Rocketcar Day : Slow motion Launches

Rocketcar Day 11. Slow Motion Montage 

Things to spot apart from how great slow motion is.

- pipe car: engine a bit low so it makes it rear up. Wheels a bit wobbly but good soft rubber helps it hang onto the road

- brain car : was going pretty well but i think too short. 6 wheels didn't seem to hurt it though, maybe helped it stay straigther for longer.
- pipe car 2 : this was basically the same car as the first one but was a bit lighter due to having a smaller driver. Same engine position, interesting how much more flippy it was
- spinning trebuchet of doom: obviously, don't do this. Amazing in slow motion though.
- london bus: engine too far above wheel base. Obviously the lid flying off into the crowd not a good vibe.
- recorder car: pretty good but too short. Maybe if it had a drogue, it wouldn't have been spun around before it got going.
- long black car : This in theory should have been good. It had the length, but i suspect the engine direction did not equal the wheel/chassis direction

I think the basics are still true. It's a balance of:
- car needs to be straight
- the engine / thrust vector needs to be in line with the wheel base
- the wheels should be oiled and soft to cope with the road bumps
- point your car straight to start with (watch out for the road camber)
- a drogue helps stopping the car spin before it gets momentum up

Amidst the smoke and the sound and the stink of rocketcars veering off course and racing into the crowd, sometimes you miss the poetry of these little cars. Comparatively Huge engines strapped onto tiny, malaligned experiments of cars leads to fantastic drama: this video breaks down just what type. Respect.

(also thanks to daniel heckenberg for the slow-mo-arama)

Launch Compile

Let's be honest. These cars are not in it to win it.They do add a lot of fun to the day however. Next year, we'll be racing these cars together to speed things up.

Multicar Plus M&M Explosion

Great collection of cars, the crowd gets targetted then a car full of m&m's explodes inches from the starting line, attracting hordes of children. Classic.
Thanks for the vids Ash aka Alex and Ian

Big's Big Montage

Here's the full length montage created by this years winner.

Close calls

Gotta be quick on your feet. Thankfully this was a pretty slow one.

Ready for the race

Thanks Josiah.

The Finishing Touch

Thanks Josiah.

That face paint won't protect you

Melbourne Bitter

A beautiful car made from Melbourne Bitter cans takes off.

(thanks Josiah Firth for the photo)

Spinning System

A closeup of the spinning car of doom.

Thanks for the photo mark

Spinning Death Machine

The rocket was attatched to a spinning arm. The arm powered a belt that spun the wheels. Because of "physics" however, the result was it just bounced around and span, making a god awful noise. It was not allowed to run until that engine got strapped on real well. Even then, it was terrifying.

Thanks for the photo zan.

Making of Fail Whale

Some nice making of moments of Fail Whale. Good to see cigars are being used to house the engine. If there was a way to make a longer wheel-base whale with a even-lighter whale, this might have been a contender.
http://andragy.posterous.com/rocketcar-day-11-failwhale

Multicar Blast Off

Often the best part of the day, though not officially how we choose the winner, the Multicar Challenge multiplies the doom x 4.

Thanks DVR

Thanks For the photos Keir

"Fail Whale"

"Pig Flu"
(or "Pig Flew", i can't remember which, there were 2 Pig relateed cars)

Thanks for the photos Keir

Thanks Keir.

The Big Golden Egg

While obviously this rocket-powered egg undermined most of Rocketcar Day's rules and it could never win; it was filled with m&m's. Anything that attracts children to something explosive seemed o.k. by the parents on the day.

After the Golden Egg exploded

Kids raced to pick up the still smoking m&m's inside

Entrants

Thanks for the photos bigian

More Entrants

Thanks for the photos bigian

Entrants

Thanks for the photos bigian

Lineups

thanks for the photos bigian

Despite not having "wheels"

This car didn't go too bad

Thanks for the photo Steph

Rocketcar Day 11 T-shirt

What we lacked in straightness

We made up for in numbers

The world's Youngest Rocketcar Fan

Go Elke.

Great turn out

More Precious Moments

Photos from

Big Ians Photos

Photos

DVR's Video

Rocket Car Races on 12seconds.tv

and


Rocket Car Races 2009 on 12seconds.tv

thanks DVR

It's so on

Sunday. See you at 12pm if you're racing.
1pm if you're just standing there, watching, entranced, covered in soot.

if the weather is too crazy tomorrow

i'll post a message here at 10am to resched.

if there's no message it's ON.

that thunder is *scary*

What if it's raining?

