Gentlemen ..... Start Your Engines!!!

Now everybody knows that one of the main reasons Dads love Cub Scouting is the Pinewood Derby. The thought of a 5 ounce chunk of wood and lead hurtling down the track at breakneck speeds, the thought of defeating all comers and becoming master of the Universe overwhelms us. When in reality all the work we put into the cars is for naught because we spend a hour before the race drilling out weight because our car weighs 7.5 ounces and we ruin our highly polished axles and finely finished wheels.

One thing that we have learned at Pack 166 is that we can get the car building back into the hands of the boys by having an open race the night before our Pack Derby. This gives our Dads, and Moms, the opportunity to pour their competitive juices into their own cars and the boys actually work on their own.

Before you jump into the design of a top secret speed machine check out the RULES first. Yea, we got rules!

Need help getting started, check out the Construction Page for a step by step process that will give you a good chance of staying on the track.

New for this year (2003) is our Best Track all aluminum 4 lane track with MicroWizard timer. The timer is interfaced to our Pinewood derby software by DerbyMaster. The setup worked perfectly. If you decide to go with the Best Track give yourself at least a couple weeks to get the track together. It will take a full weekend to assemble a 4 lane track with timer. The track will take some "fine tuning" of the joints with a small file. After assembly it took us 11 minutes to set up the track at our Pinewood derby. Now if we could get all the chairs, tables etc. set up that quickly!