Pinewood Derby - Propeller-Powered

A week ago my brother invited me to join him for an Anything Goes pinewood derby race. I have great memories of building these cars with my Dad and wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to relive those moments.

First, I designed my car in SketchUp and then built the car from a standard derby kit. (See the image below.)

The hardest part was building the propeller motor stand. I made that part separately and then glued it into place. Before I could glue it, I had to drill holes and feed the wires for the motor through them.

Then, to power the motor, I used an old iPhone 4 battery I had lying around. To make the battery easier to use, I soldered a new connector onto it so I could easily plug it into the car and the battery charger. To finish the simple circuit, I added a switch so I wouldn’t have to disconnect the battery to turn it off.

Finally, I added some tungsten weights to a cardboard cover painted to match the car.

I’d say the finished product always looks better than the sketch.