Kinetic Dragonfly Slogs Toward an Ace Finish

Photo: AG

Pulling up the rear! On LoCO’s long walk back to the Manila Community Center, we ran into The Kinetic Dragonfly, the very, very last sculpture slogging it out in the sand. 

As team rep Michelle Estabrook told us, spirits remain high since their ACE is still intact, but now it’s a race with the sun to make it to the finish line before the course closes. Oh my! —AG

A description of Kinetic Dragonfly courtesy its designer:

ART: Our art was designed by Tina Kerrigan and was built/handsewn by Tina, Molly Durham, Jenette Kime, and Michele Estabrook. It has many cool features including a lightweight aluminum body, awesome teal holographic fabric, flapping iridescent wings, internal storage, carved sand tires, logo branding throughout, and glass art (of course). Our costume skirts and dragonflies are handmade of the same fabric as the wings and body of the dragonfly. We also have an awesome variety of artistic bribes for judges, race teams, and spectators. Tina will be racing with co-pilot Molly Durham this year with Steve Cross and Michele Estabrook as pit crew. We’ve grown to an 11-person team and have a fabulous entourage this year. Wave your TGR flag to cheer us on as we strive to ace our very own sculpture in the Kinetic Grand Championship!

ENGINEERING: The bike portion of our sculpture was designed and built by Chris Shmatovich last year. Steve, Tina, and Molly did a complete rebuild over the winter with all new bearings, jack shaft, chains, brake rebuild, and a new Delrin roller to replace the tensioner sprocket. The art and dragonfly frame was designed and built by Tina and Steve and is made to disassemble for easy transport in a horse trailer.

OTHER: Racing as Team Goddess Busy Bee last year, Tina and Goddess Jen-O completed the entire course for the Grand Championship, even though they were hella slow with a number of mechanical issues including a broken differential on day three of the race. They came back after rebuilding the differential to win Grand Champion at the Corvallis Race in July. Goddess Jen-O and Molly went on to race in the Port Townsend race after Tina fractured her kneecap last fall. Tina and Molly are excited to be racing together for the Kinetic Grand Championship!