Kub Kar race ideas

As people maybe starting to think about Kub Kar races, here are some of my thoughts on what makes a good event:

• It's a kids event, not an adult event. Kids load the kars on the track, kids start the race. Use a raised platform so kids can see to position their kars on the track.
• Every kid races the same number of times; six is a good number. Don't do any type of elimination tournament; that just makes some kids bored and not included in the fun.
• Minimal rules on the kars. As long as its not overweight, let pretty much anything go. The objective is to have fun building and racing. This is not Nascar. The kar with the souped up wheels and bearings probably won't win anyway.
• Split group so only some are racing at the same time and other are doing different activities. This means less waiting for each kids between races, faster paced, more exciting, no bored kids to get into trouble.
• Don't worry about official impound areas. Sure, have a table on which the Cubs can store the kars, but don't worry if they carry them around or get out of your sight. You can always re-weigh the kar if you think they have added weight; 99% of them wouldn't even think about doing that. You are trying to run a fun event, not a federal election.
• Let kids get close to the track, maybe a foot away, they want to be involved.
• Have fun events for the kids to do with the kars after the main racing. e.g. sling shot, loop the loop, bowling, etc. The kids love it.
• Have a hobby show in conjunction. These hardly exist any more, but many of the kids really like to show off stuff they have built. This can encourage hobby development. Trophies and/or ribbons awarded. Allow group entries but don't include them in the judging.
• Invite hobby clubs to show static and dynamic displays. Meccano, radio control airplanes, rubber band airplanes, model rockets, model trains.
• Invite other vehicles for the kids to explore: ambulance, fire engine, police, race car, tractor trailer cab, etc.
• Have a building session so kids can build something and take it home: model rocket (launch them too!), plastic car or airplane, display stand for their kar, Meccano model, Lego, etc.
• Venturer self propelled kar demonstration: mouse trap, compressed air, rockets
• Lots of prize certificates so many kids go home with something. e.g. Kar with most stickers
• Trophies or ribbons (lower cost) for fastest and best designed kars. Fastest pack award.
• Ensure pre-shaped kars from the Scout shop don't get any design prizes (provide the judges with photos).
• Run a canteen for lunch and include lots of junk food. Tell the kids to bring their loose change.
• Invite white tail Beavers as a linking activity.

Full details on the event we used to run are available at: http://www.1stmerrickville.ca/wheels/


Allan.

Allan,

Thanks for your pointers. Our Pack just finished up our first track and will be running some trial runs. Were planning on hosting an afternoon event with other local packs.

Above are all very good ideas.

Our Area event added some interesting twists. We run Buggies, Kars and Trucks in the same room as a linking event. Very noisy for sure. We use Beaver leaders as the Kar design judges and use the "Must be built by a Cub" criteria to allow an even playing field for design, eliminating the parent built Kars. There are always complaints but the winner Kars definitely are low tech machines allowing the one parent (usually female) family a "fair" chance.

http://grandprix-software-central.com/

This is the software that my crew used to run the East Vancouver Rallies for a couple of years. In the past when we were cubs and scouts, we found that parents made a big fuss about this that and everything else.As a youth was also active in soap box derby racing and much the same issues were raised. As a Crew, we decided that it would make far more sense to cut down on margin of error in finding the fastest car at the Rally. So we created rules based on the info with the kubkar comes with and distributed those rules to the packs with all the information.

The software allows multiple registration computers for input and weigh in and produces a randomized running order for the races. It also sends a feed to a projector or other screen with the cars that are in the race with the names of the cubs and then shows who won each race with an approximate speed of the car. We had an MC announcing the races so it was guaranteed the kids didn't miss their cars going down the track. The first year we did this, the parents and leaders were blown away by the speediness of the event, the accuracy of results(there was NO question of the fastest car won the rally) and the kids I know appreciated the technology aspect of the rally. We find that we can run a rally of 60-80 cars in about 2 hours with breaks and a snack. So the entire event could fit in an evening(we did it in on a saturday afternoon). The system can also export a file so you can print out certificates with how each cub did(we put on fastest time for those that didn't finish in the top 6) so every kid got a souvenir from the rase. We also produced kubkar rally badges for the year in addition to trophies for top cars.



If you've got questions, feel free to PM me.

I haven't compared the various software suites in a long time, so I can't comment on one versus the other, but I do agree that computerised timers and race management software make for a more enjoyable experience for the kids. It eliminates any doubt as to who won any particular race, and thus heads those potential confrontations off at the pass. Its also not any fun for leaders to continually stare at the finish line. As well, after the first heat, the software can automatically schedule similar speed cars against each other, so there are a lot more exciting finishes. Average speeds and lowest deviation speeds can also be calculated at the section level to allow easy awarding of section level trophies.

For our races, we used tracks, timers, and race management software from www.supertimer.com. While we used all three together, they can be used independently. Their technical support was excellent, when one electrical component broke the day before the race, they had a replacement the next day along with a workaround in case the part didn't arrive.

As we're a recently re-activiated pack, we made sure to have a clinic night with parents and youth as to how to build them, weight limits, etc. We operate out of a city and not everyone has a full set of tools, so we'll do rough cuts at the pack level.

As for marshalling areas, we keep the cars confined there. Kids waling around with cars usually means missed races and broken cars

Also, we press early on that the kids should be the one making the cars with parent help and not the other way around.

See topic348.html#p2117 for a list of the activities that we do with our vehicles.

We have gone away from giving awards and only give for top section. As a youth my friends and I did not care for the awards anyways.

We do use an electronic judge on our speed race to eliminate ties but it does not link into any other system.