Answer: To build a fast pinewood derby car, you need to
reduce friction. Friction is the enemy of speed. Reduce friction,
increase speed.
This short tutorial gives you is a list of friction reducers that
will help you make a fast, competitive 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.
Friction
DOWN, Speed UP
Your pinewood 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…
What is friction? Friction is caused when two surfaces rub together.
The rougher the surface, the more friction there is between those
two surfaces and the slower your car goes. Read on to see how to
reduce friction...
Lubrication
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 pinewood 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.
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.
Axles
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.
Wheels
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!
Wheels can become unbalanced, wobble, or even cause more friction
if they are not prepared correctly. Therefore, without shamelessly
plugging our own products, I would suggest purchasing precision
lathed wheels or tools
that help you do a good job preparing your wheels. Sorry, no easy
way out of this one.
The least expensive thing you can do is purchase matched wheel sets
that have been proven to increase speed slightly. Matched
wheels come from the same mold and therefore are exactly the
same.
Speed from Gravity
Your car moves from the force of gravity. If your car is too light,
it will have less pull from gravity. 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 before the race to weigh
cars and bring them up to 5 oz.
Making
your pine car go straight
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.
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.
How
to win your pinewood derby race
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
30 speed secrets or...start the long process of trial and error
like I did.
Whatever you do, have fun, do your best and happy racing!
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