Pinewood Derby Q&A

Boy Scouts?

we need information on the pinewood derby car that my son has to build

Public Comments

1. Good for you!!!... and here we go... the cars are made out of derby hats & pinecones and have wheels... they race down a track.. the winner becomes queen of the boyscouts and gets all the jambalaya he can eat... hope this helps and good luck!!!
2. Here is a wikipedia article on the event: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinewood_derby The guidelines for building the car can be found here: http://www.geocities.com/~pack215/pwd-kitrules.html Basically, the car can't be over 5 ounces, has to be 2 3/4" wide, 7" long, 1 3/4" between the wheels, and 3/8" clearance from the track. I was a Cub Scout for awhile, and in my experience, it is best to maximize the car's weight, and minimize friction in the axles. Any other aspects of the design will only have a negligible effect on performance. That said, only legal way to minimize friction is to clean up the inside of the wheels, and the outside of the axles, and use a dry lubricant. Graphite works well, and if you can't find it, a pencil rubbed onto the axles and worked into the wheels will work well. As for your weight, after you have your design carved, sanded and painted (optional, but it's most of the fun anyways), you can cut a small cavity in the body to fill with weight (brass BB's, fishing weights, etc.), and try to get the car as close to the 5 ounce max as possible, without going over. The more weight the car has, the more speed it will pick up going down the track. I usually used BB's, as they were fairly easy to add/subtract in getting the weight right. Duct tape can work to seal it back up, or you can glue a piece of the wood back over the cavity if you want it to look nice, but make sure that the car has at least 3/8" clearance from the track.
3. The cars have to weigh a certain amount of ounces, certain wheelbase (axel to axel), and can build to any ideas. A company does make templates and parts kits. When I was in Boy Scouts I had a car that looked like a Dodge Viper and my dad built his like a Plymouth Superbird, even my mom built one to look like a minivan. Theres endless possibilities.