Post by Patricia Halpern on Aug 12, 2013 11:04:58 GMT -8
By a sunny day of october, Patricia polished the soapbox cart that was designed to fit multiple riders in it, with one driver, provided the riders aren't that fat. Since the race she signed up the college for is a four-seater race, she has to prepare the school's four-seater cart. With the two-seater cart being maintained by the two-seater pusher. To this end, she had to double-check the regulations pertaining to the Anaheim Hills 500 race, given that Patricia couldn't afford to break the rules, or else the college wouldn't allow her to run in more soapbox races. Since she was the best soapbox driver (or bobsled driver, for that matter, since multi-seater soapboxes are very much like bobsleds with wheels rather than skates) at Landcaster, Patricia naturally assumed the role of the driver.
As for the cart itself, it seemed to be rather heavy but, at the same time, the floor plates had to be strong enough to support the weight of four riders who must not weigh more than 900 pounds in total. Even so, Patricia took great care in making sure the plates would support some extra weight, as well as the wheels, even when the cart hull itself is built in carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) . And, since Patricia is the driver, per the regulations of the race, she is the one that has to wear a helmet, more precisely a motorcycle helmet. Patricia has to use some steering rings to steer the cart, but, otherwise, braking is done with a lever actuated by the rearmost person. The entire assembly was towed in a trailer and weighed perhaps quite a bit: the four-seater weighed about 400 pounds empty... so the team members had to push the cart with all their strength into the trailer.
Upon arriving at the starting line of the Anaheim Hills 500 with a pickup truck and a trailer containing the cart in tow, they realized that the opponents' carts are also quite ponderous and that there are several four-seaters on the top of a hill, all of which belonging to college teams from the Los Angeles area. From the red-and-yellow of USC, the blue-and-gold of UCLA, the green-and-gold of Cal Poly Pomona, the orange of Caltech and the black of Harvey Mudd, the teams are making the fine tuning of their carts before the first heats are scheduled to begin.
Before her heat begins, Patricia meets with the members of the team: "Remember, we're all pioneers in multi-seater soapbox races; we know this cart is heavy, we know that we need to do our best start, we did a couple of practice runs, so this is the moment of truth for all of us! Let's show these other collegiate teams what we are truly worth! We only really need to push the thing for a few seconds and then we will jump back into the cart! I know it's dangerous but we only need to do it once!"
As for the cart itself, it seemed to be rather heavy but, at the same time, the floor plates had to be strong enough to support the weight of four riders who must not weigh more than 900 pounds in total. Even so, Patricia took great care in making sure the plates would support some extra weight, as well as the wheels, even when the cart hull itself is built in carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) . And, since Patricia is the driver, per the regulations of the race, she is the one that has to wear a helmet, more precisely a motorcycle helmet. Patricia has to use some steering rings to steer the cart, but, otherwise, braking is done with a lever actuated by the rearmost person. The entire assembly was towed in a trailer and weighed perhaps quite a bit: the four-seater weighed about 400 pounds empty... so the team members had to push the cart with all their strength into the trailer.
Upon arriving at the starting line of the Anaheim Hills 500 with a pickup truck and a trailer containing the cart in tow, they realized that the opponents' carts are also quite ponderous and that there are several four-seaters on the top of a hill, all of which belonging to college teams from the Los Angeles area. From the red-and-yellow of USC, the blue-and-gold of UCLA, the green-and-gold of Cal Poly Pomona, the orange of Caltech and the black of Harvey Mudd, the teams are making the fine tuning of their carts before the first heats are scheduled to begin.
Before her heat begins, Patricia meets with the members of the team: "Remember, we're all pioneers in multi-seater soapbox races; we know this cart is heavy, we know that we need to do our best start, we did a couple of practice runs, so this is the moment of truth for all of us! Let's show these other collegiate teams what we are truly worth! We only really need to push the thing for a few seconds and then we will jump back into the cart! I know it's dangerous but we only need to do it once!"