Power Tool Drag Racing 2009 - £4000 in cash prizes!

Hey everyone. This year the Powertool drag racing hosted by Silverline Tools has really started to kick off.
Its being held at the Haynes motor museum again in summerset in september.

heres a link to a quick news report from this weekend.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7874998.stmhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7874998.stm
As you might hear, they have upped the prizes and theres a total of £4000 cash prizes to be given out equating to something along the lines of £1500 for the class you see in the video, and £2500 for the Ride-on catagory.

for more info check out http://www.silverlinetools.com/power_tool_drag_racing.htmlhttp://www.silverlinetools.com/power...ag_racing.html

Come on guys - get building!!!!

Excellent news Grant.

For those unfamiliar with power tool drag racing, the faster machines usually have a 2 to 2.5 kWatt angle grinder and circular saw blades for wheels (to get the grip - the track is plywood).
Alternatively, you can go for a couple of smaller ones to save weight, like Nick did.
They are powered off a standard mains plug, so you are limited to 13 Amps.

Nice and simple to build.

John

Looks good and I can see us doing a few of these. Id love to do the ride on vehicle............maybe next year!!

Ride-on!?!?! :crazy:

http://www.silverlinetools.com/images/power_tool_racing/2008/rideon.jpghttp://www.silverlinetools.com/image...008/rideon.jpg :)

Oh my!

Kane, you think that looks suspect... Check this!!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2111/2504684614_34d1374d0f_b.jpghttp://farm3.static.flickr.com/2111/...d1374d0f_b.jpg

James Cooper in background on the stage. lol

Now thats more like it!

Clip of the The Mattdawg Express driven by Matt Maxham, All round great guy and builder and driver of Sewer Snake... Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB2S5NzyE9ohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB2S5NzyE9o

my dads interested in this

but id rather race my m8s clio http://homepage.ntlworld.com/lichfielduk/brettscliohttp://homepage.ntlworld.com/lichfielduk/brettsclio

Posted a link in error, Sorry!

(Message edited by scorpion on February 09, 2009)

Sweet, just watching a show on these on discovery real time :)

Have you got a copy of the rules for this Grant, ive emailed them but have had no reply.

THE RULES (version 4.1.2, updated 5/5/07 and subject to ongoing change)

GENERAL IDEA:
Finish your machine before you arrive. Stay away from the liquor. Go faster than everyone else. Dont Crash. Win money.

RACING CLASSES:
Machines in all classes are based on hand-held power tools (see caveat for unusual designs class). A hand held power tool is a machine intended for handheld operation by one individual. A machine primarily used on a stationary mount, or rolled on wheels, or used by a group of people is not a hand tool for the purposes of this event. Hand tools
might be electric (AC or DC), gas, pneumatic, hydraulic, cold fusion, steam or otherwise. Examples of hand tools are machines like belt sanders, angle grinders, Skilsaws, drills, chainsaws, weed wackers, vibrators, etc. Examples of things that are NOT hand tools are things like lawnmowers, floor sanders, generators, bench grinders, etc.

Hand tools used in the drag races can run on a variety of power sources, provided by either on-board or external sources. For external power sources, we will provide 40 amps of 120AC per lane. For DC, pneumatic, gas and other sources, you are on your own.

AC electrical cords will be 100 long per lane, originating at the starting line. They will have standard Edison 3-prong connectors. You will be responsible for coiling the cord on the ground or laying it along side the track for your run. No spools or cord guides allowed, but duct tape will be provided so you can tape the connector together.
Tangles or poor cord feed is your responsibility.

Here are the details on the classes.

NON-RIDDEN (note significant changes to class definitions. These new rules are meant to better reflect what people actually build and want to build. Weve eliminated frame and drive mods as the reckoning between classes as this proved a mess. Feedback requested)

*Super Stock* (Single engine. Limited mods. Non-ridden)
Super Stock machines are single engine power tools with no motor modifications or non-standard power sources (i.e. engine and power source needs to be box stock). Drive can be direct drive to track via the original blades, belts, etc, or via a custom gear/chain/tire configurations. Frames, wheels, guide rails, etc can be added as desired. Any motor or power type is allowed. But all motors must have originated in a hand power tool and be in their original form,
with original power source driving it. Be honest. If you are uncertain about the definition of a hand power tool, see above. No vehicles built from RC cars allowed, cause they are boring.

*Pro-Supercharged* (Multi-motor. Limited mods. Non-ridden)
Same as Super Stock class, except with more than one motor.

*Awful Awful Altereds* (Multi-motor. Open mods. Non-ridden)
Same as Pro-Supercharged, except that all motor mods and power source mods are legal. Whatever you can scheme to drive your power tool sourced motor is OK by us. If you are running an esoteric power source and need extra track time to set it up, please contact us so we can make arrangements and not bore the crowd while you do your thing.
208 single phase and 208 three phase will be provided at the line, but you will need to supply your own power cords. All motors in the AAA class need to be of clear and traditional hand power tool origin.

