Design Tips

Have your Scout draw a design on paper then cut it out and use it as a template. I use the paper with the little squares on it to make it easier. Draw a side and top view on the paper by tracing around the block of wood.

Use your imagination. Be creative. Shape has the least to do with winning. A beaver driving a log or even a pickup truck is more interesting than a wedge and will be just as fast. The aerodynamics of a small block of wood doesn't mean much in thirty feet.

Keep the car a full seven inches. It has to do with the physics of potential energy converting into kinetic energy (velocity). You want that mass to start high up the starting ramp.

Use the full 2-3/4 inches (outside wheel to outside wheel) that the rules give you. This will allow the wheels to travel farther before hitting the center strip.

Leave a lot of wood in the back to drill or carve out to put in the weights.

Use the groove closest to the end of the block of wood as the rear axle.

• Note: The Race Starter will place the car on the track according to axle location. The back axle is nearest to the end of the car. The front axle is furthest away from the end of the car. This determines the direction the car will race unless the contestant clearly marks "rear" on the car.

Do not make the front of the car sharply pointed (when viewed from above). It is hard to set up against the starting dowels. Leave 3/4" of blunt width centered in the front.

Details such as steering wheel, driver, spoiler, decals, painting and interior details are permissible as long as these details do not exceed the maximum length, width or weight specifications.