5 Design Tips for a Pinewood Derby Car
Are you planning to design a Pinewood Derby car? If so, then one of the main decisions you'll need to make is regarding the car's design. While there are tons of designs to choose from, some of them are simply better than others are. Here are some of the best tips for choosing your Pinewood Derby car's design.
1. Choose the Most Creative or Fastest Car award
While it's possible to win both awards, it's advisable that you focus on one or the other. The Most Creative car won't necessarily be a speed demon, while the Fastest Car probably wouldn't win a beauty pageant. Basically, winning either of these awards requires taking a different approach. So before choosing a design for your car, determine whether you want your car to be a particularly fast or attractive. After making that decision, choosing a particular design will be much easier.
2. Add weight to add momentum
Typically, the weight limit for Pinewood Derby cars is five ounces. The key is for your car to be as close as possible to that weight, without exceeding it. By adding weight to your car, you'll consequently add more momentum. Ultimately, that will increase the speed of your car. You can buy weights for the car, at a local hobby shop. It's advisable to place the weights in the back half of the car, in order to maximize the car's speed.
The Vauxhall Corsa Versus the New Ford Fiesta – The Battle of the Superminis!
There is a worrying trend for all the fashionistas out there in automotive land; these days everything has gone a little too 'practical'. Form over function has been the car fanatic's raison d'être ever since a young boy first put a car poster on his bedroom wall. Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Zonda, all of them have created cars that men and women all over the world have literally drooled over, but try and take these cars on the weekly shop and you will find yourself exceedingly frustrated. You can barely fit a loaf of bread in the cabin and boot-space is either so small it's pointless or simply non-existent. So in a world dominated by fears of a financial nature, the car fanatic has been forced to think practically, economically and ecologically. When buying a car, these three considerations NEVER even came close to entering the equation, but times have changed and alas the cars have too. It is an impossible aspiration to drive a stylish car that is also economically sensible and ecologically sound. Or is it?
The new Vauxhall Corsa caused quite a stir a couple of years ago, getting all the reviewers a bit hot under the collar. Add to this a catchy, media-saturation advertising campaign and a shining endorsement from the boy-racer contingent and Vauxhall found themselves with a success story on their hands. The Corsa began to virtually fly off the forecourts and became the car of choice for hip, new, young drivers. To meet with some kind of nationwide consensus, BSM (the largest motoring school in the UK) chose the Corsa as its fleet car, thus cementing the reputation for performance, cost and likeability amongst the young folk. It seemed the Corsa could do no wrong. Something ominous appeared on the horizon though not too long ago; a sight that must have struck fear into the hearts of all the engineers and designers at Vauxhall HQ.
Yes, Ford had only gone and decided to revamp the Fiesta; turning the old boxy ugly duckling, into a chic, sleek, jaw-dropping machine of motoring brilliance. The fight was on. In direct comparison there is very little to separate the two vying superminis; both look absolutely stunning, both perform unbelievably well for their shared price range and both are so cheap to run you virtually can't afford not to own one.
The New Porsche 911 Is Unveiled for 2012
Even since Porsche's humble beginnings, the company has always pursued different directions that some other car manufacturers have and broke new ground in technology and design advances, which is still something Porsche continues today. The company originally was founded and established by Dr. Ferdinand Porsche, who was an Austrian automotive engineer, in 1931.
Ferdinand Porsche's early years were spent as a design engineer and consultant, which led him to create some of his best known vehicles. In fact he was responsible for creating the very first hybrid vehicle (gasoline-electric), the Volkswagen Beetle, also the Mercedes-Benz SSK/SS, as well as the first of many Porsche cars that bore his name, which were to become the forerunner of the famous Porsche 356, 550 and 911 models. Ferdinand Porsche is also credited developing the first race car with mid-engine, rear-wheel drive layout, called the 1923 Benz "Tropfenwagen".
Fast forward to the current day and Porsche is still breaking new ground, while changing the shape of the motoring world, especially the luxury car market, as Porsche just announced their new Porsche 911 which will make its debut and start production in 2012.