Burning Mess

Paying for a t-shirt?

click here
make sure you give me your postal address
i have what size you want already from your email,
i probably won't have extras if you haven't ordered one email me at hello at rocketcarday.com if any probs

Car POV

Rocket car point of view camera from kazumichi on Vimeo.

Taken from a camera mounted on one of the cars. This was the race where someone got pretty badly burnt on the foot. I couldn't see it, but apparently you can see the moment of impact if you go frame by frame. But look at those people run! Thanks Toby

Rocketcar Day t-shirts

Yee Hah!

I'll be printing some freshies up as they sold out on the day, if you'd like one email me with your order. Give me your size but Small is medium, medium is large, large is x-large, and x-large is crazy.

$25 including postage.

Images and a Mini-Documentary

Precious Moments All. Thanks Chris and Pete.

The Last Race

More Photos

From Simon Rumble

Images

Thans dudes from RobotsAndDinosaurs

Thanks Simon Rumble

Thanks PrincessFluffy

Rocketcar Day in the Sydney Morning Herald

A very nice man from the SMH was there taking photos on the day. Later a journo called and we worked out the best way to describe this lovely event without ruining it. I think she did great. Thanks to both.

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/rocket-lobsters-and-careening-corn-cobs-street-races-are-a-real-blast-20100411-s11c.html

Rocketcar Day Compile

Thanks Ian Woolf

for doing a great compile and sharing it on the superkala archive.org

What A Day

The internet is abuzz about RCD12. Thanks Internet!

Blood! Pain! Drama!

The. Most. Rocketcars. Ever.

Where to go and what to bring

View Sydney Steel Lane in a larger map

Parking is on the road. Park before the race start so there aren't cars along the track.

What To Bring

If you're racing, try to bring your own C6 rockets with fuses (you can
get these at most hobby stores like HobbyCo).

I might have a couple for sale on the day, but not many.

An ignition system is provided on the day.

And just a reminder: try to test your cars so you know they're not
dangerous and are awesome.

If you can't we'll just guess on the day. Too light, won't race.

Bring beer and umbrellas and snacks.

I have fresh t-shirts and have even whipped up some clothes for rocket babies: so bring lots of money to buy them off the lovely t-shirt girls.

There will also be A BBQ apparently. Yeee ha!

Times for this Sunday

Lovers of Doom:

The race will start at 1pm

Racers: Please arrive early, like at 12:02pm to sign up

Punters: Do what you want, but bring the noise.

also, there will be, as usual some wicked garments for your wearing pleasure

Rocketcar Day 12: High Doom

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

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

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

Check out the Rocketcar Day 11 page

Rules

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.