One option for the display style is a wall mount display. This will allow you to display your Pinewood Derby Car behind an enclosed plastic or glass casing, which can be hung on the wall so that anyone who comes in to the home or office will see your FAST Pinewood Derby Car. You can hang it easily on the wall so that you can show your Derby Car off and allow to see which car took home the prize for first!

Wall Mount Pinewood Derby Car Display Case

Another display option is a dome style desk display. This is a smaller case that can be placed on a desk, and it is encased with a plastic cover that will protect your Pinewood Derby Car. It will show off the car nicely and it can be personalized with a plaque or sign to display beneath the case or dome.  Some other great places to put the dome display is on a bedside table, mantle over the fireplace or on a shelf in the rec  room or den.

There are also basic stands for the desk, which do not have the dome covering that will allow you to display the car.  The case will hold the car in place, and will keep it secure with certain bolts, but it will not be covered by the dome casing that would protect it from dust and dirt.

Whether you choose to go with a display stand or wall mount for your winning Pinewood Derby Car consider the display that will best show off your car but also be practical for the space you plan to put it in.

Parents should be there to offer their support when their children are building their Pinewood Derby cars for the first time. This is the perfect project for Dad to show off his knowledge to his children and pass this knowledge on in the form of support and suggestions. If the children win even one heat race, Dad will be a hero and losing a race will make them want to improve for the next race.

This also strengthens the bond between parent and child as they are working together for something that the child finds to be important. Mothers should get involved as well and in some families they may be the only one who can. This should be a great moment in both of your lives as you will be working closely together in harmony to fulfill your child’s dream of the perfect Pinewood Derby car. Designing the shape of the car can be a lot of fun and your child’s imagination will be off the chart during this process so be prepared!

Revell Dragster Pinewood Derby Car Kit

The whole point of Pinewood Derby races originally were to give fathers and sons a project to work on together. There was so much pride involved when a family’s car won the race.  The trophies were proudly displayed for all to see. It is best to offer suggestion when building a car with your child but the final design should be up to them. If they are asking about tips to boost your cars speed you should ask about their ideas first and then show them your ideas and why they might increase speed. You will have to pay particular close to the local Pinewood Derby rules to keep your car from being disqualified.

In the end, the most important thing about building Pinewood Derby cars is the satisfaction you and your children will have for completing a project together as a team. This bonding is what makes this such a special experience as we grow up. It also teaches the basics for project management and shows children how to reach a goal. This sounds like a lot of credit for racing some cars down a set of wooden lanes but Pinewood Derby cars hold a special place in the hearts of many Families and your children will pass this on to their children in many cases as well.

DerbyMax Speed Tips Report

First off, the lubrication used will help eliminating the amount of friction in the car. By lubricating the two surfaces, this is going to eliminate the friction, and create a fast pinewood derby car. Using a graphite based lubrication, and placing it on the axles and in the wheel’s bore, will help eliminate the higher levels of friction. Another good lubrication base is nyoill if it can be found in your local store. The right derby axles are another component to consider. The most friction occurs between the axles and the where the wheels meet. For this reason, the axle has to be as smooth as possible to ensure lower amounts of friction. Using sand paper or a sanding machine is a great way to smooth out the axles when building the pinewood derby car.

The proper derby wheels are also a component to the car. Making sure there are no imperfections, bumps, or divets, will ensure the smoothest wheel base. So, sanding down the wheels, and making sure they are fully rounded all the way around the wheels, is an essential piece to reducing friction. Additionally, by eliminating any imperfections, it will help ensure the pinewood derby car stays straight on its path. The weight should also be considered. A pinewood derby car which is between 4 to 6 ounces in weight should be the ideal weight. If there is more weight, this will add the inertia and force on the flat surfaces of the course, and in turn will help increase speeds.

Making sure the car always goes straight is also essential. If the car is going left or right, the axles may be crooked, or the wheels may have imperfections on them. Therefore, adjusting all of these things prior to entering the pinewood derby car in a race, is going to ensure the quickest speeds on the course as well. Additionally, this step will allow you to add lubrication, check the weight, and make sure all other aspects of the pinewood derby car are as perfect as can be, prior to entering it in a race.

