For the third year running H.A.R.T. has entered the Technogames television programme.
H.A.R.T.'s team for this year was
Peter Barrett - Captain
Laurie Calvert
Robert Felstead
The filming of the Technogames dragster events were filmed on the 18th of December at Shepperton Studios.
The filming lasted most of the day, and this year had a longer course (from 25metres to 35metres)
The course also gained 2 more lanes and so we were entered in heats of 4, Again the stopping systems had a hard time stopping some of the faster cars and some of the cars took major damage after each run, but most of the heavier cars were stopped nicely by the 2 foot parachutes which were the first stage of the system.
The show is being recorded in Late December and January so expect to see freezing rocketeers again in March when the show is aired.
H.A.R.T. had only a half of a table to display are cars and so the banners and pictures were hard to display but I thank Tony Bailey for doing the great A3 logos for us.
H.A.R.T.'s Pit Area / Stand for
the Dragster Events
December 18th Saw filming for the show at Shepperton studios. At first not many competitors were too sure how fast we would be. Qualifying runs occurred for some cars. Then the first four car heat went by. Lightstorm 2 was in the 2nd heat. This was to be the cars fastest run at 1.0369 seconds for a longer (than last year) 35 meter track. It got the World Record at this point. It obliterated the opposition, and almost itself. The car was designed to be reconstructed since at speeds of 300mph plus, it is hard for it not to suffer damage. It was made to break in easily fixed areas. Out came the Araldite glue. Techno Games measured the speed at 153.4 mph. Checking the video footage it is apparent the car didn't ignite until 0.403 seconds meaning that the real time of the run was 0.6339 seconds.
By now everyone was interested. Interviews and autographs followed. Whilst I was trying to glue my car, we were fending of well meaning people eager to get a glimpse at our design and technology.
The second heat, the semi-finals, saw our car storm off into the lead and across the line just as other cars were moving off. It was an amazing site. We were jumping for joy again. 1.4 seconds indicated a delay on the ignition system. The Techno Games starting system was losing power and setting off the cars at slightly different times. The timer started when the ignition button was pressed, not when the cars stated moving off, so this results in slower times than the cars can actually achieve. This may be why at Techno Games this car managed 'only' 1.03 seconds whilst at home, using video to measure speed to the nearest 1/25th of a second, it did a 30 meter run in a much faster 0.64 seconds. Perhaps the technical people can solve this problem next year. It would make a big difference. Without meaning to sound boastful, our car was still easily the fastest so it made no odds at this stage.
The final run saw the ignition system delay us on the line badly. Suddenly, after a heart stopping moment, Lightstorm 2 shot off and overtook everyone to win. We had the Gold Medal too. We were really jumping for joy now. The run was 1.9 seconds indicating a long delay on the start line but thankfully there was no stopping our little car today. We picked up our medals and were interviewed by Philippa Forrester and the judges, Noel and Martin. Thankfully the judges recognised the innovation, development and hard work that went into this car. It was great. I was very proud of my achievement, the journey of development, and the domination of the car.
BRICKBAT
The criteria for deciding on a winner never came until after models were submitted. They were to be judged on design (it was now too late to change anything) and duration in the air (which we second guessed). We were marked low by the judges on design. Can't have HART winning too much can we? We thought the flying brick idea was a good idea since a brick is the last thing you'd think would fly well. Perhaps in the future criteria and other details can be sorted out earlier?
On the day the best flyer achieved only 20 seconds duration and we knew Brickbat could do 28 seconds. But it got wedged on the pad and was held before finally lifting off after losing much power. Then neither chute opened. It was a terrible flight and we were only allowed one go, which made it a lottery anyway. It didn't have the worst flight but it could have done better.
It didn't matter at the end of the day. We were told just before we started that it was an 'exhibition' event, which meant they weren't going to give out any medals, so there wasn't much point doing it anyway. It we had to have a rocket failure, I'm glad it was that one.
Peter had got our team a bronze medal with his egg lofter, so Team HART now had a set of medals from over the years. His egg rocket was his own design whereas the winner was based on a competition kit, which to me makes it a hollow victory because they did little innovative design work themselves. Nevertheless they did what they had to in order to win and the competition doesn't allow for much else. Well done Pete for what you did. Techno Games is fun. Why not give it a go?