EatSmart sent me a review unit of their Precision Digital Scale to see if it was a fit for pinewood derby use. The scale is attractive and lightweight, and runs on two AAA batteries (included). It’s also inexpensive, retailing for just $25 on Amazon.

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Those pinewood weights you buy at the craft store aren’t lead and aren’t very dense. Lead is nearly twice as heavy as that stuff. Don’t use it if you want to win.

Usually I melt lead bird shot into holes drilled in the car body. It’s an efficient way of weighting the car, but this year I tried tungsten beads. Tungsten more than one and a half times the weight of lead, and I was able to pack a lot of weight into a small area in the car body. But the problem with tungsten beads is that there’s a lot of wasted space in the car body.

Lead melts at about 600 degrees, a temperature you can reach with a propane torch. But tungsten melts at 6000 degrees, so melting it into the car body isn’t an option. Instead I had to pack the beads in, shaking the car to get the beads to settle.

Next year, I’ll be using tungsten powder instead. Just drill a hole, pour in the powder, and seal the hole back up. I’ll get all the efficiency of tungsten, but without the wasted space, allowing me to pack weight into a much smaller space. And it will be easier than trying to fit the beads into the car and easier than melting lead.

If you want to make sure you have a car that weighs in at exactly maximum weight, you’ll want to pick up a digital scale to test your weight at home. Digital kitchen scales can be bought for around $30, but make sure the one you’re buying can display measurements in ounces. A number of kitchen scales only show grams.

You also want to make sure your scale can measure past your race’s maximum weight. If your car can weigh up to five ounces, a scale with a three-ounce capacity won’t help you much.

It’s a good idea to get a scale with at least a tenth of an ounce precision so you can fine-tune your weight.

Two scales that look good for the task are the Polder kitchen scale that has a tray that will keep your parts from rolling off the scale, but it has a maximum capacity of one pound. And Escali has a digital kitchen scale that has easy-to-read numbers and an 11 pound capacity.

As you look over the tips here or anywhere else, make sure you know the rules of your race. Race rules differ between programs and even by region. Some of the tips here might get your car disqualified. I try to only list legal tips and to point out where a tip might run afoul of some of the more common rule variations. There’s no substitute for knowing your own rules, however.