Pinewood Derby Q&A

It's Pinewood Derby time!!! What can I do (within the rules) to improve the performance of the car?

Public Comments

1. i would say that the wheels are the most important thing... since weight and material are limited, I would make sure your wheels are as greased as possible... and make sure the contact of the axles to the wooden body have minimal friction.... I used my weights towards the front, but not in front of the front axles
2. Make sure your car is the maximum weight allowed. I used to nail lead tacks into the underside of the car to boost weight. Get a tube of graphite powder and lubricate the area where the nail goes through the wheel (I assume things haven't changed in 20 years!). Make sure the wheels turn easily. It's also a good idea to buff the flat surface of the wheels with fine sandpaper to make them as smooth as possible.
3. take the wheels and put them on the nails put the nail in a drill then spin the wheel on some sand paper (gets rid of rough edges) Use plenty of powdered graphite. believe u me i made it to eagle scout and won my share of Derby's hope this helps u out.
4. We also used a lot of powdered graphic on the wheels and axils. That helped! Also drilled small holes on the bottom near the front (but behind the front wheels) to add leaded weights. Our family won 4 out of 5 years!
5. I put a scantily clad woman in mine. Time Schmime.
6. Make sure to use a powder, like graphite, not an oil for lubricaton (liquids are against the rules). Also keep the weight towards the center not the front or back of the car. Weight directly over the tires will slow the car down.
7. my pinewood cars always sucked... course I had to carve them myself with a dull knife and a rusty fork...
8. Lead HA! When I was in the H.J., ooops I mean Pfadfinder, I used Uranium as weight. It helped me become what I am today, a Mad Scientist!