It's that time of year again. Time to dust off the tools and clear some space on the workbench. It's time to transform the workroom in our basement into a high performance pinewood derby car manufacturing facility. This is my sixth year of helping with the design and manufacture of these things. Last year was the first (and technically only) time both boys needed cars for racing. My oldest son is done with Cub Scouts now, but there is an open race for non-scouts after the official races are finished. I think he wants to enter it, so I guess we'll be a multiple car family again.
I mostly help out with the manufacturing end of things. My design input is usually me discouraging them from wanting anything too complicated. I need to remind them that they are bound by the laws of physics and, more importantly, the capabilities of the tools and the tool operator. I like straight lines. I'm a big fan of the wedge cut. It looks aerodynamic and it requires a minimum of power tool time. I like to minimize my time around things that are designed to cut quickly and efficiently. I'm about half way through my pinewood derby years and I haven't lost any parts yet. I'd like to keep it that way.
It's really hard, when your working on these cars, not to take over and do everything. One of the reasons they added the open race for non-scouts was to give some of the dads a place to race their own cars. With my oldest son, I tried to give him a little more responsibility each year. This did not extend to the use of the bandsaw however - if one of us is going to lose a finger, I'd prefer it be me. In some respects, I was forced to give him more control because I needed to focus my efforts on my younger son's car. To be honest, it was a bit of a stressful time. It was my oldest son's last race and I wanted him to go out with a fast car. It was my youngest son's first race and I wanted him to start out with a fast car. In the end, they both had fast cars. Not the fastest, but respectable. If you're really fast, you "get" to advance and race again at the district-wide competition. My oldest son qualified for this in his second year. He was really excited at first. He was less so as he watched the other kids playing with their cars after the race - his had to be preserved until after districts. The district race was nearly two months later. By then, the pinewood derby was a distant memory in his mind. We went. He raced. We came home with a participation certificate. He took his car in the back yard and launched it down the slide - happy to finally be able to play with it. Now, we do enough to ensure a respectable showing but we aren't too wound up about it.
I think every family has their own tried and true methods for ensuring a speedy car. The internet is full of them. I've heard plenty of them from friends, family and co-workers. I'm struck by the variety of things that people point to as the secret to their success. I keep these things in mind when the boys and I are working on the cars. My sons love all things science and they're always up for a discussion of how the laws of nature can be accommodated to give us the best outcome. Sometimes, we implement the advice of others but we have a few things we've come up with on our own. These are the steps we will cling to and someday pass along as the secret to our success.
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