Pinewood Derby Times.

Yeah, I read that this morning.

Thanks Greg! Are the cool prizes the same this year as they were last year? Are you going to update the pics?

Pull off the front wheels, place a piece of packing tape or a tack under the front nose, slide the car down the ramp. You need to align your rear wheels. I know you said they were put in straight, but you can still rotate the axles and get small changes in the alignment. Once the car runs straight w...

I must have to agree with Greg. The MAC Derby is a great event. My family was grateful that it was available last year as our district did not have a race last year. With all of the hours that my family put into their cars last year, to only have them run 4 heats at pack, I was great to see them run...

I use a piece of mirrored plexiglass on a perfectly flat desk... for all of our tuning... What Greg doesn't mention is his "...brand-new 6-lane 42-foot Best Track aluminum track with "The Champ" electronic timer, "Edge Super Starter" electronic starting gate and "Grand...