Car Related Hobbies
 

Another current thread got me thinking; I race slotcars a lot, and is a way to have fun and relax and many of the other folks are dedicated racers and/or car guys. Here's some pictures of some of my son's cars (I realized that I don't have pictures of my own cars):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...d/DSCF1532.jpg

I painted the bodies, so they look a lot like most of my own cars. :-) The VW Bug on the left is a 1/32nd scale (aka "whomp") and the one on the right is a 1/24th scale Group 10 car. The style of that body is a "wedge" and there are several other styles: a NASCAR style, a wing style, and there are others.

Add a motor from a CD player or similar along with a few calculator solar cells and a BEAM robotics circuit.

Bonus points if you could have it actually perform something useful at home.

...ever since the summer of 1973, I've been collecting each years' NHRA drag race class winners' ET and MPH numbers, so that I can analyze the "limiting" values of the constant power approximating equations:

ET = A * (WT/HP)^(1/3)
MPH = B * (HP/WT)^(1/3)

...where: A ~ 5.82 and B ~ 232, and A*B ~ 1350 to 1400

...I also collect yearly new car and road test 0-to-60 mph and quarter-mile elapsed times from magazines, ie: automotive "data mining."