Risk

There is one element that nobody really talks about when designing and building a real pinewood derby car: risk.

You can design a great car. Your son can try to hammer in the axles straight. Your son is going to do his best in making the car. But things go wrong. They go wrong when you do it. They go wrong when he does it.

Tips:
1. Do yourself this favor.  If nothing else - buy 2 or 3 sets of the car kit.  A bent axle, a miscut body, a broken wheel, a mismeasured line will ruin this for your son. Do not let having another $6 block of wood, four other steel nails, and some cheap plastic wheel be the difference between disaster and good times.

2. Drilling axle holes versus axle grooves. And there are some issus with risk in design. The most imminent one is drilling holes farther back and higher up. In theory, it will make your car faster.  In practice, you are introducing a lot of new risk into the design. Without a drill press or a specialty drill jig attachment, you have no chance of drilling new holes straight enough to make the car go straight (and win). It is easier to cut a straight line with a coping saw for an axle groove. So just be prepared to make mistakes.

One year, we drilled holes. They weren't straight. So we used the other side of the block. They weren't straight either. We cut axle grooves on one side. One wasn't straight, so we used the other side.  I decided to only make one cut and keep the existing axle groove.  I got that line straight. And the axle groove allowed me to move the axles up and down, which was an added bonus. So, yes, axle grooves are not theoretically as good a drilled holes, but in practice, they are a lot, lot easier to work with.

3. One block, two bodies. You should be able to make your rough cut, one quarter in on the thin side angling up to one inch in the back. You cut that, you have two car bodies to work with. You mess up on one, you have another to work on.

4. Get a coping saw that is more than 3.5 inches in clearance in the back.  Otherwise, you will have difficulty cutting the block in half.

5. Safety first. Get goggles that fit you and your son.  Have an eye wash station ready to go.  There is sharp things, metal burrs, sawdust, and other things you don't want in your eyes. Have a pair of light gloves for you.  Your son is not going to be steady with the coping saw and Dremel.  It WILL get away from him now and again.  It is better that the thin gloves take the brunt of it rather than your skin. And your son won't cry because  he hurt you on accident.

6. Do NOT wait until the last minute to start.  I have said this before. You can do the car in one day. Your son will need months.  Things happen. Homework. Holidays. Birthday parties. Pinewood gets deprioritized and don't expect it to be a priority. Just allow for lots of time.

7. If the rules say 3/4 inch clearance, add on an extra 1/16 of an inch. The biggest tears come from kids who bottom out on a track and can't finish a race. And I have yet to see it, but disqualification has to be horrible. Let's try to win, but let's not flirt with disaster.

8.  Be prepared for race day adjustments/disasters. I will have a post on this later.