pine wood derby

Pinewood Derby Car by Nick Lopez
Calculations: There weren’t many calculations that I could make because I don’t know the height or anything of the track. But some of the calculations that I made in relation to my car are the following: Before I made any modifications to my car, the card weighed 3.5 ounces, once I made my modifications to the car it not weighs 7.3 ounces with the majority of the weight in the rear. This was made so the car would have a greater potential energy when it sits at the top of the track. Secondly, before I did anything to the car more specifically to the wheels, when I went to spin the wheels, they only spun for an average of 2.9 seconds, after I sanded down the axle with steel wool I got them to spin for an average of 4.6 seconds. This goes without saying, but this will make the car go faster. Apart from that, I made the car more aero dynamic by cutting some parts of the car down and obviously it will now go faster
Construction of car/Optimization: As far as the construction of the car goes, there wasn’t much needed in order to construct it. The kit I bought came with a wedge of wood, with 4 nails and 4 wheels. All I had to do was shove the nail through the wheel and into the pre drilled holes already on the side of the car. So, as far as the construction of the car, that was the easy part. NOW, for the optimization of the car, that is where things got interesting. I started by whittling the wood body of the car, I even shed some blood. So, the first thing that I did was I chopped off the top of the car, I did this so I could make it more aero dynamic and this would also allow me to add some weight back there in order to increase the potential energy of the car and ultimately make it go faster. I then shaved off some of the front of the car to make it pointier which will make it cut through the wind and once again make it go faster. Next I cut some wood off the midsection, once again to make it more aero dynamic and one again…