Here's my last Pinewood Derby car.
"She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts kid."
I work at the Hyundai Proving Grounds and we had a family day a few months back.
One of the Fun things they had was the Pinewood Derby.
We had several classes, and mine was the stock adult class.(couldn't have adults racing kids, now could we?)
I was up against Engineers and designers for Hyundai/Kia. I'm just a Mechanic (what would I know?)
I came in 1st place.
Here's what I did;
The discolored spots are graphite that rubbed off and got all over everything.
The body was cut and sanded in a wedge shape to reduce drag
The car is balanced with the majority of the weight towards the rear
The paint has been polished to a high gloss
The axles are polished
The hubs are coned and polished
The wheels are balanced and trued
The car is exactly the max weight to the gram.
The car runs on 3 wheels, since the 4th wheel will cause more friction and slow the car.
The paint is removed from the body behind the hubs so there is no drag
Everything is lubed with Graphite.
If the surface it is sitting on is not perfectly level, it will start rolling on its own LOL