2014 Pinewood Derby Car Race Results

Congrats to all racers for a terrific showing at the 2014 Pack 380 Pinewood Derby Car Race!  All scouts and families of scouts deserve a round of applause for making the event a success once again.

Here are the scout cars that were entered this year:

Here are the Open Class cars:

One thing that is for certain is that we had our most competitive races in quite some time with the average time between the top finishers and the cars in the Turtle Race being less than 0.35 seconds.  That is a very small margin so all racers should be proud of their results.

Some thanks are in order for the contributions of the following people without whom the races would not have been a success:

• Mr. Llata for serving as primary race announcer with assistance by Carlos Moreno (the Mt. Diablo Silverado Council District Executive) who stopped by to check out the races.
• Mr. Sigmundson who was our Race Marshall once again.
• Mr. Sumer who helped with pizza pick-up.
• Mr. Eldridge, Mr. Rominger and Mr. Lang who were the official race starters.
• Our Boy Scouts (David, Ethan and Cal) who incidentally are who are Woodside Elementary alums who helped with the running of the races.

If the track we used this year did not look familiar, give yourself a pat on the back for being observant.  We were lucky enough to get the track from a cub scout pack in the area that was looking for a good home for the track because they had gotten a new track.  We now have our own track for the first time!

The race format had each racer run in six preliminary races so that each car would get one turn to run in each of the six lanes.  The results from the preliminary races were used to determine the cars that would be in the Championship Finale and the cars that would be in the Turtle Race.  Here are the results from the preliminary races:  Preliminary Race Results.

The next race was the Turtle Race with the cars with the slowest average times from the preliminary races in the race.  The winner of the Turtle Race was the car making it across the finish line last.  This was a single race winner take all race.  Here are the results from the Turtle Race:  Turtle Race Results.

This year we had two siblings of scouts and three parents entered in the Open Class race.  The race was won by the Bat Car:  Open Class Race Results.

The Championship Finale again had the cars separated by hundredths of second.  For this race, each car was able to run once in each lane.  Here are the Championship results:  Championship Finale Results.

In addition to above results, we also handed out awards to Top Finisher for Tigers, Wolves, Bears and Webelos.  These were the top finishers who were not trophy winners.

Finally, we handed out an award for Spirit of Scouting for the scout/car that best exemplified the spirit of scouting, doing your best, sportsmanship, and individual effort with the making of his car.  This like all of the awards could have gone to a number of scouts, but winner of this award for 2014 was Webelo Han E.

Good luck next year!

2014 Pinewood Derby Cars

Here are the cars for this year. Quite exciting!

We have 24 cub scout cars and 5 cars for the open class race. This may be the largest number of cars that we have ever had.

2014 Pinewood Derby

Pack 380 Pinewood Derby

Friday, March 14, 2014

6pm to 9pm in Woodside MUR

Scouts, start your engines!  Are you ready for a little racing?

Each Pack 380 scout is invited to enter one car into our annual Pinewood Derby race.

Each car must pass inspection by the official inspection committee before it will be allowed to compete. Upon weigh-in the cars will be numbered and held by the pinewood derby committee until the official race.  Once a car passes inspection and is entered into the race, only race committee members are allowed to touch it.

Inspection will take place at the Pinewood Derby Weigh-In on Thursday, March 13, 2014 in the Woodside classroom C-5 anytime between 6pm-8pm.


Remember, that we will be taking orders for pizza and soda at the inspection event.

We will take pictures of the cars that will be used for the driver's licenses that will be granted to each scout that enters a car.  This year we will be administering a driver's license written test with questions on scouting so brush on your skills and knowledge about scouting!

The following are the inspection points

1. The car weight shall not exceed 5.0 ounces. The official race scale shall be considered final.


2. The overall length of the car shall not exceed 7 inches.


3. The overall width of the car shall not exceed 2 ¾ inches.


4. The car must have 1 ¾” clearance between the wheels.


5. The car must have 3/8” clearance underneath the body so it does not rub on the track.


6. The wood provided in the kit must be used. The block may be shaped any way that is desired.


7. The wheels may not be cut, drilled, beveled or rounded. You may remove the seams and imperfections from the wheels.
 The wheels supplied with the kit may be replaced with BSA official wheels.

8. The axles may be polished. The axles supplied with the kit may be replaced with BSA official axles.

9. Only dry lubricants such as graphite or powdered teflon "white lube" will be allowed for lubricating the wheels.

10. Wheel bearings, washers or bushings are prohibited.


11. The car must not ride on any type of springs.


12. The car must be freewheeling, with no starting devices.


13. No loose material of any kind may be used.

14. Details such as the steering wheel, driver, decals, painting, and interior detail are permissible as long as these details do not exceed the maximum length, width, and weight specifications.

15. Cars will be held over night by the race marshall until race day.

At the Pinewood Derby…

•                If a car leaves its lane, at his sole discretion, the track chairman may inspect the track and, if a track fault is found which probably caused the initial violation, the track chairman may order the race to be rerun after the track is repaired.

•                If, during a race, no car reaches the finish line on the track, the car which went the farthest in its lane shall be declared as the heat winner.

Top three fastest cars will win trophies.

Best looking car, as determined by a vote, will win a trophy.

The slowest car that passes the finish line will win a trophy. (aka “Turtle Race” Winner)

Also, we will award medals to the top finisher in each den that is not a trophy winner.

Finally, we will once again award a Spirit of Scouting Award to the scout who best exemplifies the spirit of scouting.

Open Class Race - We are also going to host an open class race.  This race is open to all non-scouts and even scouts who want to enter a second car.  A separate trophy will be presented to the winner of the open class race.  This race will take place after the scout race.

Checkout slideshows from previous Pinewood Derbies:

http://concordpack380.blogspot.com/2012/03/2012-pinewood-derby.html

http://concordpack380.blogspot.com/2011/03/2011-pinewood-derby-car-races.html