The race will be held during our next Pack Night, which will be held on Friday Night, March 15th, in the lower church basement. The meeting starts at 7PM, but you are welcome to come at 6:45 to begin the weigh in and check in process, as it can take a while. Cub Scouts should be wearing their full uniforms to this and all Pack Nights.
Inside of your kit should have been a sheet describing the basic rules. In case your kit was missing that, here are the rules that Pack 3904 follows:
- The car cannot exceed 5.0 ounces. The Pack's official race scale will be considered the final ruling. Drills and hot glue guns will be available during check-in for final tweaking of weights. If you are overweight, you will be required to bring your car down to 5.0 ounces. If a car is underweight, it will be the owner's discretion if he wishes to bring it up to 5.0 ounces.
- The overall length cannot exceed 7.0"
- The overall height cannot exceed 4.50" (or else it will not fit underneath our timing mechanism)
- The car must 1.75" clearance between the wheels, and at least 3/8" clearance under the body, or it will not fit our track.
- You must use the pre-cut slots for the wheels
- The wheels and axles supplied with the car must be used and cannot be modified, except to remove any burrs or seams. Washers, bushings, bearings or similar are not allowed.
- Liquid Oils or lubricants are not permitted, nor anything that will leave a residue on our track. Most Scouts use graphite for lubricating their wheels and axles. Note that WD-40 has been known to actually gum up the wheels and slow the car down.
- No springs allowed, nor are any power sources allowed (gravity is the only thing powering these cars).
- Although other races require all 4 wheels to be in contact with the track, Pack 3904 has traditionally waived this requirement. However, please be aware that if your son goes on to race his car in the District Races, they will require all 4 wheels to be in contact with the track.
- "Outriggers" or anything that interferes with other vehicles are not permitted. Also not permitted are any loose material, such as lead shot.
And, the rules of the race itself are:
- Once a car has been weighed, and checked in, it is impounded, and may not be touched again until it is that person's turn to race. Immediately after each heat, the car is to be brought back to the impound table.
- Each car will race (4) times, once on each lane. All times are recorded and an average of all 4 times is used to determine the top 3 finishers.
- In the rare occurrence of a tie, the cars that are tied will have a "race-off". There will be only one 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners - no ties!
- We will also have a "Best In Show" judging competition for best looking.
- If a car falls off the track or out of its due to interference from an outside person, or another car, the heat can be re-run at the race official's discretion. If a car falls off the track or out of its lane due to its own design, or act of God, the race will not be re-run.
- If a car falls off the track and is damaged, the owner of the car has until his next heat to make repairs. Please note that since the computer randomly generates the names for heats, this could take 1 minute, or it could take 10 minutes, so make repairs quick!
- The race officials' decisions are final. This applies also to any situation that may come up that is not enumerated here.
Let's remember the main purpose here is for our sons to HAVE FUN, and for us as parents to have an opportunity to bond with our sons. Please, Please, Please - let your child build and do as much of the work as possible on his car. We don't wish to see cars that had little or no Scout involvement. In fact, if it appears that a car was made entirely by an adult, our race officials will have the authority to disqualify such a car.
For those adults wishing to build their own cars, Pack 3904 is sponsoring an "Adults - Only" Pinewood Derby on a date to be determined in June. For a $20 donation to the schools' Big Red Auction, you will be provided a kit, and the Pack will supply snacks and the track. At this adults-only event, all rules are eliminated, and cars can be modified in any way desired, as long as our track does not get damaged.
Also - new this year will be a Hotwheels Race for the siblings of our Cub Scouts. Siblings are invited to bring three of their favorite HotWheels cars for their own race. This will take place before the actual race, while the Cub Scouts are weighing and checking in their Pinewood Derby cars.
Sunday April 14th will be the North River District Pinewood Derby. All participants are invited to this race also. More information will be given out during the Pack Night.
Please let me know if there are any questions.
Jerome Lasky
Remember - Let's keep the OUTING in SCOUTING!!