Pinewood Derby Racing Tips From The Manufacturer

Pinewood Derby Racing Tips From The Manufacturer - Pine Pro

Pinewood Derby Racing Tips From The Manufacturer - Pine Pro
Here is a Pinewood Derby tips from the Pine Pro Company on building and racing the pinewood derby car. Race like a pro once you learn these Pine Car Racing Tips
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Racing The Pine Car

Building The Pine Car

Tip # 1 - Friction

Tip # 2 Alignment

Tip # 3 Weight

Anything that rubs against anything else is going to cause friction. Friction will slow down your pine car. Since it is impossible to completely eliminate friction, your goal is to minimized it as much as you can. Look closely at every part of your car to see if you can find places where things are rubbing together. The most obvious place is where the wheel rides on the axle. You must polish the axle as perfectly as possible. Jewelers rouge on a soft cloth will attain the mirror-like finish you seek. Don't forget to eliminate the burr that is under the head of the axle. Some people even use the rouge to polosh the inside of the wheel wher the axle is inserted, but you must be very careful no to rub hard enough to change the shape of the hole from round to oval. If you mount your weights on the underside of your car, be sure to recess them enough to avoid rubbing against the track guide strip. It the weights are flush to the bottom of the car, your sure to bypass that problem.

Alignment basically means getting in line.In the case of your Pine Wood Derby car, the axles are the real key to alignment. Use a 90 degree square angle to be absolutely certain that your axles are exactly at a 90 degree angle to the from-to-back center line of your car.This will also ensure that the axles are parallel to each other. The slightest variation will cause your car to drift off to the right or leftc rubbing against the track guide strip and causing it to lose some speed.

The only rules we've ever seen call for your car to be no more than 5 ounces of total weight. You should carefully check that your car is exactly 5 ounces without exceeding it all. It is likely that placing the weight on the bottom and about two thirds of the way back is best, although many people have won with weights on the top, in the back, and even in the front. The only thing that is certain is that a good 5 ounce car will beat a good 4.5 ounce car, so try to hit that 5 ounce mark exactly. You should also go to the race prepared to add or subtract some weight to compensate for a difference in scales.