World Record (maybe?)

[kraai]

On the morning of 23 August, the Technic Special Interest Group of the South African Lego User Group (zaLUG) succeeded in using remote controlled LEGO-motorised vehicles to pull a trailer train of 78 metres in length which comprised an astounding 2,114 LEGO rubber wheels. The "snake" achieved an estimated stately pace of 0.125 kilometres per hour. 

 

We've searched and could not find anything with more wheels or longer in length, so for now we're claiming the record :)

 

 

 

Edited September 5, 2023 by kraai
Embedding video

[nerdsforprez]

20 minutes ago, kraai said:

 

 

We've searched and could not find anything with more wheels or longer in length, so for now we're claiming the record :)

 

 

 

Which I would promptly abandon.  Claiming this could be viewed as an embarrassment. 

".... with more wheels or longer in length"??  How specialized!!!  So, if I create a model pulling a trailer with the most Lego flower elements I can claim a world record too??   Awesome!!!

Not that it would mean anything.  Obviously what one is going for in pulling records is WEIGHT or MASS (or friction).  Length of wheels or whatever may indirectly measure this, but by no means is it a direct measurement of anything useful.   

Kinda a silly post if you ask me.  

Edited September 5, 2023 by nerdsforprez

[icm]

I'd say there's a valid meaning in length of wheels, or number of cars. The number of cars (number of wheels) is directly related to the ability to safely steer, accelerate, and brake, especially when you're not running on rails. It may be a silly post, but it's a fun stunt. No need to pooh-pooh this get-together.

[Davidz90]

I think there's no need to be so negative. Number of wheels is indeed a bit arbitrary (and easy to beat with small wheels) but a 78 metre long vehicle is a legit achievement IMO.

[nerdsforprez]

8 minutes ago, icm said:

I'd say there's a valid meaning in length of wheels, or number of cars. The number of cars (number of wheels) is directly related to the ability to safely steer, accelerate, and brake, especially when you're not running on rails. It may be a silly post, but it's a fun stunt. No need to pooh-pooh this get-together.

 

7 minutes ago, Davidz90 said:

I think there's no need to be so negative. Number of wheels is indeed a bit arbitrary (and easy to beat with small wheels) but a 78 metre long vehicle is a legit achievement IMO.

I would agree with both of you if it was shared as just a fun event.  And yes, the build is quite an achievement!  That is what Lego is all about!  But this was shared as a R-E-C-O-R-D.  Records without a competitive base are meaningless.  Records with a competitive base are meaningful.  If I get down on the floor of my office and crank out 20 or 30 pushups I've probably just set a world record for most push-ups in my office.  Not because I am strong, but because no one has done it before (likely) on the basis they haven't even tried (i.e. no competition).  

I am not trying to be rude or "mean" - its just that is how records work.  I thought that was self-evident.  

Edited September 5, 2023 by nerdsforprez

[icm]

Just now, nerdsforprez said:

Records without a competitive base are meaningless.

Just like 90% of the records in the Guiness Book of World Records! The vast majority of those are pointless stunts. Let these folks have their fun. They're obviously not being super serious about their "record."

[nerdsforprez]

7 minutes ago, icm said:

Just like 90% of the records in the Guiness Book of World Records! The vast majority of those are pointless stunts. Let these folks have their fun. They're obviously not being super serious about their "record."

I don't think that 90% of records in the GBWR have a competitive base of 1.   I call false equivalence here. 

But, your word "pointless" i.e. like I said, meaningless.  Which, looks like we agree upon.  And if that is what the OP is after, then, yup, you are right.  

Sorry, I don't want to deter from folks having fun.  After all this is just a hobby.  My point was just to point out that it really is not a record, per se, or at least in the traditional sense or not of anything meaningful.  But, if the OP and their group had fun, then that is a whole different type of "meaning" - so, good for them....

Edited September 5, 2023 by nerdsforprez

[Toastie]

13 minutes ago, nerdsforprez said:

So, if I create a model pulling a trailer with the most Lego flower elements I can claim a world record too?

