1. Avoid adding too much weight

The maximum weight that your car can be is five ounces. The key is for your Pinewood Derby car to be as close as possible to that weight-without exceeding it. This means that you should be cautious when adding weights, as adding too much will disqualify you for the main event. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to help you achieve your mission.

Pinewood Derby Car Kit - Cosmic Blast

2. Keep the weights flush with the car’s surface

When adding weights to the car, avoid allowing them to protrude past the surface of the car. That would add friction, which could ultimately prevent you from crossing the finish line first.

3. Add the weights to the back half of the car.

This is a crucial step to take when building your Pinewood Derby car. Taking this approach will maximize the amount of momentum that your car has. In turn, that will boost the speed of your car and give you the best chance at crossing the finish line first.

4. Properly secure the weights

Weights won’t be worth much if they drop out during the race. How should you secure them? An effective method is to add a little glue around the surface of the weights. Then before you paint your car, add some putty over the holes where you inserted the weights.

5. Use denser weights

The actual type of weights that you use isn’t as important as how efficient they are. It’s highly advisable that you use weights that are as dense as possible. This will further help to reduce the amount of friction that the car produces-which will in turn make it faster. Regarding the actual weight of the weights, lighter is better. This will allow for more precision, so you can get as close to your target weight as possible.

6. Consider adding some weight to the front half of the car

You should typically add the majority of the weight to the rear of the car. But you might want to counterbalance that weight, by adding some to the front half of the car as well. For instance, you could add two-thirds of the weight to the back, and one-third of the weight to the front.

7. Keep experimenting until you get the weight right

After adding weights to your Pinewood Derby car, you might need to make some other adjustments. So weigh the car afterwards. When necessary, add more weights until you’re extremely close to the target weight.

While there are several possible methods for maximizing your Pinewood Derby car’s speed, adding weights is one of the most effective ones. These above tips will maximize the benefit of adding a little weight.

Pinewood Derby Car Weights

Advantages:

• 1.7 times heavier than lead
• 3.2 times heavier than zinc
• Extremely dense allowing you to place a lot of weight in smaller areas
• Allows for more flexibility with center of gravity (COG) placement
• Available in a variety of shapes and sizes
• Non toxic
• Environmentally friendly
• Its wicked cool to say “my car is weighted with tungsten”

Disadvantages:

• Tungsten is more expensive than lead or zinc
• Tungsten is not as easy to find as lead

3/8″ cylinders are probably the most used and most popular tungsten shape.  Cylinders are easy to install by first drilling 3/8″ holes in the car body.

Cubes are likely the next most used shape.  Tungsten cubes are available in ¼”, 3/16″ and 1/8″ sizes.  Cubes allow to compact weight in square cut weight pockets.  Cubes offer you a lot of control in the placement of your COG.

Tungsten plates are very useful pinewood derby weight.  The plates are approximately 36mm x 20mm x 1.5mm and weigh about 1/2oz each.  Plates allow you to attach weight directly to the underside of the car.  This is great for keeping the center of mass low in your car.  Plates are also god for when running out of room to place weight.

Tungsten putty has been very popular over the last few years.  Putty allows you to add minute amounts of weight in order to get your car to the exact maximum allowable.  It also gives you the flexibility to adjust the final weight by simply removing or adding a little at check in.

There are other tungsten configurations for pinewood derby car weights including spheres, discs, granules and powder. Look here for a complete list of Pinewood Derby Tungsten.

1/8" Tungsten Cubes

Tungsten cubes is one of  the most popular means of weighing Pinewood Derby cars. They have been abundant in ¼″ cubes (0.25″ x 0.25″ x 0.25″) and somewhat available in 3/16″ cubes (0.187″ x 0.187″ x 0.187″).  I am now very happy to announce the availability of 1/8″ tungsten cubes (0.125″ x 0.125″ x 0.125″)  The small cubes will come in very handy when looking for smaller weigh increments and squeezing weight into extremely tight spots.  Until now, we were forced to used other tungsten products such as spheres, putty, powder, etc.  These super small cubes will be great for fine tuning yout weight placement.

For more information on these 1/8 Tungsten Cubes Click Here

Many people simply tell you to just “put the weight in the back”.  While that is true, there is a lot more involved in this process.  Proper placement of the COG is crucial in order to have a fast car

The exact location of the COG of your car can be determined with the use of the Derby Monkey COG Quick Ref or a ruler as follows:

• Set the COG Quick Ref or a ruler on its edge on a flat and level surface.
• Carefully lay the car across the COG Quick Ref or ruler.
• Move the car back and forth until it balances.
• This balance point is the COG.
• Measure the distance from the COG to the rear axles.
• This distance is how we express the COG location on a Pinewood Derby car.

Where Do You Want Your COG?

There are many different opinions regarding the pinewood weight placement and where the exact location of the COG should be.  However, every one aggress that you want it close to the rear of the car.  Most publications recommend a COG of 1″ to 1½” in front of the rear axles.  Most experts agree that this is too far forward.  The faster cars seem to be built with a COG of a less than 1″.

The Derby Monkey Garage builds its cars with a COG of ¾” in front of the rear axles.  Some builders even go with shorter COGs.

How fast your car goes on the first flat part of the track is based on the distance that the COG of the car actually travels before it reaches the curved part of the track.  The weight mass of car with the COG in front will not have traveled as far when it reaches the curved section as the weight mass of a car with the COG in the rear.  The farther the weight mass travels the more speed the car picks up on the first section of track.

However, if you move the COG too far back the car becomes unstable, wobble, pop a wheelie or jump off the track.

If the track you’ll race on is in good condition, very smooth, no rough spots, etc. then go aggressive with a ¾” COG.  This works well on most aluminum tracks.  If the track is rough, then you should go less aggressive with a 1″ COG.  Wooden tracks tend to get rougher with age.

Your COM should also be very low in the car.  The lower the COM the more stable the car will be.  That’s why tungsten plates attached to the bottom of the body can help create a very fast car.

Position the weights in you car so that you have the optimum COG.  Tungsten is the best weighting material because of its density.  This allows you much more flexibility in controlling your COG.

Remember, the fastest way to check your COG location is with the use of the COG Quick Ref.

COG Quick Ref