Building our Pinewood Derby track

In order to run our first Pinewood Derby, we needed to build our first Pinewood Derby track! There are plenty of instructions about this online, for example here, but I thought I would add to the conversation by describing our experience.

We built our track to last, and given that we’ve been running events over the past 4 years with this track, it’s done pretty well!

The main materials we used were MDF, and plywood, with legs constructed out of pine that slot into the underside of the track sections.

The track’s running surface was built with a box profile, for rigidity and strength (although weighty!) and we used ‘pocket hole’ joints.

pinewood derby track construction

We ended up building 4 sections of track (and a couple of spares) which are 7ft long, each with 5 lanes. We also built a curved section (using a frame and ‘bendy MDF’).

The track legs (which are separate from the track) have base boards which we put concrete blocks on to weight down.

Having built our first Pinewood Derby track we have loaned it to other groups to run their own events, and in the background we have started to work on a range of improvements to our initial design.

Please get in touch if you would like to discuss having a track built for you, or advice on how to start building your own – we may be able to help! Email us >> blockcarsuk@gmail.com