Derby Talk

Last Saturday our pack held a Cubmobile race with each den making a cubmobile. All the cubs got a chance to drive around a grand prix style course with lost of little curves so older scouts could not run pell mell as fast as they could. We also had a drag race style compitition where 2 cubs pushed the car for around 20' and the car coasted as far as it could. Other trophies were awarded for "most tenacious", "best yell", and "best paint job". All the scouts had a fun time, younger siblings did too!

TurtlePowered,

So the race was held on level ground?
On grass, dirt or pavement?
Was your Grand Prix race a timed event or did the boys go head-to-head?

Another scout leader and I were thinking about holding an event like this although we are still looking for a site that would allow a soapbox derby style race (down a hill - gravity powered). Please [junk] any details that you can think of.

Da Graphite Kid

Hey TP -- sounds like a very fun and well-planned event -- congrats!

Have any photos to share?

Da Graphite Kid wrote:TurtlePowered,

So the race was held on level ground?
On grass, dirt or pavement?
Was your Grand Prix race a timed event or did the boys go head-to-head?

Another scout leader and I were thinking about holding an event like this although we are still looking for a site that would allow a soapbox derby style race (down a hill - gravity powered). Please [junk] any details that you can think of.

Da Graphite Kid

Grand Prix race was held in a church parking lot. The lot itself was level. Two cubs pushed the car using the broomstick-like handle in the back. So the two cubs need to work together when pushing and coordinate with the driver to see how fast he could control the car. Scouts took turns pushing the car around the track. The race was a timed event so we would not have the kids smashing themselves and the cars. We took average times so there would not be a problem with one den having different amount of scouts then another. Scouts put on helmets and if they had kneepads they put them on too.

TDean wrote:Hey TP -- sounds like a very fun and well-planned event -- congrats!

Have any photos to share?

Will try to get some digital pictures but don't have a web site to link too.

TurtlePowered wrote:Will try to get some digital pictures but don't have a web site to link too.

I use www.picturefuse.com. Free hosting and no problems so far. I am very satisfied with the service.

TurtlePowered,

That's a good idea to average the times for all of the boys within a Den. We have Dens with differing numbers so this could be a fair way to race for us as well. Did you compare times from one rank to another or just within a rank?

What Cubmobile plans did you use and do you have any suggestions to improve on them?

We had thoughts of having 3 man (Cub Scout) race teams with one Cub from three ranks; Tiger, Wolf, 1st Year Webelos (strangely we have only 1 Bear Cub and all of our 2nd Year Webelos have crossed over to Boy Scouts). These would be the building as well as racing teams. Thoughts were to have them race around the track three times with two manditory pit stops to change drivers so that all three would have a turn driving and pushing the others. If we took the total times for all three, this would include the driver change over times which would include their (parents) pit crew's performance as well. Having never run such an event let alone see one run, I'm looking for feedback on what we think we want to do... so how do you think this would go over?


Da Graphite Kid

Da Graphite Kid wrote:TurtlePowered,

That's a good idea to average the times for all of the boys within a Den. We have Dens with differing numbers so this could be a fair way to race for us as well. Did you compare times from one rank to another or just within a rank?

What Cubmobile plans did you use and do you have any suggestions to improve on them?

We had thoughts of having 3 man (Cub Scout) race teams with one Cub from three ranks; Tiger, Wolf, 1st Year Webelos (strangely we have only 1 Bear Cub and all of our 2nd Year Webelos have crossed over to Boy Scouts). These would be the building as well as racing teams. Thoughts were to have them race around the track three times with two manditory pit stops to change drivers so that all three would have a turn driving and pushing the others. If we took the total times for all three, this would include the driver change over times which would include their (parents) pit crew's performance as well. Having never run such an event let alone see one run, I'm looking for feedback on what we think we want to do... so how do you think this would go over?


Da Graphite Kid

We had the all the dens complete, giving a team prize, not individual prizes. Don't think it would really be possible to complete individualy when the other scouts are pushing the car because not all pushers would be the same. I would have some concerns about doing pit stops in mid race because the drivers do need to get their seat belt on and some children shared helmets. If you split up the ranks, you might have some problems with smaller/younger scouts pushing the older/bigger scouts. We had two scouts pushing for each race, one scout might be able to do it as well.
I would probably want to set asside 1 1/2 hr. for building each cub car. We used one den meeting for building the car then needed some afterschool time for painting. We used standard cubmobile plans that came with the kit. Seemed pretty decent except for the metal strap they included for holding up the push bar in back. We reinforced that with two ubolts after some test pushing after the den meeting showed the weakness.

TP,

Wait a minute, one of us is confused and I think I'm sitting next to him!
Were the race teams were made up of boys from within the same den/rank (and therefore age group) or were they made of of boys from different age groups?
I did not mean that each boys time should be used, I meant that each boy would get a chance to drive and all of the boy's times (on that team) would be used.

I think that having to put on a seat belt and helmet (properly) would be a part of the fun in a race like this. It would add another dimension to the race while giving the boy who just pushed (3 boy teams) a short rest. Besides, you would get the parents involved as they would be the pit crew (I just gotta get them parents involved in something besides building a car somehow!).

