Gravity Vehicle C

[_HenryHscioly_]

as long as you can be accurate, and not way too short or way to tall, you can still do well
but,if the vehicle is barely moving near the end...then the time score might be adding enough so that you'd want to increase the drop height, unless you can decrease the friction or add speed some other way.

[jacobxc]

as long as you can be accurate, and not way too short or way to tall, you can still do well
but,if the vehicle is barely moving near the end...then the time score might be adding enough so that you'd want to increase the drop height, unless you can decrease the friction or add speed some other way.

I beg to differ height can helpa a lot.
My Car
Distance: 100mm
Height: (400*51cm/(300-51cm)= 81
Time: (25*4.87s)= 121.25
Time Off: (50*0.5s)= 25
Total: 327.75

Other Team
Distance: 60mm
Height:(400*80cm/(300-80cm)= 145
Time:(25*4s)=100
Time Off: (50*0.05s)= 25
Total: 335

In conclusion even with a faster time and and closer distance I would still win. You could even drop an extra cm off and I would only lose by 2.75 points

[jacobxc]

helps a lot*

[_HenryHscioly_]

I meant to say that the optimal height for one vehicle may not be the optimal height for another vehicle.
based on my car's length and center of gravity, theoretically, for a 10m run
if it has a deceleration of .2m/s^2, optimal height is 44cm, 180points
4.5s, 111 timescore, 68 heightscore
while if it was .4m/s^2, it'd be 56cm, 204points
4.5s, 113 timescore, 91 heightscore
and at .6m/s^2, it almost wouldn't make 10m, optimal height of 71cm, 236points
4.5s, 113 timescore, 124height score
the numbers dont add up too nicely ..I'm using my calculator and just tracing the curves....but seems quite odd that all the times are the same....

theres only 56point difference with .2m/s^2 and .6m/s^2; 5.6cm
and if it was the same car with same deceleration, it would be less than 5.6cm difference

but in conclusion..just gotta test and calculate the score for different heights.. and no reason to increase drop height if it hurts your score

[joeyjoejoe]

What is y'alls take on rule 3f which states: "The vehicle and ramp, including the release mechanism, together in the ready to start position must fit....."

Does this mean that our car must actually be on the ramp, ready to launch beforehand and therefore we can't change our height once we hear the distance announced? What if we have two launch heights and the one we use depends on the distance our car is required to go?

[olympiaddict]

I believe that it would be legal to adjust the height- given the fact that the height is supposed to be chosen after impound, it would give the first team to go an unfair disadvantage- teams competing later in the day could have "heard about" the target distance and therefore be able to adjust their height, which would not be fair to the first team. I also think that the rule saying that a height will be measured before each run suggests that adjustment is allowed.

[_HenryHscioly_]

do you suppose "ramp" includes release mechanism? my release mechanism touches the floor...
I left my rules at school..so can't submit clarification question till next week, so I just wanted to hear some opinions
I do have another mechanism that doesnt touch the floor, but I like the one that does touch the floor if it is legal..

*edit: touches the floor outside the 50cm75cm box after being triggered

[Balsa Man]

do you suppose "ramp" includes release mechanism? my release mechanism touches the floor...
I left my rules at school..so can't submit clarification question till next week, so I just wanted to hear some opinions
I do have another mechanism that doesnt touch the floor, but I like the one that does touch the floor if it is legal..

I don't think it would be a problem, as long it fits the legal "footprint" - ot's part of the ramp; but just opinion....

[joeyjoejoe]

I was helping score Gravity Vehicle at Conestoga today (thanks, GoldenKnight1!), and the one rules issue that came up the most was in the part in 3b that says the wheels must be on the ramp at the beginning. Several vehicles had their front wheels on the floor when they were set up, and while some teams had space to adjust their ramp and avoid being Tier 3'd, other ramps were too big and didn't have space. So, moral of the story: MAKE SURE that all of the wheels are on the ramp before launch.

I'm confused. Rule 3b on my rules list says nothing of this. And what do you mean by "..wheels must be on the ramp at the beginning"?
At launch time your wheels would obviously be on the ramp, right? Are you saying that all wheels must be making contact with the ramp prior to being released?? As for the vehicles whose wheels were on the floor during setup, is there any problem with taking your vehicle off of the ramp for modifications (paper clip bent, out of alignment etcetera) prior to launch? My understanding was that you could remove your car from the ramp for adjustments of the car and/or the ramp as much as you like during the 8 minutes setup time. Heck, we've been practicing a contigency plan where, maybe due to a non-perpendicular center point/destination point, we remove the car from the ramp and readjust or "aim" our ramp and then put the car back on for the second launch. If this is not allowed, I'd like to know why. Thanks!

[GoldenKnight1]

I was helping score Gravity Vehicle at Conestoga today (thanks, GoldenKnight1!), and the one rules issue that came up the most was in the part in 3b that says the wheels must be on the ramp at the beginning. Several vehicles had their front wheels on the floor when they were set up, and while some teams had space to adjust their ramp and avoid being Tier 3'd, other ramps were too big and didn't have space. So, moral of the story: MAKE SURE that all of the wheels are on the ramp before launch.

I'm confused. Rule 3b on my rules list says nothing of this. And what do you mean by "..wheels must be on the ramp at the beginning"?
At launch time your wheels would obviously be on the ramp, right? Are you saying that all wheels must be making contact with the ramp prior to being released?? As for the vehicles whose wheels were on the floor during setup, is there any problem with taking your vehicle off of the ramp for modifications (paper clip bent, out of alignment etcetera) prior to launch? My understanding was that you could remove your car from the ramp for adjustments of the car and/or the ramp as much as you like during the 8 minutes setup time. Heck, we've been practicing a contigency plan where, maybe due to a non-perpendicular center point/destination point, we remove the car from the ramp and readjust or "aim" our ramp and then put the car back on for the second launch. If this is not allowed, I'd like to know why. Thanks!

While it seems obvious that the wheels should be on the ramp and the rules specifically read that it should be this way does not mean that all teams do this. A number of teams have construction violations at their first competition of the year for various reasons. Also those teams with wheels on the floor tended to not be able to modify their car to fix this rule violation. If they could have fixed it, it would not have been a problem.

There is no problem with taking the car of the ramp and adjusting the ramp and/or car but this all counts as parts of your 8 minutes.