Pinewood Derby Speed Tips

Goal #1 - Cover The Basics

Know the rules and follow them when building your car. No matter how fast your car is, you can't race if you can't pass inspection.

Your next goal is to make sure your car can make it all the way down the track.

Assure ground clearance. If you add weight to the underside of your car, you should chisel or drill out areas in which to put the weight, so that the weight is "inlaid". Failure to do this usually results in the car underside scraping the center guide rail.

Assure vertical clearance. Although the Pack's finish line provides plenty of clearance for almost any car, some lane timers have only about 3" of clearance, so be sure that your car isn't too tall.

Don't play with your car. Never roll it on any rough surface, and be VERY careful not to drop it. Treat your car with great care, at least until after Race Day. The more you play with it, the more likely you are to cause it to run more slowly (or even break it). When carrying your car from the pits to the race track and back, make sure you hold the car by its body, and never the wheels.

Goal #2 - Make Your Car Go Faster

Use a good dry lubricant and lubricate your car axles thoroughly. Lube some more before each race. Make sure you GENTLY spin your wheels after applying lube to work it into the wheel well evenly.

Make your car weigh as close to 5 ounces as possible. Weight is critical in creating speed during the initial track descent.

Install axles and wheels reasonably well. Axles must be in kinda straight. Axles must be secure. Axles must not bind against the wheels, that is, there should be enough room so that the wheels turn freely. Axles and wheels should be free of glue (except to glue the axles into the body, making sure the glue doesn't go outside the car's wood surface) and any other foreign debris.

Goal #3 - Make Your Car A Winner

Put the weight in the back of the car. On an inclined track such as ours, this means that the center of gravity of the car falls a greater distance. In other words, there is more potential energy to convert into kinetic energy.
The tradeoff is that your car will be less balanced, but if do everything else correctly, it's a favorable tradeoff.

Put the rear wheels near the back of the car. You can do this with the pre-cut grooves, depending on the shape and design of your car body. This makes a car whose weight is in the back more stable.

Keep your car as long as rules allow. The longer your car, the farther back you can put the center of gravity.

Prepare your wheels. Sand away the mold projections left behind from the wheel casting process. Do this on the wheel tread and on the wheel hub. Be careful not to fundamentally alter the shape of the wheel. Failing to sand away the molding on the wheel tread can cause your car not to roll straight, which means you'll spend the entire race rubbing the center guide rail.

Prepare your axles. Put each axle in a drill chuck so you can spin it at high RPMs. Use a small file to remove the burrs on the underside of the "nail head". Next use a strip of moistened fine grit sandpaper on the cylindrical part of the nail, where it will contact the wheel. Finally, put some toothpaste, chrome polish, or jeweler's rouge on a small strip of cloth and polish the axle to a high gloss.

Align your axles carefully. Your axles should be square to the car body. If they are not, the wheels will spend too much time rubbing against the axle heads and the car body. Additionally, your car may not roll straight and will therefore spend too much time rubbing against the center guide. Don't trust the pre-cut grooves in the block. Sometimes they aren't square. Drill out the grooves so your axles go in straight. Do this drilling before you cut out the car body. It's easier to drill a good hole into a square block of wood than into a car-shaped block of wood.

Make your car aerodynamic. Fast cars usually have a low profile that offers the least resistance to the air-stream. Character figurines glued to the car and other excessive trim can slow down a car, even if just a little. This may make only a small difference, but every little bit helps.

Final (and most important) Goal

Be a good sport. Shake the hand of your competitors and wish them luck. If you lose a race, congratulate the winner. And cheer on others equally when you're watching them race.

Have fun. Building your car should be a creative and learning experience for you (and your parent). If you "Do Your Best" (and be a good sport), you'll always be a WINNER in the eyes of your parents and your peers.

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