The Derby is about doing one's best and having fun, so all child participants will be recognized. But that doesn't mean our race winners won't take home some shiny hardware. Especially the leaders who battle and fudge and manipulate their way to the oh so awesome victory lane for that oh so elusive glass of milk.

Derby Workshops

There will be several opportunities to mold and shape the block of pinewood into a mean lean well-decorated racing machine. We will announce dates and times for the workshops once we get the parents lined up who will be supervising the shop tools. The boys are not permitted to use power tools but they are encouraged to design the shape of their cars, sand them, and decorate them accordingly. Parents are encouraged to assist the child but they should let the child do most of the work.

Equal Ground

All entries in the derby will start with the "Official Grand Prix Pinewood Derby Kit" which includes the body, 4 axles, and 4 wheels. All nine pieces MUST be used before the car can race. The kits are sold at the local Scout Shop or online. All active Scouts will receive a kit as a Christmas present in December. Parent and siblings are on their own. Cars may not exceed 5 ounces in weight and must conform to certain size restrictions and specifications. Decorating the cars are up to the imagination of the boys. The complete set of rules will be available at the Derby Workshops. Please don't worry about the small print specifically worded to exclude the leaders from some or all of the rules.

Purpose

The idea behind the pinewood derby is for a parent, grandparent, or other adult to spend time with the Cub helping the Cub design, carve, paint, accessorize, and tune the finished car. Parents, please refrain from taking over the construction of the car… each Cub should feel the satisfaction of having actually created their own car! For those adults who want to boast their prowess at Pinewood Derby Design, a separate “Friends and Family” class is open where they can submit their own masterpiece. (see below).

The finished car must use all nine pieces contained within the kit plus any extras the Cub wishes to add, such as paint, decals, and accessories. For fairness, each resulting car must conform to certain basic design rules which are outlined in the Arrowhead PWD Rules. Beyond that, the Cub has full latitude to shape and decorate the car as he chooses.

Often, Cubs add weights to their car to bring it up to the maximum allowable weight. They often remove burs and polish the axel and add graphite lubrication. Both of these actions will increase the speed of the car.

Quick Tips for Performance tuning:

1. Remove burrs on axle and wheels.
2. Target the maximum legal weight, and better to the back than the front, but keep front stable.
3. Remember painting, decals, spoilers and other stuff adds weight.
4. Think Nascar, aerodynamics.

Links to additional performance-tuning tips may be found in the “Other Information” section below.

Extra cars and extras parts can be purchased @ Michaels, JoAnn Fabrics, Hobby stores, Campers Inn, and the Scout store.

WARNING: There are numerous web sites that offer tips for tuning Pinewood Derby cars to be as fast as possible. Some of these offer videos, books, accessories, and performance-tuned kits and aftermarket parts. Some of their offerings are in violation of the Pinewood Derby rules, despite their claims to the contrary and falsely claiming that these accessories are “BSA Legal”. So, read the rules carefully before ordering anything from these suppliers.

Remember, it should be about the Cub doing his best, not about winning.

Racing Divisions

There will be two divisions that race independently.

The official Pack 1290 Cub Scout Grand Prix division is open exclusively to Cub Scouts of Pack 1290. This is the main reason we are here. Trophies and/or medals will be awarded at the Den and Pack level for fastest cars and most creative designs.

Friends and Family can participate in the "Outlaw" Division. "Outlaw" is a division where siblings, Cub’s friends, parents, grandparents, etc. who wish to enter a Pinewood Derby car may do so and race against other entries in the same division.

Weigh In

Weigh-in will be from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM with a special parento Horace tofollow on Friday, January 26th. Here, judges inspect the cars to ensure they satisfy the published rules. There will also be an opportunity for the Cub to test his car on the race track. Coming to weigh in will allow the Cub will have time to make any adjustments that are necessary to become conformant with the rules or tune the car’s performance based on trial runs down the track.

Once the Cub is satisfied with the car and the judges declare it to be in conformance with the rules, the car is submitted to the judges where is impounded until the race. Given the number of Cubs we have racing this year, we hope as many cars as possible will be submitted during weigh-in. Don’t risk being disqualified the day of the race because the car accidentally violates the rules… come to the weigh-in!

Race Day

Race-day will be Saturday, January 27th at Corbell Elementary at 9:00am. Any cars that were not submitted during Weigh-in may be submitted this morning ahead of the race time, but there will not be time for modifications.

Our pack has a 6-lane track with electronic timing capable of determining the finish order when even only the tiniest of distances separate the cars. Last year, there were many fast cars and races were too close to call by eye!

The top winners from the Pack will have the opportunity to advance to the Iron Horse District Pinewood Derby. Here’ our fastest cars will compete against the fastest cars of the other Packs in our District.

Did You Know?

The first Pinewood Derby was hosted on May 15th, 1953 at Manhattan Beach CA, and was the brain-child of Cubmaster Don Murphy of Pack 280C. Murphy’s son was too young to participate in the local Soap Box Derby races, so he invented a race that would use miniature wooden cars instead. These cars had the same gravity-powered concept as the full-size Soap Box Derby cars, but were of course much smaller and easier to build.

• A fast Pinewood Derby car can reach a speed of nearly 20 miles per hour. Pretty good for a little block of wood!
• If a Pinewood Derby car racing down the track was enlarged to the size of a real automobile, it would be speeding at more than 200 miles an hour. That’s fast!
• If you lined up all the Pinewood Derby race cars, bumper-to- bumper, they would reach more than 7,000 miles – far enough to stretch from Charlotte, North Carolina, to the North Pole!

Other Information

Official BSA site on the Pinewood Derby for more information. http://www.pinewoodderby.org/#/

Boy’s Life information on Pinewood Derby with a whole bunch of ideas and suggestions for building your own car http://boyslife.org/section/hobbies-projects/pinewood-derby/

Please CLICK HERE to access important information for the 2018 Pack 1290 Pine Wood Derby!