mouse trap cars

[gitrdonechevy25]

In tech class we are going to strart building mouse trap cars. They are the cars that you make out of wood and run on CO2. What is the best advice so that I can get top speed and distance??:confused:

[derekhonda]

If they run on co2, would they still be called mousetrap cars?

[underpowered]

i belive you have your cars mixed up. a mousetrap car uses a mousetrap as a powersource with a string tied to teh spring on the trap and teh other end wrapped around the axle to pull it.

a CO2 car is completely different. much faster, lighter.

CO2 cars are great. what wood are you using balsa or bass wood? the Fastest cars have teh wheels inside the body, known as a shell car. shaped like a torpedo, looks kinda like a funny car. i will get a few pics of all mine tonight. i have built a few shell cars, a 1/2 shell, a chevy truck, a bus and a few other ones for state competitions. in four years in school, me and my buddies took 1st, 2nd, and two 3rds at state competitions of hundreds of cars. my senior year i built a woody car, with teh car being stained and laquered instead of painted.

[gitrdonechevy25]

oo my tech teacher says thier mousetrap cars show how much he knows:rolleyes: lol so what is the best way to make the cars for distance and speed but my tech teacher wont let us put the wheels under the cars.

[gitrdonechevy25]

and the cars we are gettin are the kits from pitsco

[quads14589]

i won in my class i made a sick car it was a wedge and it had a wing on the back it went like 55.

[underpowered]

pitsco makes both balsa and bass wood kits. balsa is lighter and faster, bass is a heavier and stronger wood.

you could do the needle car. looks like a pencil with wheels pretty much.

[cjj]

were working ont hem in school now. But I made mine skinny in the mddle but no skinnier then a pencil it will break then.

[nosliw]

amazing the diversity of people we got on here.

i didn't think for a second you were going to get a response......cool.

[wheeltrax]

well if it is a mousetrap car and not a co2 car.. the key i found out when i did the project is to make an extension on the mouse trap spring loaded piece. That way it has more swing and will go alot further.

[gitrdonechevy25]

thanks guys for all your help i am going to make it a little bit wider then a pencil with a triangle for the front end

[Honda4trax250x]

just make it as light as possile. Don't worry how it looks. Weight is all. Mine weighed very little, but was not aerodynamic at all but I still got 2nd place I think.

[Rico400]

if u do a mouse trap car, take the spring and wrap it around a few more times( its very tough so it might take 2 people) then hammer the end of the spring down with like a staple type deal.

i had small wheels in the back, big in the front. but we had to do alot of different things
-speed
-pulling
-make it stop on a certain distance
-see how far it could go

c02 cars

make it as light as possible like everyone else was saying.