McDonald Madness: Pinewood Derby 2011

16 June 2011

Pinewood Derby 2011

Jan. 25th, 2011

This was Levi's 1st pinewood derby, so he didn't know what to expect. He wasn't overly excited about it because I think he didn't realize how much fun he was going to have. At the pack meeting that the boys got their derby car kits, it was stressed how important it was for the boys to do the cars & not the adults! I wonder if there has been an issue with this... =) We took these instructions to heart and made Levi do everything to make his car! So what does Levi build with best?....LEGOS! That's right, he made his car out of Legos!

There's a man in our ward that volunteered his workshop to any of the boys who wanted to use it for their derby cars. Levi jumped right on this...

Levi measuring & marking his block of wood:

Now he gets to cut it. Dad showed him how. What's with the "open mouth" when working or drawing? Levi always does this. It must help him concentrate...

Dad showing him how to blow off the wood dust:

Alright, Levi, you're on your own:

Getting his technique down: Blow!

Levi sanding the base of his car:

We even took him to Lowes for a derby demo that they were doing...it was pretty neat! They talked about little "tricks" to help the car go faster:

One trick was to sand the notches off of the nails, so that's what we're doing:

I volunteered to do the refreshments for the night. Here is the table that I decorated & the treats:

The refreshment table:

Here are the Twinkie "derby cars" that I made for the boys: I put gummie bears on top...

The cake I made for everyone else: Hunter was so afraid he wasn't going to get his cars back =)

Showing off my 'cars'

My family always supporting me: although Hunter looks tired...

They had a photo backdrop setup so they could take a picture of each scout with their cars when they came in. What a great idea!

The full view of the track. I've never seen such a fancy track! It recorded the boys time down to the hundredth of a second & showed 1st, 2nd, 3rd, & 4th place for each race. Very accurate & awesome!

Levi's fans!

I was so busy doing refreshments that I wasn't able to do a better job with our shirts. But I couldn't not do anything so I printed off our paper "pit crew" signs to show our support.

Logan looks like a rag doll:

I love Logan's little mini sign! He was so tiny here...

Hunter holding up his sign to cheer on Levi:

Levi & his best friend:

Levi weighing in his car:

It was a little too heavy, but that is the beauty of a "Lego" car...he just took off a few pieces and he was good to go!

After the boys weighed in, they were given a racing schedule & time sheet. This was such a good idea! The boys knew when they were supposed to race because they each had their own schedule & they paid attention because they had to record their own race times. (The official race times were still kept by one adult, but it kept the boys busy with something to do)

Getting their "pit passes" so they can enter the race: (This was just for fun)

The boys thought it was cool to get a special pass!

Levi's officially checked in now...putting his car on his number block:

Looking over his race schedule to see which races he will be participating in. Because of the fancy track, we didn't have to do elimination brackets. Each boy got to race 4 heats. Their times were kept & averaged out (dropping the lowest time) to see who had the best times.

The fans had to stay behind the flags:

Putting his car on the track:

Watching the race intensely!

Levi came in 2nd every race...He was the fastest one down the track several times, but once it hit the flat surface, his car couldn't sustain the speed. (arrow dynamics?)

Recording his race times:

After the boys raced a heat, they were able to take their car to the "pit stop" to make any adjustments they wanted. Levi putting some more graphite on his wheels: