Derby Talk

Whether you can do something like that depends on the rules of your derby, and what is allowed for its "Slowest Car" competition. A fly wheel might be considered an illegal power source. Adding weight to wheels might be an illegal modification of kit supplied wheels. But I haven't seen rules target...

My suggestion would be having four heavy wheels in contact with the track, e.g. fill them with tungsten puddy. The idea could be taken even further by gearing to a flywheel. The main idea being to convert the potential energy into angular momentum to reduce speed. Many of the other suggestions to re...

Top tips for speed. 1. Maximize potential energy with as much weight as is allowable, typically 5.0049999 oz. Here are some products that help get the maximum weight in the right place. https://www.maximum-velocity.com/product/adjustable-tungsten-round-3-2-to-3-5-ounces/ https://www.maximum-velocity...

Randy,
Thanks for checking and the advice provided.
A friend help me diagnose and repair my problem, so this system is ready to go.
Cause of this issue was with the reset switch connector getting pinched and shorting out this switch.

Anyone from the community using the Transpondor? My timer system is down, so I need a replacement. Reviewing the commercial options online, I am inclined toward this system if it is reliable. I would rather not need to buy another system for a while. Since we use RaceReplay, I think the quality of t...

I unpacked our 4 year old RaceMaster Timer system and find that it will not reset properly. On power up, the display briefly indicates the lane numbers. Then the display gets stuck showing: 012 345 678 9Ab Neither the reset switch, the start switch, nor a GPRM reset will get the board to reset or ch...

Bill (Speedster), A key factor in how we run our derby is fitting it into a 90 minute schedule. Our Awana program runs in the evening and the families often have younger siblings. Last cars are qualifying at 6:30 and families want to leave around 8pm. Things run so much faster with an adult stager a...

In brief, what I wanted was a Sterns round based on seeding from the 4 rounds from the perfect N races. I did manage the pull-off this 5th round of racing. Went with option A with Gold and Bronze final races featuring two boys and two girls in each race. To do this, I created a spreadsheet which cre...

We decided to give out an old leftover Awana 1st place trophy this year. Still need to figure out what to do for future years. Looking online, I like the looks of the following Pinewood derby car over a green crystal: https://www.crownawards.com/Auto.Trophies.8_1-2_-_13_1-4%22_Crystalline_Trophies/T...

Has anyone found a source for good looking trophy for a "Best Gas Mileage" award. I would like to buy a trophy about the size of Awana's 1st place speed. Ideally the trophy top should be distinctive to the award. A No Gas or perhaps a green Prius on top instead of the race car.

What is the best way to use 1st round seeding information to schedule one more run for every car? I am running an Awana Grand Prix for TnT(3rd-5th grades) Boys (20+) and Girls(15+), no other age groups. Will continue to run a perfect a Perfect N 1st round on our 4 lane track. Cars are only handled b...