"Ironically Iron Man" was driven by Brigston Wright on September 2nd, 2017 at Big River Steampunk Festival. This was his first time competing in a teapot race.
Early in this race, Iron Man suffered from some audience interference.
These little stunt cars do not steer well and they often tilt backwards and stay that way, but they are fun to watch as they spin all around.
Brigston took it all in stride. He never became worried or upset when his vehicle didn't behave the way it was supposed to. When he realized he was running out of time, he found his own path to the finish line.
Well, it looks like we'll be pulling Jasmine out of public school again, and homeschooling her. The school district here is just failing her. If you have any suggestions for 6th and 7th grade class work I'd be eternally grateful.
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ReplyDeleteWe like Math U See for math, but that's the only thing we've really done at that level. With my son's reading disability and developmental delays, we aren't up to 6 or 7th grade in most subjects.
ReplyDeleteOkay, thanks!
ReplyDeleteThunder Tumbler cars drive more stable when you drive them backwards with the 2 big drive wheels forward. Controlling the car backwards is disorienting for me, so I compensate by turning my controller upside down as well, with the antenna pointed down. This probably reduces the range of the controller, but cheap RC cars like this have a short range anyway, and anyway, the Splendid Teapot Racers are allowed to follow close behind the cars.
ReplyDeleteI also accidentally found a way to stabilize my Thunder-Tumbler-Teapot-Racer: putting the teacup on the front of the car weighted it down so that it no longer popped wheelies when I drove it forward.
Now though, as the grizzed-grognard-veteran of 2 Splendid Teapot Races, my favorite platform for a Teapot Racer are the low-end New Bright cars, like 1/24 scale. Not very powerful--adequate if you aggressively keep the weight down, but they have a very small turning radius, and proved decisive, along with the more traditional RC car handling. I won the speed competition of this year's Watch City Steampunk Festival's Splendid Teapot Race in a blistering 38 seconds.
@Sandra,
ReplyDeleteGood luck with Jasmine. I'm sorry her school isn't serving her. As it happens, I do have a wealth of math and science lessons I might share. Honestly, I'd appreciate candid feedback.
Scott, that would be great if you want to send anything to us.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry this is so late. This is a little website I've been working on.
ReplyDeletehttp://professorfizzle.wixsite.com/professor-fizzle
And this is a writeup of my Teapot racer. It's a long document: it includes some directions on how to build it, and a mathmatical description of the shapes incorporated in the project.
http://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/078bb3_3fbbce7b1a464374929c39ca215b8c73.pdf
I just uploaded a video on how to use my compasses to draw circles:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfiZSe7n-MI
Also, now you can reach my website by just typing in
professorfizzle.com