Plans were to have a team made up of 1 Tiger Cub, 1 Wolf Cub, 1 Webelos . In this way, no one team would have an age advantage although there may still be a size advantage. Team Captains would have to decide between picking the big kid who could maybe push harder (but would be harder to push) or the smaller kid who maybe couldn't push as hard (but would be easier to push).

Where did you get a kit for a Cubmobile?


Da Graphite Kid

Da Graphite Kid wrote:TP,

Wait a minute, one of us is confused and I think I'm sitting next to him!
Were the race teams were made up of boys from within the same den/rank (and therefore age group) or were they made of of boys from different age groups?
I did not mean that each boys time should be used, I meant that each boy would get a chance to drive and all of the boy's times (on that team) would be used.

I think that having to put on a seat belt and helmet (properly) would be a part of the fun in a race like this. It would add another dimension to the race while giving the boy who just pushed (3 boy teams) a short rest. Besides, you would get the parents involved as they would be the pit crew (I just gotta get them parents involved in something besides building a car somehow!).

Plans were to have a team made up of 1 Tiger Cub, 1 Wolf Cub, 1 Webelos . In this way, no one team would have an age advantage although there may still be a size advantage. Team Captains would have to decide between picking the big kid who could maybe push harder (but would be harder to push) or the smaller kid who maybe couldn't push as hard (but would be easier to push).

Where did you get a kit for a Cubmobile?


Da Graphite Kid

Our teams were the dens. Having fast pushers might be a small advantage but with the somewhat jagged circle course we used, the drivers skill in controlling the speed of the cubmobile proved to be the deciding factor. In your situation with 1 Bear scout you might need to make some sort of adjustment.
The key factor would be to have the scouts go slow enough as to not damage the belt assembly when putting it off and on. Maybe have the parents be in charge of that??? Helmets need to be adjusted to the boy, do all the boys have bike helmets that could be used?
I thought you were trying to rate individual drivers as well as team speed.
Local scout shop had the kits.

TP,

The Cubmobile Kits must be a local thing as I did not see anything in the on-line catalog off the National BSA site. Sure would have made planning something like this easier if there were. While at the site, I saw some new items that will really come in handy for this years summer camp...

Any chance for a drawing or something that shows your 'road course'? I could pm you my address if that would work better for you. Was wondering how far the boys could push a cubmobile so we could figure out the track size and shape. All help is appreciated.

By the way, did you guys go with the standard graphite-moly or use NyOil or SB-10?

Da Graphite Kid

Da Graphite Kid wrote:TP,

The Cubmobile Kits must be a local thing as I did not see anything in the on-line catalog off the National BSA site. Sure would have made planning something like this easier if there were. While at the site, I saw some new items that will really come in handy for this years summer camp...

Any chance for a drawing or something that shows your 'road course'? I could pm you my address if that would work better for you. Was wondering how far the boys could push a cubmobile so we could figure out the track size and shape. All help is appreciated.

By the way, did you guys go with the standard graphite-moly or use NyOil or SB-10?

Da Graphite Kid

I will try to get more info on the car kits, I didn't actually purchase them.
Road course was simply a circle with a few jagged edges thrown in so older boys wouldn't have a big advantage in top speed. I would guess 30 yards or so from one end to another. Weight of the car with cub in it is probably not more than a lawnmower with power wheels so kids could probably take it even farther. None of the kids really seemed out of breath on our course but some seemed a bit tired.
We used basic grease, not my idea. I would have used 10w30 oil.

Da Graphite Kid wrote:TP,

The Cubmobile Kits must be a local thing as I did not see anything in the on-line catalog off the National BSA site. Sure would have made planning something like this easier if there were. While at the site, I saw some new items that will really come in handy for this years summer camp...

Any chance for a drawing or something that shows your 'road course'? I could pm you my address if that would work better for you. Was wondering how far the boys could push a cubmobile so we could figure out the track size and shape. All help is appreciated.

By the way, did you guys go with the standard graphite-moly or use NyOil or SB-10?

Da Graphite Kid

http://vwilcox.users3.50megs.com/cubmobile.html has a plan on it that very closely resembles what we did. Site is real slow so be patient!

Thanks TP, I've seen plans like this before except they did not have the added plywood on the rear sides of the pushbar. Is this how you guys reinforced yours or did you just add another support from the bar to the frame?

Did you guys use real seat belts or was it something else?

Do you know what type of wheels you used (lawnmower, bicycle,...)?

We have our Pack Committee Meeting coming up soon and I would like to present planned Cubmobile or Pushmobile race. Any and all information I can get will really help at this time.


Da Graphite Kid

Da Graphite Kid wrote:Thanks TP, I've seen plans like this before except they did not have the added plywood on the rear sides of the pushbar. Is this how you guys reinforced yours or did you just add another support from the bar to the frame?

Did you guys use real seat belts or was it something else?

Do you know what type of wheels you used (lawnmower, bicycle,...)?

We have our Pack Committee Meeting coming up soon and I would like to present planned Cubmobile or Pushmobile race. Any and all information I can get will really help at this time.


Da Graphite Kid

It would appear I misspoke. Kits were not purchased. Raw materials were purchased from Menards and Harbor Freight. Den leader pre-cut some of the pieces so they could get the car put together in one meeting. Plan was right out of the Bear book. Just by looking at the tires I would guess they are lawnmower tires. Cost for all materials was around $30 per car. As more details come in I will post them.