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Junkyard Wars Tour
ArtEnvironment writes "Junkyard Wars coming to a... MALL near you!?
Here's your chance to experience Junkyard Wars firsthand, or at least a glorified pinewood, er I mean JUNK derby! You can build unique gravity-racers and compete on a 'special effects-filled', mini race track. In addition, you can watch clips from the show and possibly even win prizes, yay!"
Yay -- one of my favorite shows is coming to a mall near me?! Where do I sign up? :)
A nice step forward for a television show -- involving viewers in person.
"How am I supposed to remember you, when you won't let me forget?" --Bare Naked Ladies
Or will they crush it at the end of the competition?
Seriously, this sounds like fun. Hey Junkyard Wars, over here in Reno, eh?!
Nobodies Prefect
Tidbits for Techs Technology Blog
It still takes considerable skill and elbow room to design and put the things together so it works. And many of the components laying around aren't in that great of condition, making it even more fun.
Yes it is my intention to do this exact same thing, remote controlled electric car with rocket boosters attached on the side : bring the car up to speed, then clutch the transmission to go free-wheeling then trigger the boosters at a distance. Yes fun. Volunteers? - I am aiming for physical engieneering and hope that this program will bring more people into the wonderfull world of physics
In Canada, we don't fancy things like socks
Yeah. I stopped watching after the end-of-series special with the two remote-controlled cars - this was in the UK version. Basically they had a Toyota people-carrier and an old Peugeot estate fitted out with improvised RC gear, and they had to battle it out in a quarry. You got most points for a hit on the roof, and all the Toyota van people did was dangle chains off poles welded to the roof, which scraped along the roof of the (rather lower) Peugeot, doing no damage. Consequently, they won, even though the Peugeot smashed the absolute shit out of the van - at one point it rammed it just behind the right-hand (offside) rear wheel so hard it bent the windscreen pillars at the front, and popped one of the doors. I *really* wish I'd taped it.
Bah, they screwed me with cub cars.
Mine was so simply designed and executed, that it was altogether unimpressive, but it was by far the fastest one out there.
I cut the block into a wedge. One cut. The end. I gave it a coat of poly.
Now, to get to weight, I came up with an ingenious idea. I filled the wheels with plaster of paris. There was absolutely nothing in the rulebook about the wheels, other than that you must use the ones they provide, with the nails they provide. Ie; no ball bearings etc. Nothing about adding the weight in the wheels.
So I was at the perfect weight, and the center of gravity was basically at the axle point. Huge advantage over the cheesy hollow plastic wheels.
This simple scheme made my car twice as fast as anything else out there. I smoked my own troop hands down, and crushed the local rally. I went to the finals, and some ass-clown judge disqualified it.
Like I said there was absolutely nothing wrong with my design. He was just a dickweed who couldnt accept the fact that a plain brown doorstop could smoke his sons painstakingly hand-carved stupid looking piece of shit (his son got 2nd place eventually - wow surprise surprise)
I was basically disqualified for outsmarting everyone else. Creative thinking is apparently not the scouting way. Bah. The whole thing leaves a sour taste in my mouth to this day.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
I can deal with the filming in a desert look.. incidentally the newer british shows are also filmed at the same spot outside LA..
What I get tired of is the macho attitude of many of the american teams. In contrast to the usual british sense that 'it's all in good fun' most of the US teams are overly competitive and pushy.
They get genuinely pissed off when they can't find something and especially when they lose, which takes all the fun out of it. The Miami gearheads are a case in point, though I guess they come from a particularly macho segment of US society.
Then there's the US team leader who thinks that a mixture of shouting 'let's go, let's go, let's go' and then berating his team members passes for leadership. Sheesh.
Not every team is like that of course, the High Flyers being a recent notable exception. Plus, they had the former governor of North Dakota.
...in San Francisco this Sunday: Power Tool Drag Races.
83chrise.nuf