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Grand Prix

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 12:44 pm
by Eyes High
Don’t know if some of you might would be interested in this, but the Awana group at my church held its annual A.W.A.N.A. Grand Prix. I think this was our eight year doing it. Well here are some of the pictures taken with my cell phone.

First of all, by talking with a friend, I was reminded that some of my may never have seen the derby races and might be unfamiliar with the track used. Here is a picture of the track we used. It was built by one of our Deacons from blue prints ordered from Awana Clubs International.
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and the starting gate.
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We might have had a smaller crowd this year but I believe most of the people enjoyed it.
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My husband built a jet engine car. It placed third in the Adult Speed Category.
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My middle son won first place Design in the Adult category and Second place in speed in the adult category.
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My youngest son did not place in the children’s category but I thought his car was neat. He did a Comic Strip car. The comic strip was six panels long and read as thus:
In 1st panel a stick figure holds a block of wood: “I’m gonna build a car out of wood!” In the 2nd panel the stick figure is attaching a wheel, the 3rd panel shows the figure thinking, the 4th shows him painting the car, the 5th shows an explosion cloud with the word BOOM in it, and the last panel show the stick figure with his hair on fire saying: “WOW! That went better than I thought.”
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I tried to do a fire truck. Of course I once again found myself trying to complete it at the last minute. I think I left the church Friday night, March 20th around 11:18; the race was Saturday, March 21st. Glued my last piece on around 10:30 pm.
Just think from this:
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to this:
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Might would have been through sooner but I made the mistake of leaving my car outside with the paint drying unattended. Someone picked it up while it was still wet. Had to redo that side of the truck. Which it turned out better because of it. Instead of repainting the details I just cut out more of the shinny sticker stuff and placed it on the effected area.
Third place in Design for the Adult category.
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My husband and I never raced against each other this year in the actual competition but he did run our cars together afterwards.
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Well hope you like these. Have a nice day everyone. I put more pictures up over at Worm's in the crew members' gallery.

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 12:45 pm
by A Thing of Eternity
Looks like a blast, especially with the kids!

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:09 pm
by Omphalos
My kids will be doing this soon. I can't wait.

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:49 pm
by The Phantom
I used to build those cars all the time with the Cadet group at my church.
won for design twice... never for speed though :P

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 4:47 pm
by SandChigger
Omphalos wrote:My kids will be doing this soon. I can't wait.
Still the only, even remotely convincing argument I've heard for having children: Getting to play with kewl toys again! :D

(I'm kidding, of course. Sort of. ;) )

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 4:53 pm
by Omphalos
SandChigger wrote:
Omphalos wrote:My kids will be doing this soon. I can't wait.
Still the only, even remotely convincing argument I've heard for having children: Getting to play with kewl toys again! :D

(I'm kidding, of course. Sort of. ;) )
I used to think that it took a certain type to have kids, and I pretty much though that the entire time nugget #1 was gestating (though I did have my monents of serenading my wife's belly). All that changed the second I saw the slimey little blue bugger after he slipped out. Its been true love ever since, and now twice over.

But then again, maybe I was one of those types and didn't even know it. :wink:

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 5:35 pm
by Ampoliros
lol I have a wall of my room that still has my old Boy Scout Pinewood Derby awards. We really got into it and perfected our racers. My younger brother benefited from all that and we dominated the Pinewood Derby for a few years.

One of my Dad's innovations, not sure where he got the idea: cut out circular pieces of tape, fill your wheel's wells with graphite, and put the tape over it. Now your wheels are heavier and self lubricating.

I love the Jet Engine car!

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 8:06 pm
by Rakis
Omphalos wrote:
SandChigger wrote:
Omphalos wrote:My kids will be doing this soon. I can't wait.
Still the only, even remotely convincing argument I've heard for having children: Getting to play with kewl toys again! :D

(I'm kidding, of course. Sort of. ;) )
I used to think that it took a certain type to have kids, and I pretty much though that the entire time nugget #1 was gestating (though I did have my monents of serenading my wife's belly). All that changed the second I saw the slimey little blue bugger after he slipped out. Its been true love ever since, and now twice over.

But then again, maybe I was one of those types and didn't even know it. :wink:
Yeah, you grow into it...they never let you forget, 24/7...

Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2009 7:14 am
by The Phantom
yeah when I was building the derby cars it was very purist... you could use graphite but the actual car could only be made from the wood block given.

nowadays, they're carving out the bottom and dropping in some lead to make it heavier etc... no finesse anymore :P

Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2009 8:46 am
by Freakzilla
Baraka Bryan wrote:yeah when I was building the derby cars it was very purist... you could use graphite but the actual car could only be made from the wood block given.

nowadays, they're carving out the bottom and dropping in some lead to make it heavier etc... no finesse anymore :P
There's still a weight limit.

Last pine wood derby cars I made were Speed Racer's Mach 5 and a Formula car.

Both required two blocks. I got the idea for the Mach 5 from the Formula car, which I bought plans for.

The Dremel Tool came in quite handy on those curves on the Mach 5.

Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2009 9:31 am
by Eyes High
Yeah we have a weight limit of 5 oz. Plus other restrictions.

The leaders and I are discussion as to rather or not to change the 3inch maxium height restriction but still keep it at 5oz max for the weight.

They have to use the wheels and axles provided in the kits and only dry lub for the wheel. But once they purchase the kit, we can't tell if it is the same wood or not. So many hobby stores sell precut derby cars now.

Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2009 6:51 pm
by The Phantom
yeah there's a weight limit, but still.. shaving it down then filling it to 250g of lead is hardly original.

i'm just a purist i guess

Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2009 7:33 am
by Eyes High
Baraka Bryan wrote:yeah there's a weight limit, but still.. shaving it down then filling it to 250g of lead is hardly original.

i'm just a purist i guess
Well then you should be happy to know that there was no lead in mine this year. All the weight came from the attachments; i.e. the ladders, the pipes, the boot string (painted to look like a hose). The final weight came to 4.9 oz.