How can you build a fast
pine wood derby car? |
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Answer:
To build a fast pine wood derby car, you need to reduce
friction. Friction is the enemy of speed. Reduce
friction, increase speed. |
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This short tutorial gives
you is a list of friction reducers that will help you
make a fast, competitive pinewood derby car. It is by no means a
comprehensive list of speed secrets. For more how-to
information, there are several excellent sources of
winning secrets listed at the bottom of this
article. |
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Friction DOWN, Speed
UP |
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Your pine wood derby car
moves from the pull of gravity and is slowed down from
friction. Friction acts like brakes. Reduce friction and
your car goes faster. Increase friction and your car
slows down. Friction DOWN, Speed UP It’s as simple as
that. Finding the sources of friction and finding ways
to reduce it is the tricky part. Here are some ways to
reduce friction and increase
speed…
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Lubrication |
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How to reduce friction? An easy way
to reduce friction in your pine car is to lubricate the
two surfaces. This is an essential part of pine wood
derby racing. Purchase a tube of graphite and sprinkle a
little on the axles near the wheel. Spin the wheel so
the graphite works in. You will immediately notice a
significant improvement in the wheel speed as you turn
it after applying graphite. |
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Another good lubricant, if your rules
allow it, is Nyoil II. Nyoil is a highly refined
thin-film oil. Only one or two small drops on your axles
reduces friction throughout your race because Nyoil
stays on your axles long after graphite has dropped off
in the later heats. See more details on this new lube
idea in Graphite
and Lubes. |
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Derby Axles
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| Your wheels turn on axles. One of the
biggest sources of friction is where the axles and wheel
surfaces meet. It is important to make your axles as
smooth as possible. Be absolutely sure that the burr
under the nail head is filed or sanded off. Once that is
sanded off, polish the nail and underside of the head to
a mirror like finish. |
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Derby Wheels
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Imperfections in your wheels cause
friction in many areas. Sanding your wheels, however,
can be tricky. If the wheels are not precision sanded or
lathed, you can actually make matters worse! |
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Imperfections in your wheels cause
friction in many areas. Sanding your wheels, however,
can be tricky. If the wheels are not precision sanded or
lathed, you can actually make matters worse! |
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Imperfections in your wheels cause
friction in many areas. Sanding your wheels, however,
can be tricky. If the wheels are not precision sanded or
lathed, you can actually make matters worse! |
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More Weight, More Inertia, More Momentum
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Your car moves down the track from the force of
gravity. If your car is too light, it will have less
inertia in the flat part of the track. Be sure your car weighs as close to 5
oz as possible. Find someone with a scale, purchase an
inexpensive scale or weigh your car at the Post Office.
Add weights
until the car with the wheels and axles is up to 5 oz.
Don’t wait until race night to get this right! When I
managed our pinewood derby race, there was always a
scramble just before the race to weigh cars and bring them up
to 5 oz. |
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Making your pine wood car go
straight
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This can be tricky. Roll your car
along the kitchen floor. If it veers to the right or
left too much, the axles are crooked. Just like steering
a car, you need to adjust the steering on your Derby
Car. To do this, you must adjust one or more of the
axles so the car rolls straight. You can do this by
re-drilling the axle holes and re-inserting the axles. |
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| Wheel imperfections can also make your
car veer left or right. Once again, lathed wheels will
remove mold imperfections so each wheel rolls perfectly
straight. |
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How to win your pine wood derby
race
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To win the race, you’ll need to learn
the speed secrets from the experts. If you are serious
about speed, spend a few dollars to download our
Winning Pinewood Derby Secrets book
that contains over 40 speed secrets or...start the long
process of trial and error like I did. |
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| Whatever you do, have fun, do your best
and happy racing! |
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Pine Wood Derby
Help |
| Need more help? The experts at Pinewood Pro have been racing and
managing pinewood derby races for years…As an engineer,
I have designed the most complete list of speed secrets
in my #1 selling book, Winning
Pinewood Derby Secrets. |
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| Most people pick up
the basic hints from friends or seaching the internet
but to be a winner, you need to know all the
secrets! |
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| Winning
Pinewood Derby Secrets |
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| If you are a beginner, consider
Pinewood Derby in Six Steps, which takes you through the
car building process step by step, in a clear, consice manner, with complete
illustrations. |
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| It also provides a bonus
section on Speed Essentials to show you
how to prepare your axles and reduce friction so you
have a competitive car. It even includes three simple
cut-out car design templates so you have everything you
need to build your first competitive car. |
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| Pinewood
Derby In Six Steps |
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| Finally, our Science of
Speed book and DVD explain some of the principles behind
speed. The DVD contains a nice segment on how to make
your pine car go straight. |
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| The
Science of Speed |
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| If you like our
pinewood derby how-to guide, please consider a link
exchange with Pinewood Pro so
other racers benefit
too... |
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Linking to Pinewood Pro is
easy!
Just copy and paste the
following into your website |
<STRONG><A
href="http://www.pinewoodpro.com/">Pinewood Derby Cars</A></STRONG> – You can build a winning pinewood
derby car with our design plans, polished axles, lathed
wheels, free guides and tips, plus full line of speed
products. |
| The link will look like this: |
| Pinewood Derby Cars – You can build a winning pinewood
derby car with our design plans, polished axles, lathed
wheels, free guides and tips, plus full line of speed
products. |
| |
| or visit our linkinfo
page for shorter desciptions or to download the Pinewood
Pro logo to spice up your links. |
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