Monday, May 18, 2015

CO2 cars come bursting through Olympia


by Logan Hawker, OHS Torch Reporter

            OHS Energy and Transportation class built small wooden CO2 cars which raced each other for the crown in a two day tournament on Friday, May 8th and Sunday May 11th.

            Olympia’s Energy and Trans. class, taught by Mrs. Justus, built model wooden CO2 cars to compete in a tournament. The cars were all very different and had to meet certain specifications.

            Some of the specifications included body length, axel distance, car height and distance from the bottom of the car to the bottom of the wheels. Only one car did not meet the specifications, but it was allowed to race anyway.

            The students were allowed to paint the cars however they wanted as long as they were school appropriate. The students painted their cars in a variety of different shapes and colors. “I painted my car like the Joker. It was purple and green with red letters that said HAHAHA and Why So Serious?,” said senior Rayvin Kassabaum.

            On race day, the track was set up in the gym. The start and finish lines were 35 feet apart from each other. Padding was placed at the end of the finish line to make sure none of the cars got damaged. A sting ran along the track that the two racing cars would be hooked onto to make sure they went straight.

            The tournament started out with a lot of the underclassmen pitting their cars against each other while four seniors had a bye to the second round. Some races where close while others were at a big disadvantage.

            After many races the semi-finals consisted of Seniors Tyler Bruner, Nick Wilson and Bryson Gottschalk, and Junior Andrew Renfrow. Bruner and Renfrow had a pretty close race with Bruner taking the win. Nick’s car did well but was no match for Bryson’s.

            The finals were a very close race and in the end Byson’s car took the victory and was crowned champion. “I’m very proud of my car and I knew it was going to win because it was the lightest. “

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