Of course, you can! You know how many totally silly and totally irrelevant (to the Uninterested) "certified world records" there are recorded in the annual Guinness World Records book or on their website?

OK this is not certified - but hey, this is fun! I enjoyed it!

And they're saying "... so for now we're claiming the record."

Yeah, why on Earth not? Take all your LEGO flower elements you have, put them on a trailer, and claim, for now, the record. What is wrong with that? Nothing! It's called having fun.

I cite from one of my favorite movies: https://movie-sounds.org/war-movie-sound-clips/quotes-with-sound-clips-from-kelly-s-heroes/oh-man-don-t-hit-me-with-them-negative-waves-so-early-in-the-morning

42 minutes ago, kraai said:

so for now we're claiming the record :)

Congratulations guys, I did not find anything either - 72 meters - WOW!

Best,
Thorsten

[jamesaguilar]

We're gonna need a lot of wheels where we're going.

[nerdsforprez]

7 minutes ago, icm said:

The vast majority of those are pointless stunts

ALso, I think you misinterpreted what I said.  I said "meaningless".  And I used that term in the context of "lacking competition".  GBWR records may be "pointless" to you but I don't know what you mean by this.  Is it because they are frivolous?  Or the records don't carry a function?  Because if that is the case then perhaps, perhaps that is correct.  But that is not why we value records.  The value in records lies  in the fact that they have not been done before, which again, is all about competition.  Which, I would argue that GBWR nearly always have a competitive base.   Growing the longest fingernails in the world is meaningless or most of us "normal" folks because it serves no purpose.  But if there are thousands and thousands of people who try it (which, as a medical professional I can assure you there are) then as a record it is indeed, meaningful.  

1 minute ago, jamesaguilar said:

We're gonna need a lot of wheels where we're going.

 lol.... unless perhaps one of us starts to steer in another direction.  Which I think is me  

[icm]

I meant frivolous, functionless, but also lacking competition. Many of the Guinness records are made up just to have a Guiness record. For instance, there was a Lego YouTuber who asked Guinness if they would certify him for "fastest time building the Lego Colosseum." They agreed, and he filmed himself building the set, and then he had his very own Guinness-certified world record. Now, the competitive base for that was not exactly N=1, as there are other people in the world who have built the Colosseum set, but really for all practical purposes it was N=1. Nobody else was chasing that hyper-specific competitive niche.

Edit - So, @kraai, can you tell us more about how you powered and controlled that extra-long train?

Edited September 5, 2023 by icm

[Lipko]

https://recordsetter.com/world-record/bubbles-blown-30-tarantula-mouth/40691

[nerdsforprez]

 

In order to not distract anymore from the original purpose of the thread, I propose we heed @icm's question - 

11 hours ago, icm said:

can you tell us more about how you powered and controlled that extra-long train?

 

[Lego Tom]

Does LEGO have a "Captain Buzzkill" figure? Just asking in case someone wants to change their avatar.

[2GodBDGlory]

Dang, that's something!

[dr_spock]

That looks ilke a fun activity for your LUG. How did you guys get the shopping mall to let your LUG do that? 

[kraai]

Thank you for your kind words.

Something I should have added is that the project lead created a very cool cart/ trailer which will work with most Technic wheels. This helped especially the newer Technic builders to be part of the project. Here's a PDF of the instructions of the trailer we used, my tractor had a similar steering system to this.

https://www.zalug.co.za/site/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Tri-Axle-Trailer-v1.1.pdf 

3 hours ago, dr_spock said:

That looks ilke a fun activity for your LUG. How did you guys get the shopping mall to let your LUG do that? 

Our LUG has a culture of collaborative builds and activities, so this was one of the fun things we got to do. Also, it finally gave a lot of Technic fans something to do with crates and crates of otherwise useless wheels, haha!

