My pinewood race results
Annnd, the race results are in!
First, the good news: The About.com Mazdaspeed Flyer II won the concourse event! My butt-kissing ploy (making the car a Mazdaspeed3 hatchback) worked.
Now, the bad news: The whole racing thing didn't go so well. We raced four heats, and in the first one, the Flyer II didn't even finish. (Which, if you know anything about pinecar racing, is pretty pitiful.) Here's what (I think) happened: Since the rules specifically said "no graphite", I used what I believed to be teflon -- but either it wasn't teflon or I didn't use anywhere near enough of it. (I'm thinking the latter.) However, the no-graphite rule was a bust, and Mazda supplied a whole bunch of graphite (and teflon) at the race. For heats 2, 3 and 4, I loaded up the Flyer II with graphite, and I believe I won every heat... although I wasn't up against very strong competition.
Here's the punchline: Because of my DNF (did not finish) in the first heat, the computer didn't record any of my times. So while I know I did badly, I have no idea exactly how badly I did.
Oh, the secret of the About.com Mazdaspeed Flyer II is this: Under the "wagon" roof is 2+ ounces of weight. I made the roof out of plastic and filled the sides in with wood putty (the pinecar equivalent of Bondo). I was able to get the carbody up to around 5 ounces, and wound up having to add relatively little weight under the car.
The winner of the race, by the way, was Charlie Romero, publisher of Roadfly.com. Mazda is most likely going to launch a new Mazda3 some time next year as a 2010 model... so Charlie, if you're reading this, I'll be back!
Again, thank you everyone for all your tips -- I had a great time building and racing the car. All this pinecar building has put me way behind on my writing, so stay tuned -- more reviews coming soon! -- Aaron Gold
Photo © Aaron Gold
So much for following directions Aaron.
I told you to just rub a pencil over the polished nails and I never said anything about teflon……
Very important to play by the rules. Next time we have to make sure we know ALL the rules.Figure there should be a “next year”.I figure 3 out of 4 firsts is cause for celebration.Congratulations!!!
what did your Dad say?
Wow! What a biting critique about nothing.
Thanks for letting us know how much of a failure Aaron is..
Longleggychic evidently misses his Camaro and mullet days of yore.
I agree with Chris.
To longleggychic: uh, uh…what?
That had to be some inside joke.
Wow, if that was a joke, I missed the punchline. Like Jimmy said, maybe it was some kind of inside joke. Whatever it was, one thing is clear. We haven’t seen such an offesive, gratuitous, and inaccurate personal attack on here in a while. So, if it was a joke, uh…ha…ha. If you are serious, I’ll bet you do this kind of thing all the time—safely hidden in momma’s basement. So get a job and a life. Rent if necessary. But whatever the case, you need to try Preparation H.
If it’s an inside joke, then I’m not in on it. No matter — I see our traffic statistics every week, and I know that while longleggychic may not care for my reviews, the rest of the world does.
— Aaron
So it was serious. Hmmm….Take my earlier suggestions seriously then. They can make a major difference to an enflamed, puffed up @$$hole.
Congrats on winning the Concourse, Aaron! You’re holding up the great tradition of the About.com Flyer (I built and raced Flyer #1). As for Longleggychic — wow! Not only vitriolic, but also wrong. I quite like the reviews in Women’s Day. Oh, and I also love Aaron’s reviews!