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UPDATES — PAGE 16

2017

2017 Melvin | Saturday, 2:30 p.m.

Melvin Maneuvers

Video by John Ferrara

2017 A Cockwork Orange | Saturday, 2:30 p.m.

A Cocksure Descent

Video by John Ferrara

2017 Planet X | Saturday, 2:30 p.m.

Planet Plows

Video by John Ferrara

2017 Kinetic Kootie | Saturday, 2:30 p.m.

Kan the Kootie…?

Video by John Ferrara

2017 Chain Mail | Saturday, 2:30 p.m.

Mail Drop

Video by John Ferrara

2017 The Glorious Galloping Gastropod | Saturday, 2:30 p.m.

Slug Drop

Video by John Ferrara

2017 Kinetic Kirby | Saturday, 2:30 p.m.

Kareful Kirby

Video by John Ferrara

-2017 General Race Updates- | Saturday, 2:22 p.m.

JUNE'S DUNE RULED TOO BRUTAL

Photo: John Ferrara

Technical note about the 2017 Kinetic Kourse: Chalk it up to Razooly maleficence if you like, but race officials have decided that June’s Dune — the point from which sculptures exit the beach on their way to Dead Man’s Drop — is too hard to traverse. Thus, teams are going to be allowed to push their sculptures across the mound without having to worry about losing their ACE.

(NOTE: Word is Trilobike pedaled over June’s Dune the hard way. Just sayin’.)

2017 Chitty Chitty Bang Bang | Saturday, 2:04 p.m.

Bangin'!

-2017 General Race Updates- | Saturday, 1:30 p.m.

Rollin' Into Manila

After braving the deadly motorized gawkers foolishly stacked up on Highway 255, the fastest Kinetic Sculptures have started to make their way into the beer and bounce house-enhanced Manila Community Park. Who was the speediest? LoCO has that answer:

Photos of the the glorious Manila pit stop courtesy John Ferrara.

2017 The Innuendo | Saturday, 1:05 p.m.

Innuendo No Show!

You may notice in our clickable gallery below that there seems to be a sculpture missing. Did LoCO slip into Mazzotti’s for a brew during brake checks and miss an entry?

Well, yes, but no. Race official The Goddess Jen-O informs us that #124: The Innuendo never showed up to the Plaza. Maybe they’ll show up later, Jen-O says, optimistically. Right.

-2017 General Race Updates- | Saturday, 12:30 p.m.

And They’re Off!

On a perfectly Humboldt overcast Saturday, 35 sculptures circled the Arcata Plaza to kick off the 49th annual Kinetic Grand Championship. Signaled by the noon whistle, only the Kinetic Paranormal Society crashed and burned before making it off the Plaza. (Fear not — they were soon up and on their way.)

Watch the kraziness below as called by KHUM’s Amy Berkowitz. Glory in motion.

2017 Team Goddess Lightning Bug | Friday, 10:30 p.m.

Description of the the sculpture courtesy its creator:

Art: Team Goddess Racing is pleased to bring you our Lightning Bug! It has many cool features including a lightweight aluminum body, awesome teal holographic fabric, flapping iridescent wings, flashy silver lightning bolts, internal storage, carved sand tires, logo branding throughout, and glass art (of course). And lights!!! A Lightning Bug must have lights!! Our costume skirts and lightning bugs on the backpacks are handmade of the same fabric as the wings and body of the bug. We also have an awesome variety of artistic bribes for judges, race teams, and spectators. Tina will be piloting with Steve Cross this year, with Dave Kime and Linda Jo Alexander as pit crew. We’ve grown to a 12-person team and have a fabulous entourage. Wave your flag to cheer us on!

Engineering: After two years of mechanical issues slowing us down at the Humboldt County Race, Steve and Tina did a complete rebuild over the fall and winter including rebuilt bike frame and additional supports, rebuilt art frame supports and wing mounts, new rear end sand tire storage/ergonomic legal push zone bar, new hydraulic brakes, pillow block bearings, redesigned sand tires, and new ergonomic brake handles. The art and Lightning Bug frame was designed and built by Tina and Steve with help from Goddess Jen-O and is made to disassemble for easy transport in a horse trailer.

Other: Racing as Team Goddess Busy Bee in 2015 (Tina and Jen) and the Kinetic Dragonfly in 2016 (Tina and Molly), the team completed the entire course for the Grand Championship both years, but were hella slow in the sand due to a number of mechanical issues. We are hoping that our extensive modifications over the last year will allow us to earn our very first ACE on this machine in the Kinetic Grand Championship!

2017 Team Turtle: DOMNT | Friday, 1:07 p.m.

Description of the the sculpture courtesy its creator:

ART: Team Turtle “Domnt” (Dam Old Mutant Ninja Turtle). Very little Art and not much Pageantry. (You cannot expect much from an old Turtle!)

ENGINEERING: Another year, another craft. Last year’s contraption almost broke apart at the finish line. It was repaired and raced in one more race but its time is limited, it is already destined to be the parts for the 50th KGC vehicle. This year’s unit started out as three 26” bikes which have been highly modified into a 140 lb kinetic vehicle. The width is less than 8 ft, we have to make it legal! It is set up in a delta trike configuration with duals on all three sets of wheels making it a hexacycle. This will be its first race although it has been through its paces many times and has made an appearance in a Christmas Parade. With all hopes, the major bugs have been worked out. Calculated max speed is about 11 mph running a peddle speed of 60 rpm. The lowest speed with this peddle speed is less than 1 mph with everything set at the lowest gears (see the worksheet). It has been clocked doing 17 mph for a short distance on level roadway.

The drive system is set up based on two 6 speed clusters and a 7 speed cluster. The two 6 speed clusters are paired together which allows me to shift from road speed to the lowest of sand speeds with four intermediate speed in between. This gives me a 21 speed vehicle that can be set on 6 different drive ranges, giving me a unit that has 126 forward gears. This said, I will not need to use them all; I will probably use 10 of them. Speed on the water is unknown at this time. I have stayed with a paddle wheel set up. This worked good in last year’s race. I have made some changes to the wheel height adjustment system due to some electrical issues last year. I have gone to a mechanical connection to the scissor jack. This will allow me to make wheel height changes after making the transition into the water. This will make more efficient use of the paddle wheel in the water. My paddle size was shown to be large enough last year to propel me at a suitable speed. Currently I am unable to water test the craft because I would have the same speeds as on land, you cannot test floatation on thick ice. I have run my spreadsheet that calculates draft and it looks like it can be balanced on its pontoons with no problem.

This craft build was started over a year ago. I have addressed the metal fatigue issue of the frame. Hopefully new issues do not crop up. I have also changed to a solid shaft at my power transfer point of my rear axle. This is the unit that failed on the dunes last year. I am looking forward to peddling up and over June’s Dune, I hope.

2016

-2016 General Race Updates- | Monday, 7:05 p.m.

(UPDATING) 2016 Kinetic Awards Winners

Never in the history of Kinetic racing (probably) has there ever been a “three-peat” champion but then again there has never been a team like Tempus Fugitive. The team pulled off their third win in a row with this year’s sculpture Tempus Fugitorium and retained kinetics’ heaviest trophy to the delight of their peers. Glory, glory, hallelujah.

Below is your komplete list of 2016 award winners:

2016 Kinetic Grand Champions