Pinewood Derby 2008

Here are a few pictures from the Pinewood Derby held on Feb 2. Alex
and I both entered cars; Alex's was called the "Lava Wave" and he
wanted it to look like a rolling wave. He designed, painted, and
decorated it himself, and he also spent quite a bit of time working on
polishing the axels, ensuring a proper bore size in the wheels, and
applying various graphite powder lubricants. We spent some time
working with the test track to get it to roll straight using just 3
wheels. The first run of the day was very slow (2.9 sec)--although he
still won his heat for this--but the next three runs were in a
2.65-2.66 sec range. Overall, Alex finished in the mid-20s (top 1/3).
I liked how my car turned out--I found a can of "50's aqua marine"
paint for it and thought it turned out well. I finished 3rd in the
adult division and 11th overall (out of 75 cars from cub scouts and
adults) with a time in the 2.625 second range (the fastest cars on the
day were in the 2.57 sec range). Charlie went up with me to get the
award. I also got a shot of a photo-finish. I think the experiences
gained this year will help us next year (I feel like I keep saying
that), especially if we can figure out a better way to get the wheels
attached and the car to go straight. Charlie will reap the biggest
benefits of all of this though, as we have invested heavily into
pinewood derby technology (test tracks, multiple axel/wheel
combination sets, speciality wheel bore kits, etc.)!!!

Alex had a fun time at the event; he won his first two heats. He also
got to race against Devan in the last heat (which he lost). Charlie
also liked spending time with his big brother and feeling like he was
one of the cub scouts too. Charlie's friend Elanie was there as well,
and he spent a lot of time playing with her. One of his favorite
things now is to go and sit in the bottom of the cart and get pushed
around.