5 December 2008
One Mom Understands the Seriousness of Pinewood Fun
Posted by admin under: program .
Hat tip to cars.com, of all places, for this cool blog post from a mom who has a Cub Scout and finally understands the hoopla around the Pinewood Derby.
Parents of Cub Scouts know all about the Pinewood Derby; it’s like the prom for Scouts. It’s the event of the year, people, and these dads, er, Scouts don’t mess around. As a mom who writes about and review cars for a living, you’d think I’d know my way around the Pinewood Derby. Not true. My family’s first mistake was underestimating the derby’s competitiveness.
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The science behind the Pinewood Derby is staggering, and it’s kind of cultish. My husband found that only people who weren’t competing in the derby would talk about their racing secrets, including using graphite to make axles spin faster, weighing down the car in strategic spots and using attachments that give an edge at the starting line. That’s just the beginning; there’s even a “Pinewood Derby Speed Secrets” DVD by a physics professor, I kid you not.
Do these tricks make any difference at all? I mean, it’s not like they measure the results to hundredths or thousandths of a second, right? Wrong. So, so wrong. Our pack rented a steel Pinewood Derby track that was connected to a computer and measured results to the thousandth of a second. The results were displayed almost immediately on a big screen for all to see.
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Next year Liam plans to sand the contact points between the axles and wheels to reduce friction. Next year, it’s on.
*ding* Chalk up another convert to the annual Pinewood Derby mania. I better start on cars for me and my Tiger. Our April derby is just around the corner!