We have a great relationship with this regional mall, having exhibited as their guests every year since 2017 (aside from the two years of C19). It was a two-day event over a weekend, we assembled the 'strings' of trailers the Saturday before and kicked off at 06:00 on Sunday morning, before the shops opened and public arrived, so there was little to no impact on the mall staff, stores or shoppers. 

12 hours ago, icm said:

So, @kraai, can you tell us more about how you powered and controlled that extra-long train?

The Technic SIG members built four tractors, and only one really needed to steer as the others were designed as followers, mechanically steering their front and rear wheels based on the direction of the tractor in front of it (I think it's called double axle pivot steering). The lead vehicle, which was a superb model of Big Bud 747 - photo below- had mechanical failure so we ended up using only three tractors with a very rudimentary build at the front which provided steering. My tractor (the third one in the image below) used 4 XL motors with two battery boxes and a truss design to keep it light but still strong. The motors and battery boxes counterbalanced each other over the axle. The second/ middle tractor was pretty close in design to mine, had more of less the same gearing but used four battery boxes and had a lot more traction. 

Our largest challenge on the day was the highly polished floor tiles, which didn't provided a lot of grip for the tyres, but the tractors did pull the entire length of the train, and then some.

Control was via standard Lego PF IR controllers, we used train remotes to sync speed. There was no hard and fast specification for gearing, but we were all kinda aligned in the overall direction we went in. 

13 hours ago, nerdsforprez said:

Claiming this could be viewed as an embarrassment. 

<snip>

Kinda a silly post if you ask me.  

As icm pointed out, it was a bit of fun and not intended to be any official record, certainly not to the point to get Guiness or any other certification bodies involved. We took the "what cannot be measured cannot be improved" approach, and I thought I'd share the interesting numbers that came with this project, as someone would inevitably ask about it.

Take solace that you're not wrong in anything you said. As Toastie did, I too quote a scene from one of my favourite movies-

Edited September 6, 2023 by kraai

[nerdsforprez]

5 hours ago, kraai said:

Take solace that you're not wrong in anything you said.

Perhaps not, but looks like I was too literal in my interpretation of everything! And that is on me!    

Glad you guys had fun in the endeavor - at the end of the day that is what it is all about.  

[kraai]

Just now, nerdsforprez said:

Glad you guys had fun in the endeavor - at the end of the day that is what it is all about.  

Not gonna lie - the Technic guys have a lot of fun together. The event before this was to build a car and drag race against each other on a minifigure scale quarter mile - think it was around 21m, but no great footage exists, 

Are you part of a LUG? Do you guys do collaborative stuff?

[nerdsforprez]

1 minute ago, kraai said:

Not gonna lie - the Technic guys have a lot of fun together. The event before this was to build a car and drag race against each other on a minifigure scale quarter mile - think it was around 21m, but no great footage exists, 

Are you part of a LUG? Do you guys do collaborative stuff?

I am actually.  Here in the states.  Unfortunately I don't get much time to participate in events, and also, I don't think there is a big Technic representation, just more system type stuff, so I don't make a huge effort in attending.  But I do have a good time watching and communicating with folks in my local chapter. 

[grum64]

Looks like a really fun project. Thank you for sharing.

17 hours ago, Toastie said:

I cite from one of my favorite movies: https://movie-sounds.org/war-movie-sound-clips/quotes-with-sound-clips-from-kelly-s-heroes/oh-man-don-t-hit-me-with-them-negative-waves-so-early-in-the-morning

Yay…a fellow Kelly’s Heroes fan. It’s one of my favourites also. George and I watched it just last weekend. It was the first time he’d seen it and he loved it 🙂

Edited September 6, 2023 by grum64

[RichardGoring]

That's fun! Glad you speed limited it, to avoid crashing into a store! 

I hope they accept your record claim.

[kraai]

On 9/6/2023 at 5:42 PM, RichardGoring said:

That's fun! Glad you speed limited it, to avoid crashing into a store! 

I hope they accept your record claim.

Haha thanks! We're not submitting the claim to any governing body like Guiness, none of us like that level of admin or paperwork. It was really just something fun to do on a Sunday morning :)