Well today is the BIG DAY......STATE Pinewood derby Championships!! Heading out in about 10 minutes... Just a refresher: Here's the web page: http://home.bellsouth.net/p/s/community.dll?ep=16&groupid=308525&ck= If you go to photo albums then the 2006 page, you will see the red car with the flames for my older daughter....Competing in the "speed" category. The Mach 1 is competing for "design" for my younger.. Off I go...Wish us luck!!! RC
Here's the Low Down: GODD AND BAD! We will start with the good FIRST PLACE DESIGN: MACH 1 Mustang (no contest) Ok...So here's the deal with the REd Speed car: She lost in her FIRST heat to a car that ended up winning first (bad luck draw). She lost to the car that won 3rd place by about a mm....Therefore, if there "were" a 4th, place, she would have gotten that. BUT here's the thing: The more the car is "Back-weighted", the faster is starts out, but it tends to slow down on the straight away towards the end. I moved the weight up a little bit, and at our local meet, her car accelerated on the straight away, but always started fairly even or just a little ahead. Our track at the local is 42' long.......it has a LONG straight away, so I designed that car as such. The track they used today was only 28' long....The long staight away did NOT come into play on this track... The car had to be TOTALLY back-weighted to do well. By the time my daughter's car started to hit the part of the track where her car would otherwise push forward, the race already ended. The first place car was really good, so IM not gonna sit here and make excuses that it "WOULD HAVE" won first, but I know it would have won something. IM gonna make sure Next year I know the length of the state track and build the car as such. ANyway, the Design FIRST was great, since Im into the "bling" anyway. My daughter got a 3' trophy, and a 4' travelling trophy that circulates to the winning church every year. We had lots of fun and got to spend the day together as a family!!! Thanks all! RC
