Kinetic Sculpture Racing - Millicent's purpose in life

[Elliot Naess]

Cool two minute video from last year's Ventura race:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKVYJopugsY

[pete c]

is kenetic sculpture racing a west coast thing? i wouldn't mind checking one out if there are any in the north east.

[Elliot Naess]

Baltimore, Maryland, first weekend of May, every year.

http://www.kineticbaltimore.com

[pete c]

while baltimore isn't THAT far away, it is quiyte possibly the shittiest drive on the planet. no thanks.

anything in new england?

mainiacs are an odd bunch. I would think that kinetic scupture racing would go over well there.

[Elliot Naess]

None in New England that I know of, Pete. There was one in Allentown, PA, but I don't know if they are active these days. I ought to do some checking, and I'll try to post an update.

[Elliot Naess]

...And here's the update: The Allentown KSR does not seem to be happening these days.

But the west coast races are doing great. Here is you-know-who at Ventura in October.





Yes, I turned the chopper into a trike. Now it's close to unstoppable.

[the_experience03]

Those tires are massive, even by dirt track standards. The beadlocks are a REALLY nice touch.

Is there such a thing as a kinetic snow race? Perhaps an alpine competition if nothing else?

[Elliot Naess]

The tires are all the same Right Rear from Sprint Cars, as seen somewhere around here before. But I have some of them mounted on e-x-t-r-a w-i-d-e rims to maximize bouyancy. The one with the blue bead locks is 26" wide. Bead lock rims weigh more, but I don't think I could seat the tire without them.

Kinetic Snow Race? There is now. HEY EVERYBODY! ANDREW IS ORGANIZING A HUMAN POWERED SCULPTURE RACE IN THE SNOW!

[Elliot Naess]

Ah! There is a race in the Philadelphia area:
http://kinetickensington.com/about

[dentarthurdent]

Elliot, I thought of you when I wandered across this post about a pedal powered art car. The video includes an encounter with the police who don't find it very amusing...

http://www.designverb.com/2008/01/07...erson-bikecar/

I've enjoyed looking through your pages on KSR - looks like fun.

[Elliot Naess]

I see your 1986 Buick and raise you this 1963 Cadillac:



It was built in the early 1990s by a George Stevens in Southern California, who builds props for the movies for a living. Stevens was a regular in the Arcata-To-Ferndale race for many years, with a steady stream of high quality entries like this one.



The body is very thin fiberglass. In 1995 it was repainted black and white and raced by four officers of the California Highway Patrol:



After that, it sat in a museum for some years, and finally was stored outdoors in a blackberry-choked back yard.



Here’s the interior, with pedals and Styrofoam/fiberglass floor:



I doubt it’s visible here, but it has four-wheel-drive. There were two paddle wheels in the trunk, but I don’t have a photo. About those rods sticking up... there are four of them, which allow the floor to be lowered for water travel. Here it is up for ground clearance on land.

I rescued it from the blackberry brambles on January 2, and it is now parked next to Millicent. Yes, I have too many projects, but I have pledged to run it in the 40th Grand Championship Kinetic Sculpture Race this Memorial Weekend.

Yes, we have fun!

[Elliot Naess]

Now, back on land and powered by electricity....

There is going to be a television show about Kinetic Sculpture Racing, to be broadcast on January 16th and 17th.

Although "broadcast" may not be the correct word -- it is going to be on a channel called Treasure HD, which is part of the "premium" High Definition package on Dish Network. The satellite channel number is 9473. (You may also find it on something called Voom HD.)

It's a 30 minute film from the 10th Annual Kinetic Sculpture Race at Ventura, held last October in Ventura, Southern California. Yes, I'm in it -- se two photos a few posts above.

The program is part of a series called Magnificent Obsessions. The name of the episode is Kinetic Sculpture Race.

These times are East Coast:
Wednesday 16 January 2008, 8 PM and Midnight -- continuing every four hours; 4 AM, 8 AM, Noon and 4 PM Thursday 17th.

