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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Joe,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> The Pine Wood Derby and be lots
of fun! My son and I have about 10 or 12 cars here at the house from our
racing days...... I tried to center the weights on the car so no two
wheels would have more weight on them then the others. There are all sorts
of strategies you can do, but ultimately it will depend on the track and
the amount of friction that are on the wheels. Use the dry graphite on the
nails that go through the wheels. Just try to have fun with it and don't
get too serious. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> The first year, I 'helped'
my son make a really neat car! On practice night, it beat
everyone! On the way out the door, he dropped it on a wheel. I
had to fix the damage. I was pretty tore up about it because I took it too
serious. The next few years, I took it easy and didn't try to get to
upset about things...... We had fun and he brought home so trophies!
Bty, He did win the contest for appearance on that first car! I had
made a 'shark' car. I got the idea from one of his match box
cars..... It had almost no straight lines..... It was shaped like a fish
and all the weights were 'hidden' in the car where I had carved out a hole for
the weights! An being an RC modeler, of course I filled the place up
and you couldn't tell where I had added them! ( Now you see......
Don't get carried away! )</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Royce</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
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<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=moleski@canisius.edu href="mailto:moleski@canisius.edu">Martin X.
Moleski, SJ</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=discussion@nsrca.org
href="mailto:discussion@nsrca.org">discussion@nsrca.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, January 15, 2003 7:39
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Off the subject - pine wood
derby</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>--On Wednesday, January 15, 2003 12:13 AM -0600 Joe Barnes
<BR><<A href="mailto:jbarnes@gaseed.com">jbarnes@gaseed.com</A>>
wrote:<BR><BR>> My eight year old son and I are building a Pine Wood Derby
car for the<BR>> Cub Scout races. Does anyone know where the car should
balance? (or does<BR>> it matter?) I will be adding about 2 to 2.5 oz. of
weight to the car to<BR>> bring it to a maximum legal weight of 5 oz. There
are different opinions<BR>> with the Dads. Some say the weights should be
in the back to push the car<BR>> down the track and some say the front to
pull the car down the track. I<BR>> think it should be some where in the
back third. This is our third year<BR>> of races and we have done pretty
well the previous years.(seconds but<BR>> never a first.)<BR>> Any help
would be appreciated,<BR><BR>Sounds like fun!<BR><BR>I've never
competed.<BR><BR>Here's a helpful page:<BR><<A
href="http://members.aol.com/StanDCmr/pwdesign.html">http://members.aol.com/StanDCmr/pwdesign.html</A>><BR><BR>He
argues for a rearward CG. I think the reason is that<BR>the higher
uphill the CG is, the more potential energy<BR>the car
possesses.<BR><BR>Marty<BR>=====================================<BR># To be
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