The 2012 Derby

This year's Derby will be on Saturday, August 11th.  Time to be determined.  (Trying to figure out what makes sense given eating, racing, Bennett's nap schedule, etc.)

We're adding a new category this year, which means it's time to review the rules.  Rules for the first 4 categories remain the same as in past years and can be reviewed here.  See below for the new information.

This year we'll have trophies for:

• Fastest Car
• Slowest Car
• Best In Show
• Fastest Illegal Car
• Fastest Blastcar

Huh?  What is this Blastcar you speak of?  Turns out the BSA recently started something new called a Blastcar.  The Pinewood Derby was for the little kids, and the Blastcar is designed for the older boys.  It's fairly similar to the Pinewood Derby, but instead of just racing on a gravity-based track, Blastcars are CO2 powered. 

In your kit you'll get directions, a block of wood (which is larger than the Derby block) with a hole drilled in it for the CO2 canister, wheels (larger than Derby), axles, and 2 screw eyes.  The block is a rectangle, and you can choose if you want it to be wider or more narrow, depending on where you put your wheels.

The directions talk about different possible courses: Downhill, Gravity Battle (uphill), All-Terrain, and Sprint Speed.  As of today, we haven't decided which way we will be racing the cars.  We're going to need to do some testing to see if we can use the track, the driveway, or if we need to construct some other way to race the cars.  The directions talk about things to consider when designing your car based on what type of course it will be raced on, but unfortunately we can't provide that information at this time.

You can buy CO2 cartridges at the Boy Scout Store, but without the launcher they won't do you much good.  We're happy to buy the cartridges (and since we'll be buying a bunch we can get them cheaper) and we'll figure out how you can pay us for them.  This will likely depend on how many times your car races.  It likely won't be more than a few dollars per person.  Also, the quick internet research I did found that not all CO2 cartridges are created equal, so it may be better for us all to use the same brand.

So what are the rules for a Blastcar?  At this point please just follow the rules as printed on the directions.  This means it needs to weight a minimum of 5 oz, no more than 10" long or 4.25" wide.  Remember to be aware of the ground clearance.  Rules state that the eyelets must have .25" clearance to the race surface.  Be aware of this necessary clearance when attaching any weights. Also, I would like to point out, that the rules say only dry lubricants (ex. graphite) can be used.  Since apparently the Derby rules say the same thing and we've never enforced it, I won't enforce it with Blastcars either.  However, that is the only exception to the printed rules.

If you decide to make a Blastcar this year, we encourage you to also make a regular Derby car, but it isn't required.  However, if you wish to make a car for the Illegal category, a regular car IS required.