FINALIZED- Old School Pinewood Derby Throwdown- Date TBD

[mndsm]

No, this isn't a contest to see how many boy scouts you can show your "wood" to. I'm thinking old school science fair shit like we all used to have to do back in grade school. Pinewood derby, and Toothpick bridges come to mind. Obviously the cost would be minimal, and the prizes would likely be even LESS minimal (much wooting by the winnders, much being taunted by the losers). I remember how much fun that shit was back in the day, and goddamn, I'd love to try it again. I'd imagine we can build our own pinewood track for like... 15$ (I could even call a boy scout troop and see if we can borrow one of theirs.. perhaps challenge the boy scouts and maybe do a community service thing, though we'd have to lay low on the swears and cheating if we did) and the kits are like 10$ at hub hobby. Toothpick bridges are even cheaper, as all you need is some weights, a bottle of wood glue, a couple of books, and a pole. Rules would have to be agreed upon by the entrants, naturally, and in the case of pinewood, I'd probably lobby for something along the lines of whatever's in the boy scout manual.

What say you? Any other ideas? Thoughts on the rules/prizes? This would be the perfect thing to keep us occupied during the winter.

http://www.northernstarbsa.org/Forms/Activities/PinewoodDerbyRules.pdf

Here's the official BSA rules for Derby. Some of my ideas would have actually been disqualified already lol.

 

[AJ]

I got much of the above in the garage already along with most wood working tools you could need. I'd be in for something goofy and fun like this.

 

[dmention7]

Woodworking + mnmazda = "I'll call the ambulance, someone find those fingers and put em on ice!!!"

 

[mndsm]

Woodworking + mnmazda = "I'll call the ambulance, someone find those fingers and put em on ice!!!"

I'll take this as a hearty endorsement of the idea.

 

[1Kris06]

theres a SMALL possibility we could use my brothers troop/councils derby track if they aren't using it. tho building a track would be more fun.

 

[mndsm]

I haven't worked out ANY of the details. This was just a more of a- who wants to do some stupid 4th grade projects with me.

 

[dmention7]

I would probably be in. If we build a track though, I think a loop is obligatory. Maybe a jump too.

 

[AJ]

how big are the tracks? Can you make one the size of a garage? lol

I've never built a derby car, so this sounds fun!

 

[mndsm]

I'm sure we could make one the size of a garage, if demand was there. Loops? Never seen it done.. so why not. Anyone else?

 

[dmention7]

The track needs to be at least as long as a garage if you want it to last more than 3.4 seconds, haha. We always did them in the school gym when I was in cub scouts

 

[mndsm]

Seems that the average track is 44' long. Can BAG handle that?

 

[DrWebster]

Pinewood derby cars? Fuck yes I'm in.

 

[AJ]

holy shit, length of a gym. awesome.

 

[Big Nate]

I would build a derby car.
But can i make it a truck if i still meet the weight spec?

I am in for any of this stuff

 

[dmention7]

I think for the sake of awesomeness, we would need to rewrite some of the rules. Maybe open up the restrictions, but then add some extra features to the track so it's not such a single-purpose race. For lulz the finale could be a powered race, where everyone gets an A-scale model rocket motor, hehe

 

[mndsm]

I have no problems amending the rules as the group sees fit for the benefit of all... pinewood is really more of a template as far as I'm concerned.

To answer your question Nate- you most certainly can make it a truck, I freely encourage creativity. IIRC, Jurgen's kid made an mz3 one year for pinewood, and I remember from my day that they did give out awards for the best design, as well as the fastest cars.

 

[spek1098]

Yep, we've done two so far, took second in our den the first year, and first our second year. I floated the Mz3 idea, but I have NO artistic skills to speak of, so the 3 has YET to be done. The timing system is the most critical, some of the times come down to a few thousands of a second, and most exspensive part I believe. Our pack runs a 3 car track and has talked of building a 4 car track, which is more the standard I guess, but has been held back due to the costs it sounds like. I don't think they would be willing to let us use it free and clear, I can ask at the next meeting about renting it.

 

[spek1098]

Someone should sit down, find the math and do the math of how fast the car would need to go to complete a loop. I have a feeling we would require an 12 ft latter to launch these.

 

[mndsm]

Math? Noooo we don't need no stinkin math. I guess the real trick would be, following scout rules, how large would the loop have to be to get a car around it? I gotta figure if the loop is too tight, the front end is gonna drag.

 

[dmention7]

Did someone say math?

I watched a show on Discovery channel about roller coasters, so I'm pretty much an expert on how to design loops and corkscrews.