Mousetrap Vehicle C

[mrsteven]

When I did wheeled vehicle 4 or 5 years ago, it had to be powered by some elastic device. I'm not sure how similar the new rules will be, but that's my guess.

cool! As long as its not like programming stuff, im so sick of programming stuff lately, im looking for something more physical and tangible.

[Teal]

^ To the question about the 1x1 meter, I've had it measured both ways, when it's set and when it isn't. At state they measured it when it was set, so I'm guessing so.
I'm excited for Wheeled Vehicle, but I have no idea how to build it, to be honest. How would you be able to set the rubber band?

[packer-backer91]

^ To the question about the 1x1 meter, I've had it measured both ways, when it's set and when it isn't. At state they measured it when it was set, so I'm guessing so.
I'm excited for Wheeled Vehicle, but I have no idea how to build it, to be honest. How would you be able to set the rubber band?

To put emphasis on the wording of the rules say something to the effect it only has to fit in the 1m X 1m box in when the vehicle is ready to run. So if the event supervisor says something else, respective, say the rules point out exactly that it’s only in the ready to use position. The key is to be respectful when telling them of their deviation of the rules; everyone makes mistakes now and again. Just make sure you are not losing your ten minutes during this time, this happened to me and I lost the appeal afterword because I didn't ask for the time to be halted.

I went back to help my old team because from the information they gave me was bad and I wanted to give them a reasonable chance of getting top 3 at state. I believe I helped them a lot, about 4 seconds faster in one practice. I haven’t followed this event nearly as well now that I’m a grad, but using state scoring what is some of the lowest numbers out there? I know under zero is common but anyone in the -10's or less?

[starpug]

Right, so since a larger diameter will give you more speed (there is very little to lose in terms of accuracy) large homemade wheels will be too heavy. If you find that smaller wheels work for you, then that's fine. I am just saying that speed is a lot more important at the state and national levels since most vehicles will be quite accurate and each second costs 2 points...

yeah thats a good point, but my wheels arent heavy, they're lighter than CD's and at least for how my car is set up, i have a larger axel for more initial torque so in order for consistancy I made the wheels a bit smaller than a cd in the back and alot smaller in the front. its all in what you want to do, but with my car, in optimal conditions I can hit -25 points. so im happy with its performance ^.^

^packer-backer, this is the highest score we've seen posted on here. Some people doubt it's validity, but I think it's plausible.

[Paradox21]

A score of -25 is somewhat ambiguous, because the rules for scoring change at every level of competition. There are some vehicles at nationals that will have times of 5 or 6 seconds, the problem is that when you increase the speed of your vehicle, the accuracy tends to suffer. So while it is definitely plausible that there are many vehicles out there that could get a -25 (regional scoring), I bet there are very few vehicles that can consistently get a score that strong.

[mrsteven]

A score of -25 is somewhat ambiguous, because the rules for scoring change at every level of competition. There are some vehicles at nationals that will have times of 5 or 6 seconds, the problem is that when you increase the speed of your vehicle, the accuracy tends to suffer. So while it is definitely plausible that there are many vehicles out there that could get a -25 (regional scoring), I bet there are very few vehicles that can consistently get a score that strong.

true. that -25 was regional scoring at state it didnt do so hot due to some transit and development issues

[packer-backer91]

So I got my old teams team’s time down to the low 11 second rage and they can stop under 1cm on good runs [its very dependent on how the string is wound on the axel]. So that puts them around -6.6 for an expected state run, from other states is that top 6? At state last year there were teams that were way faster than that but we could stop a lot closer to the line than any team I saw. I got the vehicle to be 20% faster than what we had last year. If they could get -6.6 it’s my guess that they will be 3rd does that sound right in comparison to other states?

[mrsteven]

So I got my old teams team’s time down to the low 11 second rage and they can stop under 1cm on good runs [its very dependent on how the string is wound on the axel]. So that puts them around -6.6 for an expected state run, from other states is that top 6? At state last year there were teams that were way faster than that but we could stop a lot closer to the line than any team I saw. I got the vehicle to be 20% faster than what we had last year. If they could get -6.6 it’s my guess that they will be 3rd does that sound right in comparison to other states?

that really depends on the state like at WI state for heli 1:54 got first in IL that would of gotten 4th or under...

And wasn't last years mousetrap vehicle for distance? Idr, didn't do it last year.

But yea, I'd expect that to place for sure but it varies state to state

[packer-backer91]

So I got my old teams team’s time down to the low 11 second rage and they can stop under 1cm on good runs [its very dependent on how the string is wound on the axel]. So that puts them around -6.6 for an expected state run, from other states is that top 6? At state last year there were teams that were way faster than that but we could stop a lot closer to the line than any team I saw. I got the vehicle to be 20% faster than what we had last year. If they could get -6.6 it’s my guess that they will be 3rd does that sound right in comparison to other states?

that really depends on the state like at WI state for heli 1:54 got first in IL that would of gotten 4th or under...

And wasn't last years mousetrap vehicle for distance? Idr, didn't do it last year.

But yea, I'd expect that to place for sure but it varies state to state

That’s why I hoped to get a wide range of answers. I know the usually competitive/large states so I see how that compares to the small ones when I try to estimate my placings.

[mrsteven]

So I got my old teams team’s time down to the low 11 second rage and they can stop under 1cm on good runs [its very dependent on how the string is wound on the axel]. So that puts them around -6.6 for an expected state run, from other states is that top 6? At state last year there were teams that were way faster than that but we could stop a lot closer to the line than any team I saw. I got the vehicle to be 20% faster than what we had last year. If they could get -6.6 it’s my guess that they will be 3rd does that sound right in comparison to other states?

that really depends on the state like at WI state for heli 1:54 got first in IL that would of gotten 4th or under...

And wasn't last years mousetrap vehicle for distance? Idr, didn't do it last year.

But yea, I'd expect that to place for sure but it varies state to state

That’s why I hoped to get a wide range of answers. I know the usually competitive/large states so I see how that compares to the small ones when I try to estimate my placings.

is MI usually really competitive?