Why not make your Pinewood Derby car into your science fair experiment?
You can kill two birds with one stone here. Create a fast car and a great science fair project!
Here are some factors to consider when maximizing the speed of your car:
- total car weight
- placement of additional weights/center of gravity
- car shape/aerodynamics
- polished nails
- wheel weight
If you are using this as a science fair project, keep it simple and test just one factor on the list above. You will need a track test your car and a way to accurately measure how long it takes the car to reach the finish line.
If you want to skip the science fair and go straight to the science, check out this video.