HOMESPACE ELEVATOR$4M CHALLENGEABOUT US


  1. GENERAL
    1. The goal of the competition is to achieve the fastest 100' dash using a beam-powered R/C car.
    2. The competition is held in relative darkness - either at night or in an appropriately shadowed raceway.
    3. Spaceward provides two Strong BrightLight-2000 tripod-mounted theater-style 2kWatt short-arc Xenon follow-spotlights. (Spectrum)
    4. Each team provides one car.

  2. LAYOUT
    1. The competition format is a head-to-head two-car drag-style race.
    2. The cars travel on separated parallel lanes.
    3. Three active contestants are allowed per team - one manually controlling the light beam, one controlling the car using a remote control, and an optional third operator controlling the PV sail.
    4. The contestants are positioned facing each other, in mid-track, on their respective side of the track.
    5. The cars start out on one end of the track, 50' from the contestants, and finish on the other end, also 50' away from the contestants.
    6. Each lane is 16" wide, with side walls no taller than 6". The walls are bumpy and will slow you down if you rub against them!
    7. Each lane will have a clearly marked white continuous centerline, no wider than 1".
    8. The lanes are not guaranteed to be perfectly flat or horizontal.

  3. START AND FINISH LINES
    1. The race starts with a competition style light tree.
    2. The power light beams can be aimed as soon as the Amber lights light up.
    3. The cars can go as soon as the Green light lights up.
    4. A car is allowed one false start per race.
    5. The race ends with the cars breaking magnetic-coupled finish wires.
    6. A car that is tipped over, or a car that cannot significanly move for more than 10 seconds, loses the race.

  4. CAR REQUIREMENTS
    1. The car is not allowed any batteries or fuel.
    2. The car must be narrower than 14" below 6" from the track, and must fit and operate between the lane side walls.
    3. At no time can the car be longer than 18", as measured between two parallel vertical planes.
    4. At no time can the car width extend beyond 13" on either side of the wheelbase vertical centerplane.
    5. The car is not allowed to use the lane walls for active steering, and no element is allowed to roll against the walls.
    6. The car must not operate on electrical voltage above 24V.
    7. The car can feature a Red-Black 0.75"-spaced banana-jack pair on an easily accessible surface (e.g. its roof).
    8. Any capacitors larger than 100mF must be mounted on a matching banana-plug pair, so we can discharge them before you go.
    9. The car RC system must be frequency selectable between 3 different frequencies.
    10. The car must not shed components while operating. Any parts lost along the way must not weigh more than 1% of the weight of the car.
    11. The car must not damage the track.

  5. SCHEDULING
    1. The teams must be registered at least 14 days before the competition.
    2. The teams must arrive to at least one of the qualifying days (Mon - Fri) between 4 and 8 PM and demonstrate an end-to-end run.
    3. Qualifying scores will be assigned based on the team's best time out of two trials.
    4. Qualifying and practice will be based on a first-come first-serve basis.
    5. Additional practice time may be available as time will permit.
    6. On finals day (Saturday), the best 16 teams on each category will compete, single-elimination cup style, until a winner is determined
    7. Prizes will be awarded Saturday evening.
    8. The race tracks will be open on Sunday for additional playtime.
    9. The competitors are assigned lanes based on a single draw.

  6. JUDGING
    1. The winner will be determined by the breaking of the finish wire.
    2. A referee will observe each race and determine the winner.
    3. The referee's decision is final by default. If Spaceward's decides to take any action, that its decision is overriding and really final.
    4. This competition is about having fun and learning - there is no further appeal procedure.
    5. One rule to rule them all - rules may be changed with no advanced notice.

  7. THE FINE POINTS
    1. Contrary to common belief, drag racing is not about power - it is about balance. To win, you need to juggle torque, traction, weight, RPMs, mixture ratios... The Light Racers aim at exactly the same thing. Large PV panels (called "PV Sails") will give you more power, but prevent you from moving too fast, and make control more difficult. It's a balance thing.
    2. Sophistication is your friend, but complexity is your foe - should you have the PV Sails automatically track back into the beam? should you use advance motor control? or maybe just a brute-force approach?
    3. A wide wheel-base give you stability, but makes it harder to keep the car from hitting the side walls.
    4. In short - we don't have a recipe on how to build a winning entry. And that, we think, is the recipe for a good competition. See you in October!

© The Spaceward Foundation 2008 - www.spaceward.org - Mountain View, CA