On the West Coast:
Wednesday 16 January 2008, 5 PM and 9 PM -- continuing every four hours; 1 AM, 5 AM, 9 AM and 1 PM on Thursday 17th.

(Sure hope I got that right!)

[Roasting8]

Hey Elliot,

Is it going to broadcast on a regular channel? I don't watch much TV and I haven't found a reason to invest in HD (hence, I'm HD deprived ).

Robert

[Elliot Naess]

I don't have ANY television channels in my house, and I'm pretty sure I'm able to enjoy life just fine without TV!

But I do have an old TV set, and a DVD player. And I'm expecting a DVD of the program in the mail in a few days. Then it will depend on whether the DVD can be copied.

I have no idea if the program will ever be broadcast on a normal channel.

[Elliot Naess]

Four wheel drive is no problem. The Counterfeit Cadillac, my own Henry Ford Goes Surfing (see my avatar) and countless other Kinetic Kontraptions are four wheel drive. Pushing a snow plow would be a problem though, since one human is only good for something like 1/4 horsepower. We "solve" that by using a verrrry low gear, multiplying the force at the wheels, but then traction becomes an issue since the vehicle only weighs a few hundred pounds.

I like the way you think, though! :P

[Elliot Naess]

There are a lot of "automobiles" in KSR.



This Pontiac Firebird was hand shaped from photos of real cars. Not as accurate as the Cadillac, no, but still pretty cool. There are two guys in the car and one in the camping trailer. But it used external pontoons to float. Those chassis' (one car and one trailer) are used every year with new bodies, and there are something like seven of them, and they are made to be connected like a train as desired. A couple of times they put all seven together and made "Chinese dragon" style vehicles.

Then there was the Subaru that was a real steel car -- they stripped it and hogged it out to a flimsy shell, and installed enough foam that it floated without pontoons. But I cannot seem to find a picture.

[Elliot Naess]

Another shot from Ventura:



The Tiki Bar did fabulously well -- specially for a first time effort. Six ATV tires with drive on four of them.

[bbkid]

man elliot, if i had a shop i would love to get into ksr. i used to go to school at a place called C.A.T. in eugene. not sure if you're familiar, but they build work bikes like this:


i actually have production work on those and other models across the country from when i went to that school. so i'm sure you can imagine that i have the knowledge of the systems used to make a kinetic sculpture or two, lol. personally i would love to use one of those willys flat fender body kits they make for old lawnmower chassis. i found this one for sale through quadratech. only problem is it costs $1200.00. but it would be awsome to have a little willys 4x4 built into a kinetic sculpture.


alas, i have too large of an imagination for my wallet like most people. lol.

[bbkid]

Originally Posted by Elliot Naess

Here is the steering pivot on "Henry Ford Goes Surfing":



The single ball joint is at the top, and the link with two ball joints is at the bottom (the only part that looks somewhat clean). The parts are agricultural tractor/plow hardware from Tractor Supply Co. The steering link is in the background -- it's simply one end of a rack-n-pinion from a small car.
I don't know if this is understandable?

i like this articulating chassis idea you have here elliot. i've seen similar setups used on hardcore custom 4x4's as well, but they were not used for steering like on loaders and such.

one question i have though...

have you ever seen someone use a triangulated 3-link suspension on one. i imagine if you were to limit articulation enough and use the right chain guides you could get away with it. i know there wouldn't be a huge use for it unless you could keep it light enough to pedal over 4-wheeling obstacles. but it sure would be neat.

[Elliot Naess]

Ah... Found the Subaru. I knew I took this picture -- just couldn't remember where it was.



They had a heck of a time making it go on the water, but it floated just fine. Here we are dodging the mud banks in the estuary at the mouth of the Eel River, on the final day of the 2004 Grand Championship. As you can see, my co-pilot and I just blew their doors off.