Pinewood derby

A couple years ago, Emma made a car for the Awanas Pinewood derby and ended up winning the speed competition.  That came after winning second place the year before for the design of her car.  So when the opportunity came for her to make another car for the Awanas Pinewood derby this year, she was all over it.  The car had to have the exact same shape as the one she won with.  She was convinced that it would be the winning shape again.  Then Riah got to build one as well.  She decided hers needed to be the same shape also.   So once we got the kits we started shaping and painting cars.  I ran the saw to cut the shape.  The only difference in the shape of the 2 cars is that Riah wanted the edges to be rounded and Emma left hers square.  Then came the paint job.  I gave them some ideas, but they each decided how they wanted their cars to look.  

Here is the first Pinewood derby car that Emma made back in 2007.

 At the Awanas in Brownsville, where she was going in 2007, they provided the weights to bring your car up to the maximum 5 oz.  That way everyone has cars that weigh same amount.  They also provided lube for the wheels which made a huge difference in how fast the cars went down the track. 

 We tried her car out first with now lube and it stopped before it got to the finish line.  Once we lubed the wheels, it did a lot better. 

 It was not a really fast car, but she won 2nd place for the design.  Mainly due to the Bible verse stickers that she decided to put all over the car.

This was her trophy for the design of the car.

In 2008, still at Awanas in Brownsville, she was able to build another car.  Here is the story of that event.

Here is what her car looked like that year.

 It seems to be missing a wheel after being played with for the last few years.  But this was one fast car.  It never lost a race and she took home the first place trophy for speed!

Obviously she was very excited to win this event.

Now we are in 2011 and both the girls got to make a car to race.  They are now attending Awanas in Lebanon, and they do the race a little bit different than in Brownsville.  Now that we know that, we will be prepared better next time.

 Here is Emmas car for 2011.

 For weights, we just screwed some washers on the top of the car.  Other people were taping coins to the bottom of their cars.

We found a little bit of graphite lube, but it did not work that well this time.  Her car crossed the finish line every time, but she did not win any races.  She still had a very good attitude and had a lot of fun participating in the event.  I think the Bible verses are a tradition now, so she will have to do them every year now.

Now here is Riahs car for this year.  (I personally like the colors!)

 She not only followed her sisters design in the shape of the car, but decided to use the Bible verse stickers as well.

 The grey stripes are in the shape of a cross if you look at the car from the top.

Here she is ready for the races to start.

We thought after the first race that Riahs car was going to be just like Emmas was the last time.  This was the end of her first race.  She won and there are 3 other cars on the track, they just have not made it to the finish line yet.  But that was also the last race she won.  The lube evidently wore off after this race.  Oh well, she had a lot of fun as well.  Then at the end, she won 2nd place for the design of her car!  She was very excited!

Now we know how it will work next year and we will be able to prepare their cars a little better.  I always love getting to do things like this with the kids and I also found out that there is a racer category for the parents.  So it looks like next year there will be 3 Jayne cars at the Awana Pinewood derby!  Should I make  a car the same shape as theirs are?  We will have to wait and see.

Here is our current fleet of Pinewood derby cars that have been retired to the display shelf in the girls room.

 I think the Tornado here is wanting to get in on this action too!