painted and ready for wheels.
Technically they were made 'last' year (not complete.. but still)
so the boys wanted to make new cars for the race this year.
Since I added a few tools to the garage this year (new bandsaw, and a
decent used Delta scrollsaw from Craigs List) we kinda went 'car crazy' and built up several.
Both kids were able to use the bandsaw with push sticks, the scroll saw (with help)
sand, paint, help polish nails/wheels and work with my on alignment.
That cheap $8.99 airbrush kit from Harbor Freight is awesome... My oldest
wanted to learn how to airbrush this year, so we did! The silver/blue car is
my airbrush attempt. He designed the stencil on the nose, we transfered it
to some stencil film, then airbrushed silver over the red. Fun stuff!
My 7yr olds 'midget' racer..
Another hollowed out wedge car I built... (I like the way the paint came out on this one!)
My oldest (Web II) won the 'Most Streamlined' design award.
His car lost two critical races in the prelims (one each to the eventual first and second place
cars) The railcar design with the two longer tubular weights, was just a bit too unstable
for the older 3 lane track we used.
COM was about .9 in front of the rear axle and car right at 5OZ. In hindsight..
each of those tubes causes a huge moment of inertia arm, and if the car gets
just a bit bumped.. it seems to start oscillating.
My youngest (Wolf) whos car won it all (undefeated) from last year, wanted to focus on design.
His lego car with 'Wrench' driving won the 'Most Creative award
and only won a few races. 
Didnt realize just how rough the track we borrowed was! (32' pentosi track thats seen better days)
Went for speed and for nostalgia in the 'outlaw' class.
The VW microbus is faster than the real Syncro Westy that I own
12oz in the back helps though! Only thing missing is a 'Dead' sticker!
Outcome?
My oldest took 5th place overall.. but the cool thing?
The top three boys in the pack took advantage of a PWD workshop we did on
consecutive weekends prior to the race.
Although my sons didnt win any trophies, all three of the boys that did were
helped with cutting out their cars, design tips, weight placement etc: at
one of our workshops
In the end I asked my oldest (who was a bit bummed out) how he thought the
rest of the pack saw us (as a family).
Last year, my youngest tiger cub's car beats every other car on the track
handily, except one race with the oldest Web II in the pack where he only
won by a couple of inches. This year, competition was better.. the races
closer and the whole event much more enjoyable...
Winning is cool, but what would it have looked like if
we got up there this year, creamed the field while I was helping run the
thing?
In the end, we did race this years winner against last years just for
kicks.. and the red/white/blue wedge is still the champion!
The boys are excited for districts in March, hopefully they'll happen
this year, and it will be an open invitation to race (with entry fee) versus
must have won your pack race previously.
The original plan was to put the ducted fan *inside* the van and have it be a 'sleeper' Iin the end.. I would have had to carve up the body far too much, so I just made it a 'heavy weight' and make sure I aligned it really well. It's amazing how smooth it rolls. It tips the scale at just under 16oz 