H.A.R.T. ROCKET CAR LEAGUE
TEST DAY 16TH FEB 2003

The first test day of the new rocket car league was on a cold but luckily dry day.

Soon people started to arrive and the 2 lane track was soon up and ready to be used.

Laurie and myself had hoped to have a 4 lane track ready for the day, but the wire got tangled into a rather big knot and so we decided to just use the red wire track and test the parachute braking system and the launcher today.

2 cars were soon on the track and ready to go,
at ignition both cars roared down the track with Laurie's sons car zooming into the lead but unfortunately the clips holding the car onto the wire broke off at the parachute and the car crashed into the fence causing damage to the car.

Another 2 cars were soon ready to launch, this time Stephens and Adams small car went out of control and did at least 3 complete rolls down the wire before getting stuck half way down the track

Click here to see a Video Clip of the 3 rolls

My lego car, H.A.R.T. Speed raced on to the finish line and hit the parachute system, which stopped the car in about a metre. the force of the stopping managed to throw one of the wheels off and lost a nut so the car had to be retired for the day.

Last to go was another of Stephens and Adams, this car worked perfectly but again only had paper clip guides which could not handle the braking system and this car also hit the far fence.

A lot was learnt from today and we hope to be able to have a better 4 lane system and stopping system ready for the next test day.