This years PIneWood Derby was held on the 6th of November, and the sun was shinning all day for us.  We had 90 cars that registered and ran 57 heats.

The crew arrived early to set up the cafeteria, bbq area, bake sale, and second hand toys tables.  Everyone was working really hard right up till it was time for registration.

The boys were asked a series of grilling questions in an effort to weed out those cars that were "completely Father" built.  No, the question were to help the people registering the cars determine which race category to place the boy's car.

Some cars had to go through last minute weight adjustments.  Everything was used to bring the weights of the cars up to 141.75 grams/ 5 oz.  We had some boys who at the last minute were gluing on rocks for the garden outside.  Other boys had their parents loading the car up with money.  I wonder why my parents never load my car up with lots of money?

Finally at 12:15 we had all the cars registered and the judges were picking their way through the 90 cars marking their ballots with their favorite choices.

The rest of us were out at the bbq pit munching on great burgers and hot dogs that the Bears were cooking up.  Those Dads did a great job flipping burgers, some even remember flipping burgers when they were teenagers.  The Moms, they were great.  They had all the fixings and condiments spread out and ready to go so that you could construct your own unique burger.

At 12:45 some of us had to meet with this year Derby coordinators for race assignments.  Yours truly was picked to line up the cars on the track, and drop the gate to the race of each heat.

We originally said that the races would start at 13:00, but unfortunately we slipped and the first race started at 13:05.  I know…, we were 5 minutes late.  Our technical wizard CubMaster Steve ran the races, we had a few mishaps on the track.  Track Judge Patrick was key in deciding which heats would have to be re-run.  Race team was smoking, we got through 57 heats and finished the races by 14:45.

CubMaster Steve then announced the winners for each level and everyone went home happy.  The End!!!!

But Wait….!  Who's going to clean up the big mess.  Thankfully Den Leader Stephanie and company were hard at work and got the cafeteria back into a better shape than when the set-up crew arrived in the morning.  Now its's "The End!".  Another wonderful PineWood Derby done and boys thinking what kind of designs they will have for next year.

The results will be published soon.

Thanks everyone for your help and participation in this year Derby.

In advance of our Pinewood Derby I wanted to communicate how the races will be structured this year.

We will have 5 groups of cars for the initial heats:
        Tigers – Cub/Parent
        Wolves – Cub/Parent
        Bears – Cub/Parent
        Webelos (I & II) – Cub/Parent
        Cub-Only cars for all years

For the race software to work properly, each group must contain at least 12 racers.  If this year is like previous years, most, if not all, of the Tigers, Wolves, and Bears will be Cub/Parent cars which means that there will not be enough cars to have a separate Cub-Only group for these years.  The two Webelos years will be combined but split between Cub-Only and Cub/Parent groups.  So, if there are any Cub-Only in the younger years  they will be included with the Webelos Cub-Only group.

Each racer will compete in 4 heats against others only from their group (i.e. Tigers will not race against Webelos).  The slowest of the 4 times will be thrown out.  So, for example if a car jumps the track on one race it does not necessarily mean that the car will be relegated to the bottom of the standings.

The top 4 racers with the fastest total time for the three heats that count will advance to the Grand Finale.  These 20 cars (4 cars x 5 groups) will compete over 2 heats against each other.  Again the slowest of the two times will be thrown out.  The Grand Finale will be used ONLY to determine the First, Second and Third place overall finisher for Cub-Only and Cub/Parent cars.  The top finishers by year and den will be taken from the preliminary rounds.

This years Pack Bowling Event has been canceled.

The next pack event will be the pinewo od derby at La Chat on Saturday the 18th of November. You can find more details on this on the Pinewood derby page, and then the Escala de race will be on the 2nd December.
The next pack meeting is on the 8th of December where the Pinewood derby awards will be presented.

The next pack event will be the Bowlin g on the 4th November at the Bowling centre in Gland. You can find more details on this on the Bowling page.
The next pack meeting is on the 10th November , there will be a presentation on the charity Hope for Children in Uganda, presentation of the bobcat badges, a quick review of what we will do for the Escalade and some mini car racing as a warm up to the pinewo od derby