Rocket Propelled Pinewood Derby Car

[Pinewood Daddy]

For the Pinehead who's got everything.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Electronic-Rocket-P ... 0028859765

[psycaz]

I saw that one yesterday. If it wasn't so expensive, I'd buy it just for the fun of it.

[gpraceman]

Unless it runs on a guide wire, I would think this thing would go flying if it hit a minor bump in the road... But then again, that would be a cool wipe out

[Da Graphite Kid]

Now that's cool! I wonder though if we could think of some way of using his PCB to trip some mechanism that would cause a pinewood derby car to flip/stop/fall apart while racing... For years I have been trying to figure a way of building a pinewood derby car that I can race against the Cub Scouts (sort of a Cubmaster challenge deal) that would clearly be in violation of the rules (motor, weight, wheels...) but that would flip, stop or fall apart while in the lead thereby loosing the race. I was sucessful in doing this one year but it was purely by accident as the batteries fell out of the bottom of the car which stopped it dead still when it was leading.

Ideas?

Da Graphite Kid

[RACER X]

It is neat, but I have 3 words for this E-Bay seller: PRODUCT LIABILITY INSURANCE!

If you want to build a fun / fast car for show and speed, Randy Davis @ Max-V has a propeller car that he loaned me, it ran a 1.650 sec. time on our scout pack 32" Pianadosi wooden track. The Winning car ran a 2.390 so it SMOKED it and the kids went crazy and it is Very Safe for everyone.

I am sure he can set anyone up with pic's and diagrams and it can be built for considerably less than $50.00.

Racer X

[Stan Pope]

Unless it runs on a guide wire, I would think this thing would go flying if it hit a minor bump in the road... But then again, that would be a cool wipe out

I think that the plan is to have both forward and downward force vectors through the center of mass. The downward vector keeps it on the track, while the forward vector scoots it down the track!

[gpraceman]

I think that the plan is to have both forward and downward force vectors through the center of mass. The downward vector keeps it on the track, while the forward vector scoots it down the track!

Safety-wise, I really don't think you could run one of these down a PWD track. MaxV used to sell rocket powered car kits, but these ran on a guide wire. Estes came out with some of these type of cars too. I would think without the guide wire you would have the car go flying with any minor bump in the road, no matter if you had a bit of a down vector or not.

[JOKER]

Check this out!

http://www.dropshots.com/videolink.php? ... howVideo=1

[gpraceman]

Check this out!

http://www.dropshots.com/videolink.php? ... howVideo=1

I have a feeling that was a CO2 powered car, since the guy had to hold it before activating it. You wouldn't want to do that with a rocket engine.

Their are CO2 powered car races that some high schools and other organizations get involved with. The cars travel down a 65ft track in about a second. That is comparable to what we saw in that video. Check out the Flash videos at http://www.science-of-speed.com/competition.asp?id=90. Some builders go as far as using CAD for their designs and then CNC the body. I've even seen mini wind tunnels.

[MaxV]

I previously spoke with a customer that build a rocket engine-powered car. If done properly, they do stay on the track. The circuitry is used to ignite the engine when the pin drops.

[Da Graphite Kid]

I know of a guy who built an Estes rocket powered car. It ran on a wooden track and did not fly off at all. The track was outdoors when the rocket car was run. I was told that it screamed down the track, off the end, across the parking lot and hit the curb - thereby rendering itself into a million small pieces!

Da Graphite Kid

[gpraceman]

Here's some pics I found for rocket powered cars. Never seen one go up a track

[PWD]

Now that is cool! I like how they ran the car up the track instead of down.

[CuriousGeorge]

Now that's what I would call extreme pinewood derby!!! I have a feeling when son #1 crosses over to the Boy Scouts, we might have to give this a try. That would put a whole new spin on the aerodynamics of the car. WHAT AM I SAYING!!! I don't need yet another aspect of derby cars to think about, my brain already hurts.

[Teeeman]

"suffisticated"

Geez I hope that typo was a joke... else this guy is just adding to the "injaneeers can-nt spulllll" rumor...




(ah well, you can't spell gEEk without a EE now can you!)





-T