Pinewood Challenge

Each year at the CVSN Annual Executive Business Conference, the world is treated to the spectacle of the annual 18-Wheel Pinewood Challenge.

The top three race winners are honored as are the top three in the concours d'élégance judging.

Check out the rules and information below, and get started on your truck for next year's race!

Maximum GVW = 4.0 pounds
Maximum Length = 20 inches
Maximum Width = 3.5 inches
Propulsion = Gravity
Wheels = Must be Official Boy Scout Approved. Must be 18 of them.

HINT: You'll probably want to start with a block of pine that's sold in your local lumber yard as a 4x4 fencepost.

THE TRACK

Your car will run down a metal track that's 50 feet long, 3.75 inches wide and 1.25 inches deep. The inside dimensions are 3.625 inches by 1.0625 inches. It's made from metal drywall runner track.

If you want to pick up a sample of the track, to make sure your vehicle fits comfortably, do what we did. Go to Home Depot and buy a single length of track. Here's what you're looking for...

No, that's not an endorsement of Home Depot or Dietrich Metal Framing. It's just what we're going to be using.

The starting gate will be 30 inches off the ground. The first (ten foot) length of track will descend to the floor. The next forty feet will take you to the finish line.

THE WHEELS

You can buy those wheels from a wide variety of sources. But they should be official "scout approved" wheels. Your local hobby shop probably carries them. Or you can go to your favorite search engine on the internet and do a search for "pinewood derby wheels." You should find lots of places to buy them.

In our search for wheels, we found a variety of styles that included smooth treads as well as various approaches to "speed" designs ("H-style" treads and "speed" style treads) that attempt to reduce the actual area of contact with the track to a mere fraction of the width of the wheel. Some people get really serious about this! However, to keep the playing field somewhat level, we're going to limit entrants to the SMOOTH tread wheels.

After that, we've seen wheels that have been specially machine lathed, and axles that have been grooved to form lubricant pockets, and a wide variety of other techniques used to make the wheels run truer or generate less friction. These approaches can become very time consuming and expensive and are, in our opinion, the product of unhinged minds.

Obviously, we're all in favor of that.

THE ELIMINATION SYSTEM

There will be two lanes. Challengers will face off in one-on-one heats. The winners of each heat will be moved off into one category, the losers will find themselves sitting in another category. The winners will compete against each other until only one is left. The losers will compete against one another until only one is left. Finally, the winner of the winners and the winner of the losers will run off against each other.

THE JUDGING

The competition is straight forward enough without the need to add more rules. But any disputes during the competition will be settled in the only civilized way possible: mob rule.

But it doesn't stop there. We'll also have a concours d'élégance judging where the best looking vehicle will win a special prize. So if you can't be fast, at least try to be good looking!

FURTHER QUESTIONS

If you have any further questions, please be sure to contact us, and we'll get right back to you with the answer.

See you at the Derby!