Stop your crying and bring a rain-jacket and a bottle of whiskey.
If there is a hurricane we will discover what effect hurricanes have on rocketcars.

my number is 0425222598 if you need to chat.

What to Bring

If you're racing, try to bring your own C6 rockets with fuses (you can
get these at most hobby stores like HobbyCo).

I might have a couple for sale on the day, but not many.

An ignition system is provided on the day.

And just a reminder: try to test your cars so you know they're not
dangerous and are awesome.

If you can't we'll just guess on the day. Too light, won't race.

Bring beer and umbrellas and snacks.

I have fresh t-shirts, hot off the press so bring money to buy them
off the lovely t-shirt girls.

doom, up to 11.

What to bring

If you're racing, try to bring your own C6 rockets with fuses (you can get these at most hobby stores like HobbyCo).

I might have a couple for sale on the day, but not many.

An ignition system is provided on the day.

And just a reminder: try to test your cars so you know they're not dangerous and are awesome.

If you can't we'll just guess on the day. Too light, won't race.

Bring beer and umbrellas and snacks.

I have fresh t-shirts, hot off the press so bring money to buy them off the lovely t-shirt girls.

doom, up to 11.

Location and Time

View Larger Map

If you're racing get there at 12pm to line your car up and eye off your competitors.
If you are there just "for fun" then come at 1pm to hoot and holler.


Doom, up to eleven.

RocketCar Day, Up to Eleven.

RCD11 will be held on (Sunday) May the 3rd. Held @ same Location as last time.

In the meantime check out old races to get inspired.

RCDX : Rocketcar Day Ten. This was going to be the last rocketcar day ever. But it was so good, it had to keep going.

RCD9: "Nine Lives is for Pussies". The rocketcar day that drew the most  blood.

RCD8: Love and Rockets. Valentines Day race, won by a dog.

RCD 666: Evil Just got Eviller.

and so many more avaliable on the links on the left

or This montage:

Rules

Rules

The Rules.

What are the rules?
The first rule of rocketcar day is "there are some rules"
- You have to make your own car (attaching a rocket to an existing model car is frowned upon)
- The cars are powered only by C size engines (these are about the size of your thumb)
- They have to be safe(ish) to race. A good way to find out if your car is safe, is to test it. you learn alot when there's a rocketcar bearing down on you.

There will be the following events:
Distance race (individually launched)
Top 10 showdown (10 cars race at once)
Judging will be based on distance and style points (the stupider the car the better)

Cars that are too light won’t be allowed to race, because they’ve been shown to tend to fly into people’s heads. At RCD9 we drew a little too much blood, so untested light cars won't race.

Rules and Guidelines

testing: You can learn alot about how good your theories regarding rocketcar design are from watching your creation pickup and fly out of contol towards someone. if you can : test your car. That said, there are 2 race categories. one for tested cars and one for first run cars.

General: while you can make anykind of car, sticking wheels onto a rocket will incurr some sort of shame demerit.
similarly, sticking a rocket onto a car is equally subject to frowning.

Materials: Whatever, In the interest of safety please ensure that metal components are kept to a minimum and as safe as possible.

Weight: avoid very light cars. they are prone to spin around and shoot into the spectators and innocent bystanders.

Body shapes: Up to you but not just a single body tube. The event demands something interesting to look at and shapes aimed at aerodynamics solely will be frowned upon and may not be laughed at and drowned. Formula One style, saloon car, land speed record types, all types welcome. Plus anything new you can come up with. You have to make your own chassis (lego is totally acceptable, but glue it as well)

Motor types: C size rockets only in the race. Whatever the delay you like. C6 rockets seem to be cool. Only one motor to be used. No clustering or staging. You can buy them from hobby shops if you look trust worthy (swarthy types, trim beards first). These fit into a Romeo y Julieta no 3 cigar case nicely.

Wheels: Three at least but more are permissible and all must be in contact with the ground on the start line and every effort must be made to keep all on the ground during the run. A car, which is bouncing and/or whose wheels are leaving contact with the track too much, at the judges discretion, will be banned. The wheels can be inside or outside of the car body. The car must end up on all 4 wheels.

Remote Control : is not allowed due to it working one year.

Gyroscopic control : is allowed due to it never having worked yet.

woo hooooo etc.