On Friday 14th March, a team of students visited Santa Pod Raceway to launch model rocket cars that they had been working on throughout the year. The cars were designed to break the world record set last year by the team, at 205mph.
We fired six different rocket cars along the drag strip to see which one could get the highest speed. Many cars were destroyed by the amount of force and speeds reached, however some cars did manage to complete two runs, a requirement of the record. A car powered by a single D-12 rocket motor managed to exceed 150mph. The fastest car of the day, powered by a “G” rocket managed to achieve a peak speed of 345mph! The official average over two runs for this car was 288mph. In doing so it managed to completely destroy the timing gates used to measure it’s speed. The day was very enjoyable for everyone and a new record has been set!