When the announcement of the activity was made, a question about the "rules" for the pinewood cars arose, and the answer was "all open class" which meant no regulations (which pretty much means, no weight limit). That seemed to make everyone happy.
At first I didn't think I'd be making a car because the activity was the same day as the Scottish fair we go to every year. But as we thought about it, we decided that participating in the ward activity was the way to go. That meant making a car (or two) for our family to enter.
I picked up a couple of pinewood derby car kits from the scout office on Wednesday. I figured I would try making one of them, and if I screwed it up, I had one as a backup. But then Anna showed an interest in making one. I'm glad I had two. Immediately Anna knew she was making a "Nelly", and I decided on a type of wedge design. I have limited woodworking tools, but hoped it would be enough. It was. We both were able to get the shape we wanted, and put a couple of white primer coats of paint on that evening as well.
Thursday, I was able to pick up some spray paint I needed for my design, as well as a "speed" kit for the derby car wheels. I used some silver glitter paint as my base coat (2 coats). I taped off the parts I wanted to remain silver and painted the rest with dark blue. I put two coats of blue on. I didn't want to put too much so that the sparkle of the glitter would still be visible under the blue. Once those were dry, I put 3 glossy clear coats on as well. The body was done!
I used the pieces of the speed kit to bevel and smooth the tires, and file and polish the nail axles. Then used powdered graphite to lubricate the wheels and axles. It took quite a while, but it was my first time too. I'm sure I'll be quicker next time. Anna didn't work on her car on Thursday.
Friday, Anna got home from work and realized she needed to finish her car that evening if she wanted it ready to race the next morning. She penciled the flames on her car and began painting. She did a great job replicating the design of the flames on Nelly. The pinstriping was particularly nice. ( I wish I had known we had a mini pinstriping paintbrush, I could have used it for my car!) Once she was done with the detailing, she put the clear coat on and began working on her wheels and axles. And then went to bed.
Saturday morning, I put the wheels on Anna's car, which had been drying over night. It was good to go. And looking quite nice I might add. I told her that even if her car doesn't win, it'll be the best painted car there. (And it was! Mine was second best.)
There were probably 24 or so cars there for racing. 6 were from one family. Quite a few of the young women in our ward put together cars too. A few were "older" cars that had been raced before. But there were only a few that were adult made for this activity like ours were.
The brother running the races separated the cars into two groups: under 5 oz., and over 5 oz. He was going to initially run like-weighted cars against each other to determine the faster cars in each weight group, so I didn't think anything of it. (btw, I was helping out at the starting line) Races were ran in heats with 4 cars per heat. The car that one the first heat had to win the second heat also in order to move on in the winners bracket. We worked through the "unders" and moved onto the "overs". Both our cars were "overs". Anna didn't win in her heats, but I did, so I moved on. There were only 8 cars that were over, so it didn't take long to determine that my car was the fastest "heavyweight" as it was referred to. My car was juuust over the 5 oz. mark, there was one as heavy as 9 oz. The brother running the races through my car up there in a heat with some of the other winning "unders" just to see how it would do(traditionally, heavier cars don't do too well on this particular track), just for fun. My car won. He ran the same heat again without my car to determine a "real" winner, and moved to the last qualifying heat. After that heat, he declared who the top 3 cars were and that the final two heats would determine the overall winner. That was all fine except my car was not one of those three! I said "what about my car?", to which he said, "It's over the legal weight." I was so taken back that I didn't protest before the first heat was already underway. I then said, "So I have the fastest car here, and I won't win a 'prize' "? He then said, "but everyone knows you had the fastest car." Me, "And I get nothing to show for it?" This was all said in a light hearted manner. I'm not one to raise a ruckus, and it's all for fun, and I don't want or like to be "that guy" after the races, so ultimately, I let it go. Once the first place car was determined, I asked for a head to head race against it. I won both times.
Here are the photos...
My "Flying V"
Anna doing the pinstriping on her "Nelly".
The TRACK! 72 feet long!
That blueish blur is my car winning.
No award for the fastest car.
Anna won $10 at Target for best paint job!
**UPDATE**
5/25/08
Apparently the topic of the race outcome got brought up during a report on the activity. I guess there were some who thought that the races weren't done as described, and expressed that they thought I should have won. Turns out, the brother that ran the races made that weight determination at the last minute, seeing as the majority of the cars were under the regulation weight. As far as I know, the discussion didn't get out of hand, and it was decided that they were glad that it happened to me, and not one of the handful of investigators and less-actives that were in attendance.
The ward mission leader who planned the activity, didn't know about the discrepancy during the activity either, felt bad enough that it happened, that he gave me a "prize" anyway, and apologized. Like I said, ultimately it was all for fun, but it was nice to know that there were those that felt badly for the outcome. It's all good. I'll be back with an even better car for the next time!
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