By considering all of these steps, and making sure the least amount of friction is found between the wheels and axles of your pinewood derby car, is the most important step to building a faster pinewood derby car. So, checking all these steps in the building process, will ensure the quickest speeds on the track.

Revell Dragster Pinewood Derby Car Kit DerbyMax.com

1. Handle the wheels and axles.    If you will cater to these parts of your car you will be able to increase speed dramatically. Be sure that you have enough lubrication on your wheels and that they are  even.  The axles are also very important parts that contribute to speed, so be sure they are smooth. Polishing them is a good idea,  be careful on how you do it.
2. 2. Carefully add weights.  Adding weights willy-nilly is certainly not the best thing you should do when it comes to your derby car. Mostly you will see that the weight limits for such cars are limited at 5 ounces. The secret here is that you should make sure to add weights to your car as close as possible to the limit, but without actually going over it. You can use lead weights and the good news is that you can easily find them at your local hardware store or online at DerbyMonkeyGarage.com or DerbyMax.com. After you will have installed the weights make sure they are flush with the car’s surface. If not, the weights will actually slow down your machine by adding drag as you will race it.
3.  Don’t underestimate the painting.  The paint can easily have a dramatic effect on the car so that is why it must be done properly.  Before putting paint on your car, make sure you sand it properly and make it smooth. Then, you will need to add 1 primer coat followed by a few other light coats. If you put 2 heavy coats on it, the car will be heavier and it will also take a longer time to dry it. Using the multiple-coats method you will not only make your car look better, but also lighter and thus improve its aerodynamics.
4. Inserting the wheels and axles.  You need to do this very carefully and the wheels will need to be inserted as straight as you can. Most of the times it’s recommended that you leave someone with experience to handle this step to make sure it’s done correctly. There should be a small amount of space between the car’s chassis and the wheel’s inside.

Derbymax Rail Riding Alignment Kit

Test your car properly. Now it’s time to test your derby car on a smooth surface. If possible, test it on the pinewood derby car racing track to see how it races.  We hope the above tips help you to build the fastest derby car in the race that will help you be the winner!

Safety First

Always unplug any power tools you will be using, when attempting to make any adjustments or add any accessories to your Pinewood Derby Car. Always ensure you have a firm grip on the power tool. Any adjustment devices need to be securely tightened before operating the tool. Always wear safety goggles and a dust mask before operating the power tools.

Steps to Take in Designing your Pinewood Derby Car

Are you excited to start your project? Before you do that, know that your car must not exceed 7 inches in length, have a width of not more than 2¾ inches. Your car wheels must be 1¾ inches apart, and not weigh more than 5 oz.

What is really cool in designing your pinewood derby car from scratch. Let us take a step by step approach. Your first step would be to put your design ideas on paper by putting the block you are going to use on its side, and tracing all around the block, marking the axle slots. Next you need to place the block bottom side up on the paper and trace around the top, again making sure you mark the axle slots.

Place the block on its end and trace around it, thereby creating the end view for your pinewood derby car. It would be good to make a view copies, so you can experiment with a view design ideas for your car. It would be better to draw the side profile of your exciting new car first, then the top and finally the end view. Let the creative side come out of you and be amazed at how good your design will look once you are finished designing it.

Your next step would be in using a coping or band saw to cut the side view, ensuring you follow the lines that you drew. Now make sure you put your drawing for the top of your car firmly in place. Trace around the drawing and make the top cuts with your coping saw. Round the edges of with your power rotary tool for a smooth finish. Your basic design would be completed for your pinewood derby car. Use the sanding tool to smooth any remaining edges. Now you would use course and fine sand paper wrapped around small wooden blocks to ensure you get that polished look. Ensure you use a soft cloth that is not wet to prepare your pinewood derby car for the next stage.

