Rocketcar Day 12: High Doom

noreply@blogger.com (mook) — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 06:11:00 +0000

I'm excited to announce the date for Rocketcar Day 12.

April 11, 2010.
More info to come obviously, but in the meantime book yourself in for High Doom.

In particular look forward for a slight format change. It'll be a high intensity set of trials to see what cars go up for the finals.
The finals will consist of a normal race to the death but with extra kudos for hitting a jump in the track. That's right, cars that can go straight and true will be launched not only into the record books, but also into the sky.

Anyway, stay tuned. Get excited. Tell your next of kin. Most of all plan to make a car that will go down in history as the meanest, fastest and possibly most airborne rocketcar in history.

Educational Aside : Slow motion replays

noreply@blogger.com (mook) — Fri, 15 May 2009 10:25:00 +0000

This is a collection of launches in slow motion from Rocketcar Day 11.

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

noreply@blogger.com (mook) — Thu, 07 May 2009 22:45:00 +0000

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.

For more photos

noreply@blogger.com (mook) — Tue, 05 May 2009 00:15:00 +0000

Check out the Rocketcar Day 11 page

Rules

noreply@blogger.com (mook) — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 03:00:00 +0000

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.