Pinewood Derby Timer

This blog is dedicated to building a digital timer for pinewood derby racing.  The pinewood derby is a cub scout activity that is held every year all across the United States.  Although I am a big fan of scouting, and my son is a cub scout, please do not interpret anything in this blog as an endorsement by the cub scouts or the boy scouts for what I have done.

I am not aware of any official scout rules that prescribe how a pinewood derby racing event shall be officiated.  Many race events are sucessfully held without any timing equipment.  I do not want to imply that having a timer is essential to running a successful derby activity.  It is not.  My main motivation for building the timer is the challenge, fun, and learning experience that it provided.  And besides, it is really cool on race day!

Here is a picture of the finished project in action:

Derby car speeds for the finish!