Pinewood Derby Loop track

[RememberSchiff 3663]

 

THE TRACK — Boy Scout Troop 83 at the First United Methodist Church in Fort Collins, Colorado, may have had the coolest Pinewood Derby track ever made.

They teamed up with popular YouTuber Taylor Calmus, known as "Dude Dad," who made a track with a loop that is taller than many, if not all, of the Boy Scouts in the troop. He says at the start of the video that it could be the Dude Dad's "most epic project yet."

Loops are not unheard of in Pinewood Derby tracks. One Pinewood Derby service advertises "circles of death," which is a loop system typically added after the competition races are completed as an additional challenge for the cars. Most loops I saw online are less than a foot high and are added to the traditional metal tracks; and, most videos showed at least one car not surviving the obstacle.

...more at link below or just watch video..enjoy

Source:

https://www.ksl.com/article/50403200/have-you-seen-this-dude-dad-creates-epic-pinewood-derby-track

Edited May 11, 2022 by RememberSchiff

[MattR 2659]

The track is really cool. (Hope they have a big place to store it.)

I also really liked that they had a build day. Every scout can at least have a reasonable car and it's no more than a few hours. That brings back the fun.

[RememberSchiff 3663]

1 hour ago, MattR said:

The track is really cool. (Hope they have a big place to store it.)

They probably just store it at the Council STEM (Store Troop Equipment Materials) warehouse. You know the Council building that was useful and did not cost over  a million. I hear some units rent their tracks from the Council STEM warehouse with the OA assembling the track for a small donation. Of course, the warehouse also stocks smoke-shifters, dehydrated water packets, and knee socks garters and tassles to match your epaulets.

 

Edited May 12, 2022 by RememberSchiff

[InquisitiveScouter 1653]

1 hour ago, MattR said:

I also really liked that they had a build day. Every scout can at least have a reasonable car and it's no more than a few hours. That brings back the fun.

Yeah, I wish people weren't so messed up in the head, and would stop building cars for their kids.  When you go to some district/council events, it is OBVIOUS that many were not the product of a Cub Scout.

My son's car never won those events.  He built one two years in a row, and competed.  Where we lived at the time, it was blatant that parents were building and tweaking cars.  Honed axles, graphite, teflon, or other lubes, etc, etc,

I wouldn't do it for him.  He got a little upset with me, but think he learned a valuable lesson...life isn't fair, and many people cheat and cut corners.

He never built another one.  Adults ruin so much of the fun.  (I suppose I ruined it for him, too...)

When we moved here (his last year of Webelos), this Pack did a modified build day... you could build and trick up the body at home, but everyone had to put on Pack-provided axles and wheels at the event.  No mods, and one adult would lube all the axles.  If you won and advanced, you get get another squirt of teflon before the next race.   It restored a lot of integrity to the race, and the kids had a whole heap of fun.

And there were lots of categories for competition, other than fastest.

Best Scout-theme Car, Best Patriotic Car, Best Alien Car, Best Military Car, Best Star Wars Car, Best Pokemon Car, Best Transformers Car, etc.  The Cubs picked the themes when we handed out the blocks (weeks before), and we announced them to the rest of the Pack.

Cubs could purchase extra blocks and build more than one car, if desired.

I love that this guy spent so much time, effort, and money to make a great event for them.  We should ask him to make us a full up pioneering kit on a trailer 😜