The Nübercar

Last August you may remember that I posted a short article about a pinewood derby car I made called the Übercar. Well it's that time of year again, and so over the last week I helped my two cubs build their cars for this year's race. I also took the opportunity to build this:

Call it "Übercar 2", "Son of Übercar", "The New Übercar", or perhaps just "The Nübercar". Whatever you call it, I call it pretty darn fast. Last night I had the chance to test it out against the original Übercar at a race I ran for a cub scout pack in Issaquah. The Nübercar averaged 3 hundredths of a second faster than the original Übercar. I credit such new features as a slightly longer wheelbase, more carefully aligned and polished wheels and axles, and a spiffy purple paint job. Well OK, perhaps the paint job doesn't have much to do with it but it sure looks cool.

Here's a short video of the car in action. In the last two sequences (3 and 4), my oldest son's pinewood derby car is in the left lane as an example of a typical cub scout's first place car. The original Übercar is in the center lane and the Nübercar is on the right, winning by over half a length.