Ethan is in his first year of scouting. One of the big events for Boy Scouting is pinewood derby cars. The scouts are given basic materials to build their own cars to enter in a race. Our Pack had its race earlier this month.
Ethan picked the colors. I tried to sway him away from Stanford colors to no avail. It's the only car with these candy cane colors. Ethan also helped with some of the sanding, painting and installation of wheels. He was also the official decal affixer. There is some science to this "kiddie" fun. It turns out, the real serious racers likely spend much time correctly weighting their cars and polishing and lubricating their wheels and axles. These are probably the keys to winning.
This was our first time racing pinewood derby cars. We did not really know what to expect. We did learn a lot for next year. We didn't win, but had a great time.
The video below was shot by one of the fathers in our den. Their car finished in 3rd place. Another car from our den won the top prize. We almost won a prize too: the Turtle Car Award for the slowest car able to make it to the finish line. After seeing the video, you'll probably agree that calling these "slower" cars "turtles" is a misnomer. We had "victory" snatched from our grasp when the winning car just barely rolled across the line a few second after our finish.
If you watch the start of the video closely, you'll see Dorothy.
Ethan. I did this as a Cub Scout and had the same result as you. Years ago we didn't do much thinking about all the stuff you dad talked about.
ReplyDeleteYou will do much better next year.
P&J
To: P&J
ReplyDeleteWe did our thinking after the fact. Some of the other fathers/sons did a lot of thinking and testing before the fact.
We were just happy to get a car put together. In the end, we had a great time, which is most important anyway, as we're sure you will agree.
C&E