2011 Winners!

It's official! After some really good runs in the first round, Susan, Trayne, James, Russ and Nick advanced to the final round. The winners for the 2011 race are; Nick (1st place), James & Team (2nd place) and Russ (3rd place).

It was Nick who went the furthest in both rounds, claiming first place. Nick is no stranger to the winners circle. Starting in 2006, Nick claimed 3rd place. In 2008, 2nd place. 2009 was the first time he claimed 1st place. He was missed in the winners circle last year, but he has made a strong comeback! Congratulations Nick!!!

Second place was won by 'Team' James (?). The team consisted of James, his brother and friends. Their design, while clunky, ran very well. I'm sure it was the wide wheel base and evenly spaced axels that attributed to the car's stability. It definately wasn't the 'Hello Kitty' tape that held the engine to the base! After drawing a grotesque face on the base of the car, they named it the Troll Mobile. I think that luck had more to do with their coming in second than anything!

Russ (last year's winner) should have done better than 3rd, but he lost time in the pits putting together his second engine when he stopped to say good-bye to friends. After careful analysis, it was determined that the only difference between his first run and second, was the placement of the Piccolo Pete's in his engines. The second run engine did not have all fireworks facing straight and forward. This caused his second run to not have the same energy exerted as the first, giving him a 3rd place finish.

All in all it was a great race! Only one car ran off of the track and underneath a parked car near the starting line. No damage was done to the parked car, but the race car lost a wheel.

Pictures and videos are being uploaded - but it may take some time to get them all online. The first place run was NOT captured as it happened too quickly!! The race photographer (me) was taking a picture of the car on the starting line when it's fuse was lit. Before I could start the video, the car was down the street! Maybe next year I'll get an assistant!

Speaking of next year....I wonder who will win???? I can't wait to find out!



ABOVE PHOTO: left to right - Russ (3rd), Nick (1st), James & Team (2nd)

2011 Videos - First Round of Racing

Here is David 'in the pits' before the race building an engine. Tom asked him to rewire one of the entries that was made out of plastic bottles. It started with a single Piccolo Pete sticking out of the end of each of the 3 bottles. The problem would be lighting it. David rewired it, which fixed the problem. This design was rather cool as it sported a smoke bomb taped to the front, which was lit at the same time as the engine - for dramatic affect! (Video pending)


We had 3 yellow buses entered this year, all by different contestants. They did remarkably well. Unfortunately, due to the small wheel base, they tend to get a little squirrly. (Video pending)

At our Christmas White Elephant gift exchange last December, this statue (Oscar) was one of the gifts. It was reworked into a car for the race! It didn't run well, but it was interesting to look at.


Here is my car. I call it the Hula Car.


Did you ever see the movie Wally? This car is a distant cousin.



Here is the runaway car... part one is it going astray... part 2 is it's reveal from under the car.