Well, I have some good news to report from the races... 'Heart and Soul" Placed 3rd in the La Jolla Pinewood Derby!
It was quite an exciting series of races for us, to be certain. There were over 200 cars entered into competition. Each car races in 4 heats against 4 other cars, and the 16 fastest cars advance to the finals for a single-elimination series to determine the fastest ride.
Remember how I mentioned in the previous post the level of competition here? Well, to accentuate that story, imagine a track that uses lasers to measure time and finishes. Imagine guys with levels making sure the track is set just right. imagine roped off areas around the track to keep meddlers out of the pits. Imagine projection screens with finish times, and computers to track the whole shebang. I mean, it was crazy.
So our little car goes up in in first heat... and we win! We were surprised, delighted. Then the second heat, we win again, and the third and fourth heats... all 1st place finishes...
At this point I'm starting to think we might have a shot at this thing. So we wait it out in the hot sun to find out that we made it to the sweet sixteen! Katie is actually posted as the 3rd fastest car at this point.
So the finals go down... Single elimination 4 car heats with the top 2 advancing to the elite eight, and then top 2 from there advance to the finals. We win our first heat and advance to the elite eight. We come in second on the next heat and advance to the final four! Holey moley we are exited now. At this point, Katie realizes that no matter what happens, she gets a trophy (which was her fantasy.)
The finals go off and we come in 3rd place. What a rush. I am now properly motivated for next year... look out Pinewood, I caught the bug!
9 comments:
Awesome in every way! Congratulations to Katie and her Dad. What a great bonding experience and a wonderful memory for the entire Sandwisch family.
Add 1:
I love the name of the car and I think it is really cool looking!
Congratulation Katie!! We're proud of the great team you made with your Dad! What a perfect car. Maybe you can show Megan & Zoe your car when we visit you. I think they'll really like the heart.
Great job guys!
Okay now, Steve...engineer-to-engineer, I want some design details. What was it that separated your car from the rest? And how did the race work? Just a slight downhill and all gravity-powered? What is your final assessment of how your design fared so well? It was Katie's aerodynamic heart, wasn't it?
Kevin ~
The track starts with a 45 deg drop for about 8 feet, then a straightaway for about 20 feet. All gravity.
I considered all could think of and then prioritized the following:
Weight -- Loaded it up with some lead in the very back to just under the weight limit (6oz) and positioned in the back to max angular momentum and potential energy.
Wheel Alignment and Friction -- Made sure the wheels were as straight as possible, and sanded them down to remove imperfections. Highly lubricated with graphite.
Wind Resistance -- Just tried to shape it like a low profile wedge. Had I taken a little more off the body, I think we could have done better, but I still believe that the other 2 elements above are more important factors.
Also, as an update, I didnt bother reading the rules too closely when we entered, since I stuck pretty close to the stock kit... well as it turn out, modifying the wheel base in any way is illegal and supposed to get you disqualified -- and guess what, the 1st and 2nd place cars were both created by the same father of 2 daughters... both of his cars had wheel bases about 1" longer than the leagal rule! I noticed this at the end of the race but didn;t say anything as I wasnt clear on the rules...
SO, those cars should have been disqualified, and had I known the rules, I would have mentioned it, but no big deal. In my mind, we came in first ;)
Not sure how those cars didnt get ruled out on entry-day, they definitely checked mine...
No way! Oh that's both maddening and hilarious (maybe you should henceforth refer to the scandal as Derbygate). Well, I agree, you guys were definitely the TRUE champions.
Thanks for the design breakdown: I figured some real careful thought must have gone into it. On the weight consideration, for my own understanding, you're maximizing the potential energy by putting it in the back simply because the weight starts at a higher point, right? I didn't follow the angular momentum part -- you want to give me a quick explanation?
At any rate, good work. It's good to see a contest set up in such a way that it favors good design. Well, favored right after the cheaters... ;)
Kev ~ on the weight, exactly what you said, if its all in the tail of the car, then its higher up on the track at the start, and will carry further before reaching the flats (the potential energy part). Secondly for the angular momentum part: I wanted to the car to go straight and not spend a bunch of energy beating itself on the guides -- I was thinking that the weight all in the tail would also help with that, or at least reduce the amount of energy lost when drifting into the rail and bouncing off.
Lol, its funny getting so technical about this stuff. I miss engineering!
Ha! Hey man, I saw that trophy -- there's no such thing as getting too technical when the stakes are that high!
i got teary reading sandos and kevs banter knowing dad would have a two hour discertation on this project
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