I was very impressed with your interpretation of the motorcycle-engine dragster. I was very doubtful that the down-geared power ratio would work. Frankly, it DIDN'T work. If you had fitted the motorcycle engine to a wheel of about 23", you would have made mincemeat of the heavy competitor. I mean, with a full-sized wheel, you would have been up to over 100mph in a drag. That heavy-assed Olds could NEVER have gone beyond 80mph in a quarter.

VeIocity@aol.com C.

-- Charles Austin (Veiocity@aol.com), January 04, 2001

Answers

Wrong guy, We built the air cannon. However, we had some experience with drag racing, I have held over a dozen national records in the past. Not the least of which invloved driving a 3200lb vehicle through the 1/8th mile in 5.60 seconds, utilizing a 400 cubic engine, with 1 four barrel carb., it was virtually stock, I did have a little more than 10 hours to get ready though. I can't believe how slow any of the drag race vehicles were.

-- justjay-Captain-Three Rusty Juveniles (justjay@neo.rr.com), January 04, 2001.

The dragsters from the US match actually performed much better than the ones built in the UK season 3 final! Both US teams did the eighth of a mile in 9-and-change seconds, while the UK teams managed 11-and-change.

Better parts, better planning, better drivers, or all three?

-- YCDK (ycdk@hotmail.com), January 04, 2001.

Much larger engines in both vehicles!!!! That motorcycle is capable of sub 11 second quarter miles right out of the box. I thought they would have traction problems with the little wheels. but the clutch appeared to slip a lot off the line.

-- justjay-Captain-Three Rusty Juveniles (justjay@neo.rr.com), January 04, 2001.

Too bad they (apparently) tried to keep the teams on an equal footing for the actual performance, then... I would've loved to see that 6- second performance! What basic design would you have chosen, and what would you have done differently?

-- YCDK (ycdk@hotmail.com), January 04, 2001.

It would not have mattered which design I would have been thrown into, although I would have prefered the V-8.

-- justjay-Captain-Three Rusty Juveniles (justjay@neo.rr.com), January 04, 2001.

JustJay, does your team have a website?

-- Pam (pamisonline@ivillage.com), January 04, 2001.

No web-site I am the only one on the team with a computer, OK, waddy our expert is online.

I just wish everyone would tell us what they really think.

-- justjay-Captain-Three Rusty Juveniles (justjay@neo.rr.com), January 04, 2001.

Justjay, do you still think that you hit the castle, or not?

-- Ryley Felver (CSjACKhANDEY@aol.com), January 04, 2001.

I know we didn't hit the castle, given the opportunity we would have blown it away.

-- justjay-Captain-Three Rusty Juveniles (justjay@neo.rr.com), January 04, 2001.

No web site. That's unheard of nowadays. Some people might want to know more about you. It's nice to see that more comes out of Barberton than just basketball.

-- J (julkknight@yahoo.com), January 05, 2001.

Did you know that there are only 2 Barbertons on the planet, one here in Ohio and one in South Africa. We are most famous for our Chicken dinners, well that was untill we made the show.

-- justjay-Captain-Three Rusty Juveniles (justjay@neo.rr.com), January 05, 2001.

Justjay, I (and my family) was pulling for the Rusty Juvieniles the ENTIRE way. The other team seemed to be a collection of young punks who had no idea what it means to compete. You didn't score points in the end, but you had way more class than the other team. Doing push ups and saying "out of my way" while finding parts. You never saw the Brittish teams doing that AT ALL!

-JS

-- Jemearl Smith (jemearls@hotmail.com), January 05, 2001.

Thank you for the nice comments, we really do appreciate them. We did our best, but, we couldn't over come mother nature.

JustJay

-- justjay-Captain-Three Rusty Juveniles (justjay@neo.rr.com), January 05, 2001.

Hi all, This is Waddy, "Chief Bubbaneer" for the "Rusty's." I think that part of the difference in temperment of the Brit. and US teams is that the US teams are getting on the set at about the time of day when we are used to snoring loudly. There is a five hour time difference from the east coast US, and eight hours from the west coast. Although I don't have a website, here are a couple of websites, with links to others, that will give you some background about my toys. Onager.net This site has pics and script. Have a look at "Competetions" pages, and check "World Championship Punkin Chunkin 2,000", "Raleigh 1999",and "Florida Fling". Another good pic site is: http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/mbanka5038/PC2000/ Our toys are in frames # 2,6, 17, and 19 Sorry, we don't have a site yet. When we do get one, it will be intresting to check out. We will also have a lot of pics soon on the Radical and Extreme Hobbies site, as the webmaster for that site was on our team at WCPC 2000. That site is at: http://www.reh42.com It has one of the best collections of craziness on the web. Where else can you find out about starting 25 lbs of charcoal and three seconds later having the perfect BBQ fire. (A little liquid oxygen is involved, and it's not recomended for something to do at home, kids.) This is getting off the subject though. I had a plan "B" for the valve, but thankfully, we didn't have to use it, as we ran out of oxygen (did you see all twelve of those bottles on the set, they were all empty by eight hours into the build). The old guys/young guys thing was well underway the day before the filming, as we were poking fun at each other at the motel before showtime. There was no antimosity involved, we were just ribbing each other. Sorry to hear that it didn't come across that way in the finished product. Even the team names reflect the humor behind it. All in all it was a great time there, and I came away with fine memories of the teams and staff, an excellent group of people, and of a country full of really courteous people. Musketeer Waddy

-- Waddy Thompson (cthomp3851@aol.com), January 06, 2001.

We have gotten way off the subject, but, since I'm here. The fact that you do not know what you are going to build and sitting around the motel lounge with a bunch of people for the first time, with some of them steering conversations away from anything that would give us a clue was outstanding.

-- JustJay-Captain-Three Rusty Juveniles (justjay@neo.rr.com), January 13, 2001.