pine wood derby tricks

any secrets out there?
I am polishing the axles. shaft and inner face, polishing the wheels. inside and out. doing a four wheel alignment for less straight away drag also. using graphite.
mine won when I was a kid. Dont remember how dad built it, I still have it though.

Thanks
Dave

polish the axles use Moly to coat the axles, True the wheels in a lathe and make them somewhat pointy.
make 3 axles on the same plain and raise the other 1/64 higher so it will want to ride on 3 instead of 4.


I have seen most of the tricks I have seen $60,000 dollar pine wood derby cars come out of the shop.... take a couple months to build.... and no I am not exaggerating on the cost. these guys went to the nationals in open Modified and the closest competition was over 10 ft behind them........


Randy

Also on the axles take a very small 1/2 round file and concave the axle so the hub of the wheel so to speak only rides on the edges of the hub for even less rolling resistance. Also take a pipe cleaner and polish the inside hub of the wheel with Wenol or even Mothers metal polish, once you get the axle shaped polish those too to a slickry finish. Do the three wheel trick too. Leave one of the front wheels elevated just a smidge so it does not touch the race track when it is sitting still. Check your rules, but ours you did not have to use the factory grooves for the axles, I moved mine forward both front and rear maybe 3/16", made a jig for the drill press to drill the axles holes, drilled the holes for the axles for a slight press fit , make sure you leave the 3/8" (check your instructions to make sure this dimension is right) clearance under the car so it does not rub the track. You also can take your axles and put them in the drill press with the wheel on them. Work the metal polish in between the hub and wheel while runnig the press to make sure the wheel spins freely. Keep the weight as low as you can in the car and tinker with it to get the weight of the car as heavy as is allowed.

Good luck
Travis

All good tips, The wedge is superior in design with all the weight as far back as possible

[url=[url=[img]

Here are our pinewood derby cars this year. A Star wars "Pod Racer", (or at least our attempt at it), and a mustang. May not be too fast, we'll see tomorrow.



TJ

all the weight as far back as possible[/quote]

This is a big deal............. weight here is your hp. the farther up the track you start the majority of the weight the faster it will go. Just enough on the front to keep the front wheels on the track. My youngest son won every round here in our county with his, but my ex old lady threw us a curve and he didn't get to go to the state competition.

Our kit came with 4 1/4 inch dia. and about 1 1/2 inch long weights. I painted the ends red to look like four tail lights sticking out the back and shortened the front end to make legal length.

They had tightened the rules by the next year and you couldn't shave wheels or alter the axle mounting points.

Here's a pic of my son's car. We ran last weekend, built car to the rules and when we got there, the rules weren't enforced. Several kids had "illegal axles and wheels" on their car by the rules but where still allowed to race. Small town politics, it's sad that the kids are introduced to it at a very young age.

thanks everyone for the input. I would have been way off on the weight. I was going to put it dead center to distribute it evenly to all the wheels. I will put it in back now.

Keep the weight all the way back is Key. Get some tungsten carbide for weight Let it hang over the back keep the short end axle on the rear. 3 wheel it if too can 4.99999 - 5.00
Polish the wheels inside edge too, where it rides on the nail. File the nail inside head.
Use it on a drill press for the wheels & the axles. We took 3rd in the state last years finals.
1st in the scout's last 3 years.

While in Scouts, I built my own car and my buddies dad built his with all the tricks. I still beat his a$$. I spend a lot of time with sand paper and emory cloth.

I wish I would have known the three wheel trick. Nice!

http://www.maximum-velocity.com/fivekeys.htm

Thanks guys for all the help. Bruno, i just ordered over 100 dollars in stuff from that site. Wife is going to think I'm nuts. Oh well, good thing I have a toy fund for the shop and stuff.
Race is this Sunday.