Painting Your Pinewood Derby Car

Your final stage would be to give your pinewood derby car the paint it deserves. First you need to apply one to two primer coats to prevent your paint from getting soaked into the wood. Let each primer coat dry completely and lightly sand in between coats. Now you may either spray paint or brush paint your derby car.

We suggest you wipe of your car with a soft cloth before each coat of paint. Another useful tip is to have a paint stand for your car by driving three big screws in block of wood as it will provide stability and make it easier in applying each coat of paint for your pinewood derby car. We hope you had fun in designing your pinewood derby car.

There are always fast Pinewood Derby Car Kits if you don’t have the time to start all the way from scratch.  A great example is this Eliminator Dragster Pinewood Derby Car Kit:

DerbyMax Eliminator Pinewood Derby Car Kit

Pinewood Derby cars are very easy to build and more because there are many building kits available for buying online. They come in a variety of fast Pinewood Derby Car kits and designs in order to keep your collective up to date. The kits consist of a body, cylindrical axles, an instruction manual and a decal kit. You can also buy custom parts and paints in order give your car a more customized look. Apart from these kits and additional supplies, you can also order Pinewood derby car plans if you feel you are  handy and can build them. These templates are available in several patterns and designs which will help you to build a cool Pinewood Derby Car from scratch.

Revell Sprint Car Pinewood Derby Car Kit DerbyMax.com

Most boy scouts decide to prepare their Pinewood Derby car from scratch when entering their first Pinewood Derby GP race.  To do so, the most important thing is to prepare a proper blueprint of the car you would want to race with. Attention and patience should be put in while sketching up this drawing. Once the drawing is finished and the design is finalized, trace the template on the wooden block used to make the body of the car. The outline should be as clear as possible as this will be used as line of reference while shaping down the wooden block. A handsaw and few other woodworking tools are used to provide the required shaping, and this should be done under adult or parental supervision.

Now comes the process of making the axle slots. You might consider the option of having longer wheel bases as they tend to move faster.  Try to have the two pre made axle slots nearer to the end of the block. Keep in mid that these new slots should be exactly square with the sides of the block unless you want your car alignment to be off.

After the previous two steps, you will be greeted with the basic model of your car. All it requires is smooth finishing. Usually wheels are attached after the car is painted. Achieving quality paint job is whole lot easier than it seems. Before applying the paint its necessary to prime the wood surface of the car. Sandpapers of different grits are used for this purpose. Start with the lowest grit, then gradually move to higher grit. Its not required to have different coats of paints. Spray paints are easy to work with and gets the job done. But if you are interested in having an elaborated design, painting by hand is recommended.

Once the paint dries, its time to fix the wheels. before that check for extra plastic or burrs that might be present on the tread of the wheel. If you find any, sand them down.

Here you’ve have a fine and band new Pinewood Derby car made from scratch. Do remember to see that most of the job is done by your child instead of you. That will provide a sense of pride and will help him learn to create from his imagination.

Here are some tips that will help you with achieving that:
1. Minimize the friction of the axles and wheels
It doesn’t mean that you will only need to focus on these 2 in order to get the car running at its top speed. What you need to do is to thus polish a bit the wheels and the axles which will in turn reduce friction and thus give you a boost in speed. But make sure that when you will do this, you will use the right materials and equipment. After you will be over with this process, it’s important that you will check to see if they are balanced. Rolling the car on a flat surface will allow you to tell if there are any problems with it or not. Tweaking your car this way should be done ahead of the day the race will be due, so that you have enough time to fix the damages should you have to deal with some.

G-Force Xtreme Speed Pinewood Derby Car Kit

2. Use a gradual approach when sanding
You will not make your pinewood derby cars look more attractive by sanding and painting them, but you will also reduce the air friction. Keep in mind that while you will be sanding your car, you will need to reduce the fineness of the sandpaper step by step.