*Unusual Designs/Top Fuel*
This class is for those more liberal interpretations of power tools which have caused so much mumbling and grumbling in years past (particularly directed at jim and kimric). So if this year you feel compelled to make a rocket engine out of a propane soldering rig, then we have a class for you. For this class (and ONLY this class) we are allowing a more flexible definition of hand held power tool. If your tool meets the vague criteria enumerated below, you are good to go.

1. A tool is a human built artifact that extends the capabilities of the human body and/or mind.

2. Power tools are those subset of tools intended to do some type of augmented physical or mechanical work, causing a useful and/or desired physical effect in the world.

3. Qualifying tools must have been in their original use hand-held. Tools originally intended for permanent mounting or wheeled operation are NOT hand-held power tools.

4. The potential energy which expresses itself as kinetic energy during the operation of the tool (i.e. during the race), can be carried with the tool, or by any desired manner of external sources and conduits.

5. The tool/vehicle ITSELF must travel down the track. This means that the entire mass of the tool must start BEHIND the line (no prestaging of any part of the vehicle ahead of the starting line), and the entire mass of the tool must travel down the track and through the finish line. Mass lost during run towards the expression of kinetic energy is fine.

6. Vehicles at risk of lift off and audience collision will be encouraged to use a zipline. We will provide one if there is
interest. Contact us ahead of time so we can coordinate.

7. Anything that is not specifically prohibited is permitted.

Designs in this class are usually very fast and very dangerous. The top speed record is 88mph or 167mph, depending on which interpretation of the rules you believe. ALL entries for this class MUST announce themselves ahead of race day , and be inspected ahead of race day to make sure they will stay in the track and out of the audience. We also reserve the right to say no, unsafe at any time for whatever reason(s) we find relevant.


RIDDEN (kind of. . .)

*Funny Car* (Custom fabricated. Single-motor or multi-motor. Custom drive(s). One or more riders)

The Funny Car class is for custom fabricated machines that carry one or more rider(s) down the track, using one or more motors that originated in a hand tool as described above. You are free to develop any type of frame, drive system, seating posture you like. You can start from an existing vehicle and add the hand tool motor or start from scratch. The drive from tool to ground can be direct via the tool bit, or via a custom gear/sprocket/axle/tire/etc system.


THE TRACK:

The drag strip is 75 of reasonably flat asphalt or wood track. There will be another 50 feet or so to slow down with added blankets and futons to help with the deceleration of the faster entries. Each lane for the ridden class will be 10 wide with a three foot high barrier wall on the outside of each lane to keep you and your machine out of the audience. The lanes will be separated by the below described track for the unridden classes.

Machines in the unridden classes will run on parallel wood tracks 1 wide with 2 X 4 rails on either side. We will make every effort to maintain the straightness and accuracy of this track, but expect some variation and bumps at the joints. This wood track will look something like this:


We will have a proper timing system with both elapsed and top speed measured and displayed. The starting line will be a flag girl (interpretation of girl to be at the discretion of the race organizers).

ENTRY FEE(S):

The entry fees are as follows until May 17th.

$40 for all classes. $25 of this is for racing and prize money. $15 is for TWO Maker Faire weekend passes (usual adv purchase price is $15 per person).
If you already have a makers faire weekend pass, you can just pay the $25 entry fee and use your ticket at the gate.

Each vehicle is a separate entry.
Only the first requires the full $40 entry, there after each vehicle is $25.
(unless you want more discount tickets with your additional entries then you can pay another $40).

Extra tickets can be purchased through the registration system for $15 for a weekend pass.
These tickets will be held for you at will call at the event.

if you have any questions, please email charlie gadeken at charlie [at] qbox [dot] org.


THE PURSE(S):

Special Mystery Prizes, awarded by special mystery judges for:

Most impressive engineering
Most pathetic engineering
Most dangerous machine
Most spectacular crash

THE PITS:

The pit area will have 120 volt power and some shop tools available, however we suggest you bring what you think you need. If you want a table to work on, you should probably bring it, but we will have some car hoods and other somewhat flat surfaces for you to work should you wish

Those are the US rules, butwe are currently working with Silverline to produce a new set of rules to suit the current style of dragsters.
Basically use any hand held power tool you can, and make it go down a track as fast as it can. It needs to be able to run off a 13A socket for the normal dragsters, and anything which doesnt require a plug socket for the ride-on catagory as this is raced on the Haynes test-track.

So whos building one? I think im going to, Might just stick a small grinder in my RC car, Is there a length limit?

we prob will

I'm gonna have one there

What you guys planning on building?

well my dad wants to have 1 like james coopers but i want 1 like john reids so i think we will go for one like johns but not sure when were building it yet, will prob be made out of ti bar as well like the beautys

john, have you got a photo of yours on the internet?

http://www.teamhurtz.com/powertooldragracing/2008.htm
Previous years was near the bottom of this page
http://www.teamhurtz.com/powertooldragracing
Video's missing though...

Just been to the gadget show live and Grant and everyone were there doing demos and letting people having a go

it was well good ill build one i think

:D :D :D