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Help Building a Better Car


Here are some sites that provide helpful tips for Cubs wondering how to build a better, faster car or what kinds of unusual designs other kids have come up with.

Learn to Build A Winner

An on-line "shareware" book of tips on building a winning car by Stan Pope. If you find the material helpful, the author hopes you'll make a small donation to the Boyce Council, Boy Scouts of America.

http://members.aol.com/StanDCmr/lbw_apl.html

Pinewood Derby Controversy

The "battle to the death between parents, using Cray supercomputers, wind tunnels, and all the physics known to modern man" has spilled over into drive-time talk radio. Parents will like this one.

http://www.cartalk.com/Mail/Derby/

Pinewood Derby Tips and Tricks for the Tool Impaired

Want to read more tips on how to build a great car? Here are some excellent suggestions.

http://members.aol.com/randywoo/pine/pinetip.htm

Unusual Pinewood Car Designs

Here's a list of interesting and unusual cars built both by kids and by adults. If you're wondering how make a car like a giant candy bar, this page tells how it's done.

http://www.rahul.net/mcgrew/derby/designs.html

Unusual Pinewood Cars by Adults

This page features a lot of small photos of very unusual cars built by adults. For example, there's a Volkswagon Minibus, a tape measure, a screwdriver and more. If you click on an image, you'll get get to see a full-size photograph.

http://www.rahul.net/mcgrew/derby/photos/adults.html

Unusual Pinewood Cars by Kids

This page features a lot of small photos of very unusual cars built by kids. For example, there's a Volkswagon Minibus, a tape measure, a screwdriver and more. If you click on an image, you'll get get to see a full-size photograph.

http://www.rahul.net/mcgrew/derby/photos/


Technical Stuff for Parents


These sites were helpful to us in planning the Pack 62 Pinewood Derby, selecting our track and timing electronics and providing insite into the race methods used by other Cub Packs. Most Cubs won't be interested, but some of our more technically-oriented parents may be.

Building or Buying a Track

Here's where we found the contact information on Piantedosi Oars, the builder of our own new track.

http://www.agentz.com/newdirections/track.html

Cub Scout Pack 49 Pinewood Derby Rules

Pack 49 of Austin, Texas did an outstanding job setting out their Pinewood Derby rules. We've borrowed pretty heavily from them.

http://www.main.org/boyscout/drbyrule.htm

MicroWizard Track Timers

This is the other timing system we considered. The order-of-finish display is nicer than the LED display on The Judge system we choose, but the computer interface and precision on The Judge seemed slightly better.

http://www.microwizard.com

Pinewood Derby History

The first Pinewood Derby race was held in 1953. Since then, an estimated 40 million Cubs and parents have participated.

http://key.cyberg8t.com/asmwest/scout588/pine.html

Pinewood Derby Model Car Racing

The U.S. Scouting Service Project is not affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America. But as in the Cub Scouts, the Pinewood Derby is one of their most popular events, run just the same way we do. Here you can read their thoughts on how to run a successful race.

http://www.usscouts.org/index.html

Race Methods for a Shape N Race Derby

A Shape N Race Derby is the Christian Service Brigade's version of our Pinewood Derby. This site provides a good overview of the various strategies used to judge the winner. We're using what they refer to as an elapsed-time method.

http://www.rahul.net/mcgrew/derby/methods.html

Resources for a Shape N Race Derby

This site offers a comprehensive list of books, supplies and other products for Pinewood Derbies.

http://www.rahul.net/mcgrew/derby/resource.html

Stearns Method Critique

If you don't have access to electronic timing, you're pretty much stuck with elimination methods of judging the winner in a Pinewood Derby. And as elimination methods go, The Stearns Method probably the best. But this site explains why even the best elimination method can sometimes produce unfair results. This is why we decided to use electronic timing and elapsed time.

http://members.aol.com/StanDCmr/stearns.html

The Judge! Electronic Track Timer

The Judge! is the timing system we'll be using. Here's where you can read all about how it works.

http://www.agentz.com/newdirections/index.html


General Links on Scouting


Finally, here are some sites devoting to Scouting in general.

Boy Scouts of America

This is the national site for all United States Scouting activities, with lots of information about what Scouting is all about.

http://www.bsa.scouting.org

Cub Scout Pages on the Web

Many Cub Packs all over the country are represented on the Internet. Here's a page of links to some of them.

http://www.emf.net/~troop24/scouting/cubs.html#ma

What Is Cub Scouting

This is the official Boy Scouts of America page describing the purposes of Cub Scouting and explaining its activities.

http://www.bsa.scouting.org/programs/02-502.htm


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