Space Derby

Yesterday was the Space Derby at Pete's cub scouts pack meeting. This was similar to the Rain Gutter Regatta, but the craft was more difficult to assemble and the event was more chaotic.

Our key objective was to let Pete do as much of the assembly as possible all by himself.

Here is Pete's finished racer:

Here is Pete getting it wound up for the race:

Here is Pete getting ready to start the race (his is the second one in, and he is waiting for the other two to be loaded onto the apparatus):

There were four ships in each race. In Pete's first race, his was the only one that worked so he got first place. They fixed the other ones and re-did the race. Pete got second place. Then they did a race of the 1st and 2nd place finishers and Pete got second place again. There was one racer that was clearly faster than Pete's. It was white and looked like a mini Space Shuttle. I found out later that the dad works for NASA.

We learned these Space Derby Tips during the building process to remember for next year:

• Try to use all four rubber bands for maximum velocity
• Make the ship as small as possible
• Sand the ship as finely as possible
• Lubricate rubber bands
• Use graphite powder to minimize friction
• Make sure plastic tube covers entire hook
• Make sure flat part of propellor faces forward

Next event is the Pinewood Derby in December!