3. Don’t underestimate the power of a good paint
After you will make your pinewood derby cars feel as smooth as baby’s skin, you will need to paint them. 1 coat of white primer should be added first and make sure that you cover your car well enough with it. The 220 grit paper sand-paper is an excellent choice in order for the surface of the car to be left perfectly smooth. After this process will be done, you will need to add a few coats of paint to the vehicle’s body. Adding 1 or 2 heavy coats is not recommended. They will not only take a long time to dry, but they will also add up a lot to the total weight of the car.

4. Align the axles and wheels
There are many methods through which you will be able to align the wheels and axles of your vehicle. Make sure that you take into account the difficulty of a method before you will do anything about it. For instance, not all methods are optimal for the Cub Scout.

5. Use the trial and error method
There are a few actions that always provide a boost to your pinewood derby cars and they number:
1.    Using high quality wheels & axles
2.    Are-polishing wheels in need of a new smooth surface
3.    Testing out the axles and wheels until they’ll roll true

With these tips for your pinewood derby cars it’s certain that your next project will be a successful one. Good luck!

The nine pieces are:

• One block of pinewood with two notches for the wheels

• Four plastic wheels

• Four nails

There is a weight restriction of five ounces. The length of the car should not exceed a certain length and must fit on the local track used by that scout club. The block of pinewood can be shaped with a hand knife, band saw etc. Decals, bought from hobby shops, could also be used to imitate actual racing car features. Even fender and pinewood derby car body kits are available.

Scouts let their imaginations run riot and you can see cars which are actual imitations of race cars, to weird looking contraptions, or just the pinewood block. A low car profile, with weights added to the rear, help it move faster. Graphite is put on the nails, as a lubricant to help the wheels spin faster. The idea behind the pinewood derby was for the son and parents to combine and make a car. It was intended to be a family project. However, the spirit of the event has been lowered to some extent, as usually the father ends up designing and building the car, for the son to be crowned in glory.

Black Magic Pinewood Derby Car Kit

The competition is held on a race track which usually consists of between two to six lanes and they slope towards the ground. Basically gravity and inertia propel the car and friction and air drag tend to slow it down. Modifications are done to the car so as to maximize potential energy. The body is shaped to minimize air resistance and the wheels shaped to give minimum contact with the track, to reduce rolling resistance. A low car profile, with weights added to the rear, help it go faster. Graphite is put on the nails as a lubricant to help the wheels spin faster. To even up the odds, the race is held in heats and each car has to be run in all the lanes.

Some clubs group all the racers of the same rank such as Tiger Cubs, Wolf Cubs, Bear Cubs etc.; while other clubs compete with the entire pack. The prizes for first, second and third place are usually ribbons, medals or trophies. The best car designs are also awarded prizes. As the derby progresses, the winners go from the club level, to the district level and finally to the entire council. Each race is accompanied by lusty, full throated, cheers from an exuberant pack of Scouts, in a spirit of fun and friendship.

Over the years the popularity of the derby grew and it spun copycats. Many organizations now hold similar derby’s, although differently named. Cub Master Don Murphy, in his wildest imagination never dreamed, that the Pinewood Derby would be so popular and help foster the spirit of sportsmanship and unity, among so many youngsters.

The Scout is give nine pieces and has to use all in the construction of the car.  The nine pieces are:

•    One block of pinewood with two notches for the wheels
•    Four plastic wheels
•    Four nails

There is a weight restriction of five ounces.  The length of the pinewood derby car should not exceed a certain length and must fit on the local track used by that scout club.  The block of pinewood can be shaped with a hand knife, band saw etc.  Decals, bought from hobby shops, could also be used to imitate actual racing car features.  Even fender and body kits are available.  Scouts let their imaginations run riot and you can see cars which are actual imitations of race cars, to weird looking contraptions, or just the pinewood block.  A low car profile, with weights added to the rear, help it move faster.  Graphite is put on the nails, as a lubricant to help the wheels spin faster.

The idea behind the pinewood derby was for the son and parents to combine and make a car.   It was intended to be a family project.  However, the spirit of the event has been lowered to some extent, as usually the father ends up designing and building the car, for the son to be crowned in glory.

