Cars fly at World Record Pinewood Derby Track

[gpraceman]

Article:
http://www.wzzm13.com/news/article/2671 ... wood-Derby

[Speedster]

I wish I had known of this. I would have loved to be there. I am fascinated about the front weighted cars being so successful. Thanks for letting us know about the race.

[Stan Pope]

The track sounded really rough! Given the roughness and drop distance, I wonder how many cars actually reached the finish line?

[jcp420xx]

I wish I had known of this. I would have loved to be there. I am fascinated about the front weighted cars being so successful. Thanks for letting us know about the race.

There is nothing odd about it. Putting the weight in the back is only beneficial if the track has a flat section. By having the weight in the back the majority of the cars mass has a few extra inches to drop, effectively making the track a few percent taller, before gliding on the flat section. These supertracks are so long that the few extra inches gained are far less than 1% of the total drop. These supertracks also have a lot of joints and aren't the straightest thing out there so stability comes more into play and having the weight further forward helps in that regard.