There were many good designs. Below are some designs from the senior cadets.
The design on the right below features a scorpion's tail--and if you pull the metal ring it draws the stinger down. Nicely done. It and the Lego car (above) were essentially tied for best senior-cadet design. Among the juniors Sam came in 3rd place for design (out of 8).
Here's the track, with Sam to the left watching the cars charge down. Physics says the mass of the car doesn't matter, at least as far as friction's concerned. Air resistance is also negligible. Two things do matter (aside from graphite lubricant): if the car doesn't go precisely straight then it will lose some momentum glancing off the sides of the track. Also, physics will tell you that if you can keep your center of gravity toward the rear then you will have slightly more potential energy, maybe on the percent level.
But wheel alignment is clearly most important, and Sam's car pulled slightly. He came in second over and over in the heats.
Sam came in 4th out of the heats, and the top four went into the finals, where he pulled up, to be tied for 2nd. He and the other car tied for 2nd then did two time-based race-offs. He won the first, but then for some unknown technical reasons that race was scrapped, and instead of two they did four, and in the end Sam lost by six milliseconds. Felt a little sorry for the car which was 3rd going into the finals and got edged out. Interestingly, the cars in 5th-8th place were way, way below in the standings.
Sam also came in 3rd last year. He said he was a little discouraged at not moving up, until he thought about the kids who didn't place. If that's the lesson he takes away, I am happy.
Totally unrelated, a drawing Sam did during church on Sunday. (One of the benefits of long sermons. :-) Love the expressive eyes.
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