Pinewood Derby Simulator

Getting the 3D bug from a chat with a friend at church, I embarked upon having some fun with Java's implementation of OpenGL, known as Java3D. I figured what better to animate, than a Pinewood Derby simulator I wrote about a year ago.

Basically the old simulator takes the dimensions of a track and then allows the user to run a pinewood car down that track. By inputing the car's wheel base, its center of gravity, and the distance until the car stops on its own, one can measure the kinetic friction of the wheels rotating on the axles (including any bumping the side of the track on its way down). I confirmed the accuracy of my model by verifying that the time required for the car to stop and the distance traveled are equivalent to actual test runs. Pretty cool, eh?

Then, once you know the kinetic friction of your pinewood car, you can then add that to your car's specifications and proceed to run the car down any simulated track you desire!!!

So what I've done now is taken the simulator and added animated 3D graphics to it. Very cool (at least to me). Now you can visually run multiple cars against each other and see the results. Woohoo!

Timmay!