Speed

[builder83]

Any experienced moustrape vehicle guys give me a goal time for 10 or 12 meters? What is a good time? We do have to mount a wood dowel, 40 cm wheel base max, and only 1 trap.

[Bosque]

I cant give any examples, but the point is to come up with the most optimal design you can. This means, test, test and retest changing specific parameters to see which affects accuracy/time

My solution has been to help the kids design a modular vehicle where it is easy to swap out a single element. Wheel diameter, drive arm length etc. at a time. It may not be the fastest vehicle in the end, but the kids will understand exactly what parameters have the most impact.

Also look at the scoring. Accuracy to the target is far more significant than speed. The vehicle that is 1cm from the target but takes 5 seconds scores the same as the one 3 cm from the target, but only taking 1 second

[builder83]

Still curious as to anybodys speed they have seen at invitationals maybe. And yes, I know accuracy is more important. Is like 7 seconds to 12 meters in the ballpark? We can do that with 0 skid. Was looking at div C last year and they were moving along pretty fast but had 2 traps.

[mtownley]

I can speak to our latest invitational. We have three teams at our school. 2 of our cars were the fastest of the day. The distance was 10.5. 1 car averaged 7.37 and the other 7.24 sec. The 7.37 second car got 3rd place being 5 cm from target. Our other vehicle was faster at 7.24 but 17cm from the mark. So if you can do 7 seconds for 12 m, I am going to say that's a pretty fast car. But, accuracy is going to be the prime factor in the end. Doesn't matter how fast your vehicle goes if it's too far away.

ETA: the invitational ran 61 cars, so wide variety of times. Ours just happened to be the fastest. We proctored the event, so I was able to see all speed scores.