Thank you all! Everlasting First Time Experience!

[Toons]

I want to say thank you to all the people here who are and have been involved in building and organizing PWD races.
My son and I were invited to enter a car in a local church PWD. We are not involved with BSA at this time. It is something we would like to have been able to do but as you know many parents and kids today have many commitments and certain things take priority ... work, school, religion, sports... We got the kit on Monday and the derby was on Saturday.
I spent a number of hours on the internet learning about PWD.
We spent hours cutting, sanding, priming, painting, polishing, tweaking.

Finally on Saturday we finished with Storm! Since we had extra tires, wood and axles we decided to put a 2nd car together. Power Booster!
No time to paint so we knocked it together and added 42 pennies for weight. We learned a lot making the first car and the 2nd went together much easier than the first. We used the 3 wheel suggestion for both cars.

I was nervous we did not put enough time into the cars and honestly was hoping not to finish last.

The only rules I was aware of were the ones in the box, so we followed them very closely. Used slots provided, etc. When we arrived the informed us the Father/Son derby was just for fun and they let my son enter both cars. But before check in another little guy we came with dropped his car and lost the axle.
I offered him one from our 2nd car, but they found the axle.

The group of BSA gentlemen that ran the race we very organized. Computers, Electronic Timers, Beautiful smooth aluminum track...

Sorry for such a long story, but as you probably guessed our 2nd car, power boost, did very well, infact it did not lose a heat all night and had the track record that night. Our first car, Storm, finished ok but did not have as good of setup as the simple one of the 2nd car. KISS.

My son was very excited and the time we spent together making the cars is something that I will always cherish.

Thanks again to all who have shared their knowledge and are involved with organizing races!

[PWD]

Congratulations! Love to see some pics of the cars.

[Toons]

[Stan Pope]

Looks like all your hooch is spilling out of the bottle on the back of "power boost" Good going. Are you hooked yet?

[DerbyAddict]

When we arrived the informed us the Father/Son derby was just for fun and they let my son enter both cars. But before check in another little guy we came with dropped his car and lost the axle.
I offered him one from our 2nd car, but they found the axle.

Thats what it's all about! Having fun and helping others.

My son was very excited and the time we spent together making the cars is something that I will always cherish.

No matter what the finish, which by the way congrats on yours and your son's, another Derby, be it PWD, AWANA, Royal Rangers, etc, fulfilled it's purpose. Way to go and keep sanding!

[Toons]

"Are you hooked yet?"

Stan,
I was hooked as soon as I was able to break out some power tools for something more fun than "honey do's" around the house.
My little guy got his first experience with wood shop tools. And after the derby he came home and drew 3 cars he just wants to make for a hobby project.

I am very happy he has found a new fulfilling interest.

[Go Bubba Go]

"Are you hooked yet?"

Stan,
I was hooked as soon as I was able to break out some power tools for something more fun than "honey do's" around the house.
My little guy got his first experience with wood shop tools. And after the derby he came home and drew 3 cars he just wants to make for a hobby project.

I am very happy he has found a new fulfilling interest.

Congratulations! Sound like you and your little guy had fun and did well!

I still think PWD is almost sheer genius for the age group involved.

Let's see, you get to work with tools, learn how to make things go FAST, be creative with design, pick colors and paint your own car so it looks FAST, compete against your friends, go FAST (if only vicariously), spend time with your Dad (or Mom or both...), think up some FAST sounding names for your car, help others go FAST, ... did I mention FAST?

Question: Looks like the pennies on Power Booster! are wrapped in electrical tape? Is this correct? It's my second favorite tape (after Duct Tape, of course). Just curious.

[Toons]

Bubba,
Thank you.
Regarding the pennies,
First we wrapped them in electrical tape ... Then we broke out the heat gun and used Heat Shrink tubing to smoothe it up and make the exhaust pipe, Power Booster.

Really learned alot from everyone here. Put the COG 1.25" infront of the rear axle. Used 400, 600, 800 grit sandpaper for the axles. There was trial and error on the first car, but the difference between the 2 cars were the wheels. On the 2nd car, I only sanded around the surface of the wheel in the 3/16 area where the mold mark is. There is alot of discussion and I am not completely sure why, but the 3 wheels worked great. I rationalize that there is less surface contact with the track, which means less friction. The car tracked very straight, even though I learned it should ride the rail.

Thanks again.

[BigDozer66]

Congrats on the showing and on the experience that will last a lifetime!

Lynn