Countdown to Pinewood Derby

We've been busy with the Pinewood Derby the last few days. D has been madly trying to finish up 3 cars, his own plus M and A's cars. My part in all this is usually restricted to painting. I've done bits and pieces of other parts, but it seems like a good father/son activity so I mostly stay out of it. A lot of painting gets done in the after school time, either outside (if its warm enough) or in the garage when D's car is not there.

Tonight was the last chance to really fiddle with the cars and the first chance to run them on the track. At first both kids cars seemed pretty slow. I knew they would be disappointed. M wasn't there (he was at a birthday party), but A was bummed that his car was losing. Then it turned out that D hadn't put the graphite on the wheels and axels yet. Once he put the graphite on, it was like turning on the turbo boost. Whoosh went the cars. M's car was faster than A's, but both were fast and both kids were happy. M was also happy to hear that several people thought his car looked "cool".

 

D preparing to run both kids cars. A's is on the left, M's on the right.

Close up of both cars. A's on the left again.

 

D is still working on his car - he was trying something innovative and it didn't quite work - it was too wide for the track, so he is reworking it.

I'm off to bed - the cars have to be checked in before 8:30 tomorrow morning. So I'll be getting up almost as early as on weekday mornings.