Inception Car
Inception Car
My older boy is Web II this year, so we're on our 5th pack race. I'm just now finding this site; wish I had found it sooner! On his first year as a Tiger we made a car for him, but I didn't know about our outlaw class (dads race other dads, siblings race other siblings) so I didn't make a car. That all changed the next year. Each year I try to save enough time to make a "show" car and a "go" car. As I'm sure everyone here is aware, there are certain design trade-offs made when going for pure speed, and that's not what it's all about for me. I like putting together fun ideas too. (I get some ideas from looking at other derby galleries, but somehow never found this site until last week.) I've seen a couple of incarnations of a "derby track" car, where the car looks like a pinewood derby track. I always thought those were interesting, and this year decided to make my own version.
With a twist.
I made the car look like a derby track (ours is wooden, so that's what I made) and then decided to make some smaller cars out of scraps. I had a 3 lane track with a red wedge, a purple "Geaux" car, and a US flag car. But as I was putting things together something made me think about the movie "Inception" and plans changed. I dropped the flag car and replaced it with another mini car that looked like a derby track. And of course I had to make cars for it too, so I used my x-acto knife and carved them out of a toothpick. And of course one of those cars has to also be a derby track, but at this point it's too small to do much more than paint tiny paint marks on the track and call them cars.
Here's what the car looks like now; I have to install wheels and axles of course but it's about done other than that.
And here's a close-up shot of the mini cars, it's a bit out of focus but you can see how they're positioned on the track:
Finally, a better shot of the mini cars (but before the wheels) with a dime in the picture for reference as far as size:
Notice that the tiny cars are the same as the mini cars (red wedge, etc), which is why I called this the Inception Car. I'm in the process of making full-sized versions of the wedge and the "Geaux" car so that I can take a picture of the Inception car on the real track, with the red and purple cars on either side. The inception (dream within a dream) will be complete at that point.
With a twist.
I made the car look like a derby track (ours is wooden, so that's what I made) and then decided to make some smaller cars out of scraps. I had a 3 lane track with a red wedge, a purple "Geaux" car, and a US flag car. But as I was putting things together something made me think about the movie "Inception" and plans changed. I dropped the flag car and replaced it with another mini car that looked like a derby track. And of course I had to make cars for it too, so I used my x-acto knife and carved them out of a toothpick. And of course one of those cars has to also be a derby track, but at this point it's too small to do much more than paint tiny paint marks on the track and call them cars.
Here's what the car looks like now; I have to install wheels and axles of course but it's about done other than that.
And here's a close-up shot of the mini cars, it's a bit out of focus but you can see how they're positioned on the track:
Finally, a better shot of the mini cars (but before the wheels) with a dime in the picture for reference as far as size:
Notice that the tiny cars are the same as the mini cars (red wedge, etc), which is why I called this the Inception Car. I'm in the process of making full-sized versions of the wedge and the "Geaux" car so that I can take a picture of the Inception car on the real track, with the red and purple cars on either side. The inception (dream within a dream) will be complete at that point.
- FatSebastian
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Re: Inception Car
drathbun wrote:I'm just now finding this site
Fun concept! Thanks for sharing.drathbun wrote:With a twist.
Re: Inception Car
Really neat !
- Darin McGrew
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Re: Inception Car
Very, very nice! Thanks for sharing!
Re: Inception Car
Wow thats alot of work. Very Cool
Re: Inception Car
Nice twist on a classic.
- whodathunkit
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Re: Inception Car
very nice job!
What type of automobile can be spelled the same forwards & backwards?
Re: Inception Car
That is so neat, on so many levels!!
Re: Inception Car
Pun within a pun...Duane wrote:That is so neat, on so many levels!!
Thanks for the comments everyone. I'm having lunch with another Derby Dad today and brought the car to show him. I'm quite pleased with the way it is turning out.
Re: Inception Car
Neat concept, and good execution!
My wife started a new support group... Widows of the Pinewood Derby.
Re: Inception Car
It has wheels on it now! Our race is tomorrow...
Re: Inception Car
Race is done, whew! Oldest son placed 1st in Web II and second in pack, youngest didn't get a speed trophy but won the "Looks Least Like a Car" design award for his banana split car. I spent a lot of design / construction hours on the Inception Car and it was a big hit. It also turned out to be fairly fast, enough to take 5th in the Outlaw division.
Now here's the frustrating part. I made the red wedge and a purple "Geaux" car out of scraps. They were basically wedges that I threw on a coat of primer, then a coat of red (or purple), and then I bolted on weights to the bottom. The red wedge took 3 ounces of tungsten and was close to 5 ounces, but not quite. The purple car I used one of the long weights that's designed to be mounted on the bottom of the car, and it too was about 5 ounces but not quite. I tossed on some wheels, added some graphite, and made sure the wheels were not completely sideways and the car tracked at least approximately straight.
The red wedge car that I spent a grand total of about 15 minutes on set a new track record and took first place in the parent outlaw division. The purple car came in second. The car I tried to make fast came in 4th. My main competition (the former cubmaster of our pack) came in 3rd. That means for the past four years we're dead even, I have won two years and he has won two years. His youngest boy will cross over next year, so we have only one more year of competition.
I'll post pictures of the other cars when I get a chance. But it does amuse me to no end that by accident I ended up with the fastest car I've ever made...
Now here's the frustrating part. I made the red wedge and a purple "Geaux" car out of scraps. They were basically wedges that I threw on a coat of primer, then a coat of red (or purple), and then I bolted on weights to the bottom. The red wedge took 3 ounces of tungsten and was close to 5 ounces, but not quite. The purple car I used one of the long weights that's designed to be mounted on the bottom of the car, and it too was about 5 ounces but not quite. I tossed on some wheels, added some graphite, and made sure the wheels were not completely sideways and the car tracked at least approximately straight.
The red wedge car that I spent a grand total of about 15 minutes on set a new track record and took first place in the parent outlaw division. The purple car came in second. The car I tried to make fast came in 4th. My main competition (the former cubmaster of our pack) came in 3rd. That means for the past four years we're dead even, I have won two years and he has won two years. His youngest boy will cross over next year, so we have only one more year of competition.
I'll post pictures of the other cars when I get a chance. But it does amuse me to no end that by accident I ended up with the fastest car I've ever made...
Re: Inception Car
Here's the shot of the three cars staged on our track. The Inception is complete.
If you look at the red car, you'll see a line across the top, near the rear wheels? I really had not intended to race those cars, they were just for show, so I cut that wedge out of the bottom of another block. That line is the former axle slot that I filled in with wood filler and painted over. As I mentioned earlier, I really didn't take much time on these extra two cars, they were just to complete the picture. The red wedge ended up being the fastest car of the day.
So if you're wondering how some boys (or parents) get by with creating fast cars without putting in the work? I can attest to the fact that sometimes you just get lucky...
If you look at the red car, you'll see a line across the top, near the rear wheels? I really had not intended to race those cars, they were just for show, so I cut that wedge out of the bottom of another block. That line is the former axle slot that I filled in with wood filler and painted over. As I mentioned earlier, I really didn't take much time on these extra two cars, they were just to complete the picture. The red wedge ended up being the fastest car of the day.
So if you're wondering how some boys (or parents) get by with creating fast cars without putting in the work? I can attest to the fact that sometimes you just get lucky...
- Darin McGrew
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Re: Inception Car
Very, very nice!
Thanks for sharing!Darin McGrew wrote:Very, very nice!Thanks for sharing!Darin McGrew wrote:Very, very nice!
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Thanks for sharing!
Re: Inception Car
I see what you did there...