Racecar Book: Build and Race Mousetrap Cars, Dragsters, Tri-Can Haulers & More
Pop Bottle Racecar 98 Spud Racer 132 4-Wheeled Fun 81 Prop Car 87 4 Rocket Racers 91 Basic Air Racer 92 Mini Pop Car 95 Mini Balloon Racecar 104 Vinegar Racer 112 Cola Roller 118 5 Edible Racers 125 Mallow Magic 128 Green Machine 136 Chocolate Thunder 140 Bun Fun 142 Rice Car 147 6 Gravity Racers 155 Birthday Car 156 Tri-Can Racer 165 Tri-Can Hauler 171 Mac-n-Cheese Roller 176
7 Racecar Launchers 181 Hotter Than Hot Wheels Launcher 182 Cereal Ramp 191 Mega Ramp 201 Juice Box Launcher 195 Pull-Back Racer 204
Introduction Ever since the first cavemen decided to leave their caves humans have searched for new ways to move The wheel allowed mankind to move faster across the landscape and wheels led to racing Racing cars is a sport that never grows old Mousetrap-powered cars rubber band powered racers and edible car contests are common in science and technology classes Contest hints and ideas are given for each type of car found in this book Many cars on these pages are easily adaptable for science fair projects Have fun experiment and change any of these designs you’re the engineer Most of all homemade cars are a blast to play with Just think of yourself as an early racing pioneer as you build and race these vehicles Many of the racecars can be built with stuff easily found in the house or garage Some involve a trip to the hardware store but all are easy to build For Teachers The curiosity created by building and testing cars may lead a child into the arena of sci ence technology engineering and math commonly called STEM And classes designed to emphasize STEM ideals are at the forefront of our educational system ix
1 The Starting Line Do you feel the need the need for speed Racing cars is just fun and building your own racecars adds to the excitement But science is also involved in building and rac ing cars If you want to build away go ahead you can always come back to this chapter later But knowing about the science involved in your racecars is the key to making cars that roll farther and faster Ways to Power Your Racecar Cars need energy to go In a traditional car that energy comes from gasoline In the future more and more cars will run on electricity from batteries But for the cars you are going to build you will be using free and renewable sources of energy rubber bands mousetraps chemical reactions air pressure and gravity The key is getting that energy to spin the wheels 1
