Cub Scout Pack 353

The Pinewood Derby is a Pack-wide race where our boys put their car-building skills to the test.  Each participant is given a kit that includes a block of wood, wheels, and axles.  Each scout can choose a design and shape the wood according to their idea.  Then, the sanding begins before the paint, and final touches. 

When the big day arrives, there are lots of opportunity for excitement.  Each car is pitted in a round of four to see who can get down the track the fastest. Each scout's car will go multiple times to make sure that they go down each lane of the track.  A computer program is used to keep track of all the times and caculate the overall winner. It's lots of fun as the boys get to cheer on their car as well as the cars of their fellow den members.

OFFICIAL PACK 353 RULES 

1. Width: The overall width of the car must not exceed 2 ¾ inches. The car must be 1 ¾ inches wide at the axles.
2. Length: The overall length of the car shall not exceed 7 inches.
3. Ground Clearance: The car must have 3/8-inch clearance from the track.
4. Weight: The weight of the car shall not exceed 5 ounces.
5. No loose materials of any kind are permitted on the car.
6. The car must be built for this race, using the parts in the kit. No cars from prior years may be used.
7. Wheel bearings, washers, and bushings are prohibited. Only official Cub Scout Grand Prix Pinewood Derby wheels and axles are permitted.
8. Wheels may be sanded to remove surface imperfections, but the treads must be flat. No rounded or modified wheels will be allowed.
9. Dry graphite is the only lubricant permitted.
10. The car shall not ride on any type of springs.
11. The car must be free-wheeling, with no starting mechanism.
12. COMPETITION:  Each car will run one time in each of the six lanes with cars racing against the clock.  The first heat will be run in order of car number and will establish times for each car.  These times will be used to establish running order for the second heat.  Each of the subsequent heats 3 through 6 running orders will be recalculated using each car’s previous average times.  The RaceManager software not only schedules every car in every lane (very important for fairness), but it also schedules slow cars against slow cars and fast cars against fast cars throughout the race! Why? Well, what happens is that some of the slower cars get to win a heat, which boosts morale (especially when compared to losing by several feet), and the faster cars win by smaller margins, which is good for humility. In addition, each scout should pay great attention to the entire race because he never really knows when his car will run in any given heat.  Using the time also lets us calculate team results (and the new Teamwork award!) from the same data that produced the overall winners. Because the winner is the car with the fastest time, each car is essentially racing against the clock just like runners doing a 100 yard dash. During each race, you will likely see Tigers’ cars running against Wolf, Bear, and Webelos cars.  The order the cars run and who they run against have no bearing on the final outcome. Since every car will run in Lane One once in the race, the scout whose car is in Lane One will start each race by pressing “The BIG RED BUTTON” on the timer gate at the end of the track, again keeping the scouts engaged throughout the entire race.
    PLEASE NOTE:  There will be no “Championship Heat”.  Because each car will run once in each of the six lanes with all six times averaged for each car, the Race Manager software is able to calculate the three fastest overall Pack individual winners, the three fastest Rank individual winners, and the fastest overall Rank (Team).  This makes a Championship Heat redundant and unnecessary.  In the past, we would run all the Tigers in all six lanes and get the three best from the Tigers, all Wolves in all six lanes and get the three best from the Wolves, etc., etc.  Then the three best from each of the ranks would run a Championship Heat where each car would run once in all six lanes resulting in the three fastest Pack cars. Doing this almost doubled the amount of time it took to run the entire race as well as resulting in having most of the boys “eliminated” and with nothing to do during the Championship heat.
13. TEAMWORK AWARD: The Cub Scout Rank with the best overall average time for all cars in its rank will win the Teamwork Award.  This will (hopefully) encourage scouts within their own rank to share design, engineering, and construction ideas and secrets with each other.  This will (hopefully) lead to a more competitive race and get the scouts to cheer for all the cars in their rank during the race.