Engineering students light up Bison Square with annual Rocket Car Derby

Janel Shoun | 02/20/2008

This is not your Dad’s pinewood derby.

For the third year in a row, Lipscomb University’s engineering mechanics students hosted their revved up version of the traditional pinewood derby Tuesday featuring 7-inch wooden cars tricked out with model rocket engines.

Fifteen multi-colored derby cars created by engineering students shot across Bison Square in a shower of sparks and a blaze of glory at more than 50 miles per hour. Last year, not all the cars made it in one piece, but this year a newly designed 80-foot track kept everyone’s car intact.

Cars with monikers such as The Bomb, Lighting and Plum Inferno were carved into various pointed and sleek aerodynamic designs. Pairs were teamed up to race down the track in several heats. A crowd of well-wishers (wishing for explosions, that is) gathered in the square to see how the students’ cars performed.

Students were awarded for first, second and third place as well as receiving prizes for aesthetics and craftsmanship. The winners get bragging rights and the reassurance they will some day be able to earn to earn a living at this engineering gig.

Congratulation to the winners:

The Rocket Car Derby is coordinated by the Lipscomb student chapter of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers to celebrate National Engineers Week, established in 1951 by the National Society of Professional Engineers.

Lipscomb’s engineering students carry out a number of mechanical projects throughout the year including building a dune buggy to compete in a national race, an annual mission trip to build facilities in a Third World country and a senior project, which last year produced a bioengineering plant to convert leftover cooking grease into usable fuel.