What Events Make a FUN Technic Car Competition?

[DLuders]

Jovel made a nimble Lego TECHNIC "All-Around Car" for use in a Lego User Group (LUG) Car Competition. "The goal is to create a vehicle that is as all-around as possible":

On his Brickshelf gallery http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=371705 , Jovel posted these pictures of the various events -- (1) Fast Parking, (2) Manueverability Test, (3) Race, (4) Trailer Manueverability, and (5) VIP Derby. I know that Mahjqa recently had a competition like this with various Limousines; have you attended events like this? What events are the most FUN? Can you think of addtional/better events? I'm thinking about sponsoring an "All-Around Car Competition" at the October 2010 BrickCon in Seattle, Washington, USA. Since Power Functions only has 4 different channels, only 4 cars can compete at once (or go in groups further away than 10 meters/33 feet from each other).

Oscar Verbeek made this MOC for the same competition: http://mocpages.com/moc.php/125619 .

I would imagine that the "Snow White Drifter Car" (from http://www.brickinside.com/NeoView.php?Db=...amp;Number=1798 , and featured on TechnicBRICKS http://technicbricks.blogspot.com/2009/09/...snow-white.html ) would do well too. It's pictured above. As you can see, both Jovel's and Oscar Verbeek's MOCs are relatively small and simple (to encourage kids and adults alike to enter the competition). What do you think?

[mahjqa]

The rules Jovel and I set up for our ACC races are as follows:

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-Vehicles should be car-like. No tank threads or silly stuff like that. Skid steering is right out. So is articulated steering.

-Remote controlled. No wires, thank you.

-Two motors. One to steer, one to drive. One (possibly rechargeable) batterybox, and you can only use one PF channel.

-Dimensions: nothing larger than 25 studs wide and 40 studs long.

-The vehicle should have a hitch ball for the trailers which are used in some of the challenges.

It is also recommended that vehicles have some sort of gearbox. Racing challenges require speed, but maneuvering (like for parking challenges) are best done on low speeds.

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Of course, these can be tweaked according to whomever runs the race, and we're looking into amending the rules for different races to keep things fresh.

Some people from Chechoslovakia also had a similar competition:

And here's a link to a photoset of a HispaLUG race

Looking through my flickr account, I find that a lot of things that I've built are for ACCs:

[DLuders]

Thanks, Mahjqa, for the extensive information. I've always wondered why Lego All-Around Car and Trial Truck competitions never really "took off" in the USA. I sponsored a "Power Functions Battlebot" competition at the 2009 Brickfest (in Portland, Oregon, USA), but there were only 4 entrants. I don't live near enough to a major US city to regularly participate in LUGs, so maybe I'll try sponsoring an All-Around Car Competition at some local Lego event (in Spokane's metropolitan area of ~500,000 people).

[mahjqa]

I've been wondering about that as well. Maybe the technic builders have all taken up building with NXTs instead? For some reason it seems to vary greatly between countries how technic-oriented their LUGs and AFOLs are. I'm glad you're willing to set up some competition in the US, and be sure to tell us how it turns out

At any rate, we tried to make entering into such a competition as easy as possible. Anyone who can hook up two motors to a PF receiver can join in. I hope more people do; it's more fun than a barrel of flying epileptic monkeys.

(By the way, do you have a link to that battlebot competition?)

Edited May 8, 2010 by mahjqa

[Conchas]

The fact is that Technic is not as popular in US as in other countries, by far.

And can't be a larger evidence, than the sales figures.

[Jurgen Krooshoop]

The fact is that Technic is not as popular in US as in other countries, by far.

And can't be a larger evidence, than the sales figures.

That's a real pity, cause these ACC's are really big fun. And making a simple RC-car shouldn't that difficult for an average technic-builder, meaning lots of people can enter such a competition.