Revell Grand Prix Racer Pinewood Derby Kit

The competition is held on a race track which usually consists of between two to six lanes and they slope towards the ground.  Basically gravity and inertia propel the car and friction and air drag tend to slow it down.  Modifications are done to the car so as to maximize potential energy. The body is shaped to minimize air resistance and the wheels shaped to give minimum contact with the track, to reduce rolling resistance.  A low car profile, with weights added to the rear, help it go faster.  Graphite is put on the nails as a lubricant to help the wheels spin faster.

To even up the odds, the race is held in heats and each car has to be run in all the lanes.  Some clubs group all the racers of the same rank such as Tiger Cubs, Wolf Cubs, Bear Cubs etc.; while other clubs compete with the entire pack.  The prizes for first, second and third place are usually ribbons, medals or trophies.  The best car designs are also awarded prizes.  As the derby progresses, the winners go from the club level, to the district level and finally to the entire council.  Each race is accompanied by lusty, full throated, cheers from an exuberant pack of Scouts, in a spirit of fun and friendship.

Over the years the popularity of the derby grew and it spun copycats.  Many organizations now hold similar derby’s, although differently named.  Cub Master Don Murphy, in his wildest imagination never dreamed, that the Pinewood Derby would be so popular and help foster the spirit of sportsmanship and unity, among so many youngsters.

Every derby racer wants to know what is the best and fastest Pinewood Derby lubrication.

The best lubrication may or may not be legal for any particular race.  The BSA does not have a standard set of rules that must be followed by all scout packs.  So, lubrications rules may vary from one pack to another.

The fastest lubrication for a Pinewood Derby car is a super thin oil called Krytox GPL 100.  This is a super slick oil developed and produced by DuPont.  This is a highly-refined synthetic thin-film lubricant with an ultra-low viscosity. When Krytox is properly applied it easily outperforms any dry lubrication including graphite.

Krytox is also very kind to your nice paint job. Graphite will permanently stain a light color paint job but Krytox will not.

If using oil such as Krytox: Less is Best… Place two small drops on the axle shaft.  Place the axle in the wheel bore and spin the wheel several times.  Remove wheel.  Wipe off excess oil from the axle.

The problem is that many pack rules do not allow any type of liquid lubrication. So that forces you to use a dry lubricant like graphite.  There is a huge variety of Pinewood Derby graphite lubricants on the market today.  Its difficult to make an inelegant choice on what graphite to use.  Different graphites come in various particle sizes and some contain additives such as molybdenum.

An example of a quality 100% pure graphite is Monkey Dust.  This is a secret formula of natural and pure industrial grade graphite powders that create a tremendously low coefficient of friction.  The Monkey Dust micro-fine graphite particles are designed with special properties allowing them to form a super slick dry film that adhere to wheels and axles to significantly diminish friction. The results are longer lasting graphite and a much greater speeds.

This specially formulated graphite has been used by thousands of Pinewood Derby racers nation wide… and Monkey Dust consistently brings cars home in first place.

On the other hand, a quality graphite containing performance additives is DerbyMax Graphite with Molybdenum.  This lubricant consists of a fine, specially ground formula prepared with molybdenum. The Molybdenum stabilizer has a very low coefficient of friction and when mixed in the correct proportions enhance the lubricating effects of the graphite.  Many tests have proven DerbyMax Graphite with Molybdenum to be the best available.

If using graphite: More is Best… Pack the wheel bore with graphite.  Place the axle in the wheel bore and spin the wheel several times.  Then pack the wheel bore with graphite again. Reinstall the axle and mount the axles wheel on the car.

So, which graphite is best? Is molybdenum an important additive to have?  Tests are unclear.  Many racers are convinced that a graphite fortified with molybdenum outperforms any other dry lubricant.  Others can produce test results that show the opposite.  When it comes down to it just use a good lubrication that you feel confident with.  Monkey Dust and DerbyMax Graphite are both excellent choices.