2024 Pinewood Derby - Sat 3/2/24

[Peter Kostik]

Hello P195 families,

We have set our date for 2024 PD race and it's Saturday March 2nd. We want to give scouts a plenty of time to work on their cars, and will offer up few days in January to do the rough cut (tentative Mon Jan 29, Mon Feb 5), and other prep. Now is a good time for them to start thinking of the designs. Try to lookup Pinewood Derby race car ideas online. See attached pic with last year's cars.

All the scouts will get a PD kit purchased for them free of charge. If you have any siblings that would like to participate in the sibling race, please let your den leader know, as to how many are needed (sibling kits will be at ~ $6 per kit, payable to the Pack). PD kits were distributed during our holiday party last week. If you want any of the siblings to compete, please let your Den leader know so they can reserve it for you.

The race will tentatively start at around 9-10am on Sat Mar 2nd, and will run tru ~12-1pm. We will be checking in the completed cars the night before, on Fri Mar 1st, at 6pm in the cafeteria. We will try to have the race live streamed on youtube for those who are not able to attend in person, We also will be serving snacks and refreshments during the race (will need food serving volunteers).

If this is your 1st time participation at Pinewood Derby, please check out the post from last year's event, incl. the youtube video https://www.scoutpack195nj.com/home#h.y9au8vr4q7gb / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkPBEKSU-aU.

Thanks,

Peter Kostik

Upcoming Pack 2024 events:

Mon 1/8 - Den Meeting

Mon 1/15 - NO MEETING (school closed)

Mon 1/22 - Den Meeting (tentative date for visit to Franklin PD)

Mon 1/29 - Pack Meeting / tentative PD prep workshop #1

Mon 2/5 - Den Meeting / tentative PD prep workshop #2

Mon 2/12 - Den Meeting

Sat 2/17 - RV Klondike Derby (for webelos/aol's only)

Mon 2/19 - NO MEETING (school closed)

Mon 2/26 - Pack Meeting

Fri 3/1 - PD checkin at 6pm

Sat 3/2 - PD race day at 9am

[Peter Kostik]

Reminder, the scouts should be planning their car designs at this point. 

Generally the car build process can be broken down into:

1) pick a design (google image search is a good start)

2) draw the cut lines on the PD block of wood (parent help may be needed)

3) after the rough cut with the bandsaw (at the workshop), make other cuts/holes/adjustments to get the right shape (parent help def needed here)

4) polish the axles, and attach the wheels (careful with this one, so the wood doesn't chip, can be done at checkin as we have tools to help attaching the axles correctly)

4) paint, stickers, any glue on attachment accessories

5) weights (for total weight to be as close to 5oz as possible)

The 2 workshops will be (Jim will bring the bandsaw, denleaders should bring drills to help with polishing axles):

1) after the Pack meeting on Mon Jan 29th

2) during Den meeting on Mon Feb 5th

Thanks,

Peter Kostik

[Peter Kostik]

Hello all,

FYI the date of Pinewood Derby got pushed due to cafeteria scheduling conflict. The new date is Saturday Mar 23 for the race, and Friday Mar 22 for the check-in.

Our 1st PD workshop will be next Mon Jan 29th, and we will open it up right after the Pack meeting awards/announcements are completed. Please have the main cut lines drawn on the block of wood, to make the process smooth.

Thanks,

Peter Kostik

[Peter Kostik]

A quick reminder to bring your PD car wood to the Pack meeting this coming Monday, ready for cutting.

Here are a few good PD tips: https://www.scoutshop.org/blog/5-tips-to-building-the-fastest-pinewood-derby-car.html

Have a great weekend.

Peter Kostik

[Peter Kostik]

Reminder, the checkin begins at 6pm-7:30pm on Fri in cafeteria. All cars have to be checkedin on Fri. Please bring your scout's finished (or close to finished) car. Any dads who are woodworking handy could bring their simple tools, to help others with finishing touches, to pass the inspections.

We could also use a few dads to help move the track from the garage, and assemble it, so it's ready for Sat morning. On Sat let's try to be back at 8am, so we can start racing before 9am. 

At checkin, please indicate to your den leader the time that you and your scout is available on Sat. We will setup the order of den races on Fri night, so we can have best participation/cheers.

Regards,

Peter

[Peter Kostik]

Hi all,

it was great seeing all families checking in their cars today, what a turnout we will have tomorrow. A final few items before the show:

1) please try to be there in the cafeteria at 8am

2) we will start the race at 8:30am (1/2hr sooner than we initially planned)

3) order of the races will be: 1) bear, 2) wolf, 3) sibling, 4) webelo, 5) aol, 6) pack, 7) leader

4) as we need to be out by 1pm, we will try to run the heats much quicker, we may not do a break for lunch, but will have people visit the food vendor outside, while their den is not racing

5) Youtube link - https://youtube.com/live/ATS3EKYk520?feature=share

See you in the morning.

Peter Kostik