Rocket Car Day, Up to Eleven

Rocketcar Day 12: High Doom

Rocketcar Day : Slow motion Launches

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.