James and I (Roger Jr.) went to Clinton-Massie Elementary tonight for his Cub Scout Pinewood Derby time trials. They give the kids (and their parents) a chance to make sure the cars are at the right weight, roll well, and even give them time to make passes down the course for race day (Saturday).

This year, James built a Formula 1 Ferrari car, in red of course. Weight is not to exceed 5 ounces, and we only had about 3 ounces total on ours tonight. I was fine with that until we did some races, and the car was too light to compete. James raced twice, and lost both by a few car lengths. DOH!

We went back and by the time our shapely vehicle (lots of it trimmed off) had enough steel washers added to hit the 5 ounce mark, it would have looked terrible with all that stuck to the car. Fortunately a woman had bought too many weights from our favorite hobby store, Hobby Lobby, and she gave us her extras. It was just what we needed (plus a couple more washers and a cap screw).

After we got the extra weight, James did another run, and tied a pretty fast car! He raced two more and tied them too! I relocated the weights on the bottom, and added some graphite powder (the only ‘lubricant’ allowed for Pinewood Derby) and he won 3 races! He did get beat again, but only by a tiny margin. So we are hopeful for tomorrow.

The photo below was taken before the extra weight was added: