Pinewood Derby Extreme Edition II

Here are a few more pictures from the pinewood derby. On the left you see "Breaking Wind" the propeller powered car that was the overall speed winner. I was surprised by this one. Those propellers had enough power to drive the car on the gym floor.

"Breaking Wind" on the left and the RC car on the right. The RC car was a really good idea but he needed a faster motor to make it win.
This is a nice shot of the CO2 car blowing itself off the track. It needed more weight and a more consistent mechanism but it was fast when it worked!. We had a rule that you couldn't touch the car during the start so he had a mechanism attached to a string with a big fish hook on the other end. The fish hook went on the top of the track. The gravity start would get the car going fast enough that when the string pulled taut the nail would be shoved into the cartridge. However, sometimes the string wouldn't release and the car would be left dangling off the side of the track. Hilarious!
Elder Hallam's car did very well. It was a nice kit that he bought at the store. It came with a lead weight to mount on the bottom. Very nice. If you ever get to see the Church's new missionary training videos "The District" you will recognize Elder Hallam. Sitting on the table is Elder Bridegan's car "The Golden Convert". It was so slow that it only made it over the finish line after I lubed it up for him. There is a bit of a lesson there too. Even the "Golden Converts" need help from the members to get to the finish.