K^2 - The Dragster

Meet K^2, our beloved dragster:

Our challenge was to create a drag car that efficiently balanced speed and power using our knowledge of torque and LEGO structural design.
Originally we created a design with a gear ratio of 81. This drag car was powerful but very slow. The design of the car itself was also very compact. For our first trial run against other cars, our time was more than 27 seconds.

                                                     

However, after losing in the trial round, Kaity and I decided to change things up. First, we made our design longer, and put the weight towards the front of the dragster instead of the back. This way, the weight of the car is closer to the ground giving it more of a momentum when it is trying to go forward. We also changed our gear ratio from 81 to 27. Testing this out, we got our dragster to decrease its time down to about 17 seconds.

After many attempts of playing with the design, We finally ended up with a gear ratio of 15 and the long design seen in the top picture. This Design had the fastest time in the new trial rounds with a 7.05 seconds. 

K^2 is the one on the left.

However in the final round with everyone, K^2 got temperamental and decided to perform 2 seconds slower.

K^2 is the one on the right.

All in all, K^2 did pretty well. He certainly made a huge improvement. 

We're proud of you K^2!!