CO2 Car Project

By: Drew Bard

Understand
I was required to build a wooden dragster car that was to be powered by Carbon Dioxide. The CO2 cartridge would be inserted into a small hole in the back of the car. After being punctured, this would send the car shooting forward.

Explore
To make a car that could win the competition, I had to do some research. I discovered that the lighter our car was, the faster it would be.

Define
I had requirements that our car design had to meet. Some of these included a maximum and minimum for weight, maximum and minimum for length, as well as axle perimeters. I made sure to follow all of these as I designed and eventually created my CO2 dragster car.

Ideate
This is the original design I decided I would go with.

Prototype
I created my prototype in Autodesk and I really liked how my design turned out.

Refine
To refine the design of my car, I took off small amounts of weight in the area underneath the wheel well.

Solution
My final car did not turn out as well as I would have hoped, during time testing, someone accidently stepped on it and broke it in 2. I was one of the lightest and fastest cars in the class though.

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