Car Racing - Pinewood Derby Tips
By Francis Murphy
Pinewood derby car racing competitions are popular in grade school level, Boy Scouts and other organizations. They are traditional racing events for scouts' club districts in the Boy Scouts of America. The aim of the competition is to create a pinewood derby car from kits containing a pine block, plastic wheels and metal axles and race them on a track through the use of gravity. The fastest car will win the trophy. Read on to find out about pinewood derby tips to win the competition.
The first important tip is to get the wheels lubricated. By coating the inner side of the rims and the axle with a tiny amount of graphite grease, the plastic wheels of your car will spin faster and this is a great improvement for a better speed. The basic principle used is to eliminate as much friction from the wheels of your car as possible.
The next way to increase its speed is to add weight to it. Heavier auto is able to go faster than lighter ones due to the fact that in this competition, gravity is your car's accelerator. So the weight of your car is a big factor. Since most competitions have a weight limit of five ounces, it is best that you get the weight as close as you can to that figure. You can add weight by adding glue pennies to the car's chassis or drill tiny holes in the body of the car to insert tiny lead weights used for fishing lines. To weigh your auto, you can make a purchase of cheap small scales available online or at a hobby store.
Another useful tip would be to smooth out the axles to eliminate issues with imperfections that are going to affect the speed of your derby auto. Since these imperfections will cause friction to the wheels, you can use sandpaper to smooth out the axles or wire-wheel the nail using a drill. Use a magnifying glass to check for any tiny imperfections that may have been missed.
Follow these simple tips to get a derby car with a fast speed that is surely going to make you the winner of the pinewood derby trophy.
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