Open Class Pinewood Derby

Our Ward (church congregation) had an open-class pinewood derby last week.

That meant NO BSA rules and NO weight limits. Our hope was that everyone would have an enjoyable time together as families building their cars in whatever fashion they wanted. One car kit was given to each family along with a set of simple open-class rules:

1. No combustion or flames of any kind. 
2. No harmful, irritating or odorous gases or fumes.
3. Cannot damage or mar the track in any way.
4. May not impede an opponents car in any way.

Participants will have approximates 5 seconds to place the car on the track before going to the observation area. You may not physically touch the car once it is placed on the track. 

So basically...anything goes!

We also had a tailgate themed potluck dinner, so those who didn't want to make a car could still come, eat, watch and cheer!

Unfortunately, Adam and I were unable to assemble our vehicle during the weeks before the race. So we didn't have time to implement a strategy for adding extra thrust to our car like some of the other participants. But we ended up with a decent, gravity driven, double decker bus in the three hours before the event! (Adam assembled it and painted it red, and then I hastily added the details. We'd like to thank our sponsors, Liz Claiborne, Calvin Klein, and Cuisinart for helping us with the finishing touches.)

The weight of our double decker pushed our vehicle down the track, but the aerodynamics slowed it down on the straightway. So it was decent, not the slowest, not the fastest. CLICK HERE to see the vid.

All kinds of cars showed up. There were several with some kind of propellant attached. One went so fast it flew off the track and then exploded apart as it cartwheeled across the gym! It was AWESOME! There was a lot of cheering and clapping from all of us. Unfortunately, because the car was destroyed it could only race that one time. I talked to the family who built it, they were totally fine with the outcome and were excited about its performance and are already working on improvements.

There were other simple cars just like ours and it worked out alright. Everyone was a good sport and the kids enjoyed staying put and watching the races. There were no awards and no ultimate winner (This was HEAVILY debated during a meeting. But the decision was a good one—it made the event relaxed and FUN versus highly competitive and strict.)

Car registration was simply adding your name to a bowl. We drew three names at a time and those three raced. And then drew three more etc. When all the names were used, we put them back in the bowl and started again. So everyone had a chance to race their car three times. And because it was completely random, and no scores were kept, each time a car raced it had the opportunity to win. (In the future we will divide the car registrants into two groups (gravity propelled vs. unmodified propelled) so the opponents are better matched in speed.)

After that we opened up the track for call-outs. Anyone could call out any opponents to race them on the track. It was fun to see who decided to be rivals.

Marla and Lex made a car with a remote controlled propeller engine on top. CLICK HERE for a vid. See their car on the right.

Compressed air anyone? Lysha and Reed ordered 3-d printer parts to make their car work. CLICK HERE for the vid.

This one was propelled itself down the track quite nicely. (Sorry, due to unknown technical difficulties the vid wouldn't upload.) Well done friends, Ali and Jed, well done!

We took a vote later to see if this activity was successful enough to hold it again next year. And it looks like we will! I'm pleased—and relieved—that people enjoyed it and were all good sports.

I'm convinced now that everyone has seen what's possible, next year we'll have a larger number of vehicles enter the propelled driven category...and we'll probably need net at the end of the track to catch the ones that go flying off it!
SaveSave