We are not cub scout leaders. Josh is not in cub scouts. Did that stop us from building a car and racing in the Pinewood derby? Nope. We (Mike) built a car to challange all the 8-10 yr olds. we actually didn't compete in the heats, but after the races we gave everyone a chance to come beat our car. No one could. We now have two undefeated cars-- the last one was against the Elders Qourum a few years ago. I posted a few pictures of that one as well. This years car was a snake. We went a lot more extensive on the wood working part (all by hand since we do not own a band saw). The design allowed to incorporate a 'quick start' feature. The paper clip and mouse on the front allow the car to start fractions ahead of the other cars because of the way the starting pole falls. In addition we cut the wheels again. This time we went with an H shape to give a little more stability and alignment but still redusing wheel weight and friction. The axles were polished and beveled like before. This time we put all the weight in the car instead of on top. It is all encased in the head part of the car. For some reason we didn't think to race the old car against the new one. The snake's best time was 2.73 seconds-- not sure what the last one was. I think the first car would have beat the snake because the wheel weight is so much less, but I'm not sure. The quick start may have made things very close. Anyway, can't wait until next year-- Josh will be 7 and one year closer to building his own car.
