How to make a Center Rail Riding Pinewood Derby Car

We had some animation made on How to make a Center Rail Riding Pinewood Derby Car.  This is pinewood derby tuning animation with some comments included.

Once we get all the feedback we need, we will place a voice over on top of it.   We are going to slowly release this video to show you how to tune a rail riding car from scratch if you have never done it before.  It is also a good video for those that have unsuccessfully tuned a rail rider in the past.

Feedback is always appreciated.

For that reason we would love to hear what you have to say.  Racers please leave us a comment on your trials and errors of pinewood derby tuning.  We will consider each as valuable information to be placed in the video.

The purpose with this video is to release it for free.  General knowledge for those who are having difficulty tuning a pinewood derby car.

We will not sell it for profit at any time.  Scouts honor.

What we need from you is your input on the blood, sweat and tears when you tuned your first rail rider.  For that reason, every builder’s input counts as you experienced something that the others may not have known was an issue.  We want to try and address every one of those points.

Decisions To Consider When Making A Fast Pinewood Derby Car

The first steps in making a pinewood derby car is knowing what track you are racing on.  Is the track metal or wood?  Does the track have a center rail or do you race between two bumpers?

Lube choice will decide the next steps of your build.  From those two points, then the rest of the car can be made.  Do you need rail rider alignment?  Do you need a COG that is less aggressive because of a wooden track?  What wheels and axles to chose from for the type of lube you can race with?

Consider the fastest build setup for a pinewood derby car when a center rail is utilized.

The goal for rail riding is to purposely steer the car into the rail in order to remove side to side travel that will slow your car down.  A proper rail rider will only have the front steering wheel touching the center rail the entire race.

Watch the video below, it will show you how to setup the car.  Pay close attention to shaving 1⁄16th of the width of the car on the DFS side so that the rear wheels will not touch.

Yes…shaving the front will help ensure the rears will not touch.

Here is Derby Dust’s teaching perspective.  If you follow from start to finish, you should have a pretty good understanding on how to make tune a winning rail rider.

Watch this video first.  Then begin on your car.