While I am aware that there has already been an off-road show, I would like to see one that is less of a "who will get there first?" and more of a "who will get there?" I thought it would be interesting if the teams had to build a vehicle that has to go through a near impossible obsticle course, like through a stream with tall embankments and over bouldery terrain (is bouldery a word?) They could do this with the aid of an onboard winch, situated on the front bumper, like some land rovers. The winch could get it's power from the main engine, and allow the car to go up near-vertical inclines. The race element would still be there, but I thought it would be more like: drive a bit, jump out, reel the chain/cable and attach it to something, run back, get in, winch up the car to the attachment point, drive a bit, come to a cliff, winch the car down, etc. What do you think?

-- Joe Verdi (joeverdi@excite.com), March 05, 2001

Answers

My opinion... a more difficult and varied course would require a more complex machine. Complex machines (from scrap) take longer to build (perhaps too long), are less likely to accomplish their given task and make it more difficult to clearly demonstrate the scientific principles to kids. I think it would be a disappointment for viewers when machines do not, at the least, perform the task they were designed to accomplish.

-- Max (maxel@inwindsor.com), March 05, 2001.