How To Make a Fast Pinewood Derby Car: The Most Important and Worthwhile Tips

Our son and I have made Pinewood Derby cars that have won our Pack’s Scout and parent races each year. In this video, we share with Cub Scouts and parents how we did it. Our follow-up video (   • Build a Winning Pinewood Derby Car: Step B...  ) takes you through a step-by-step example. A great number of tips and advice can be found on the Internet for making a fast Pinewood Derby car. This video shows the tips that we found to make the biggest difference and were the most worthwhile for the amount of effort. See our follow-up video (   • Build a Winning Pinewood Derby Car: Step B...  ) for a step-by-step example of how to put all of these tips together to make an actual car that can win your Pack’s race. This video’s methods are compliant with the printed rules that come with the official Pinewood Derby car kit. But make sure your Pack does not have additional rules prohibiting specific improvements like changing the axle positions. Video Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 00:27 How do you want to win? 01:07 Learning the secrets 02:14 Balance point in rear 04:07 Aerodynamic shape 04:39 Perfect axle gap 05:12 Lots of graphite 05:44 Move location of wheels 06:32 Lift one wheel 07:18 Roll straight 08:37 Polish axles 09:27 Other tips 09:41 Wrap-up