OMG at Kansas City Maker Faire

Last weekend, June 22 and 23, several members of Omaha Maker Group traveled to Kansas City to participate in the Power Racing Series at the KC Maker Faire. For details on this huge event, just visit the website https://kansascity.makerfaire.com/. The Power Racing Series is a collection of races in which Makers drive their tiny homemade electric cars around a track in the parking lot. For the past few months we have been prepping and in one case rebuilding our cars, drawing from the talents of many OMG participants to create vehicles that will not only compete for fastest but also most creatively designed collaboration. One of our cars is modeled after the Battle Bus from Fortnite, complete with helium weather balloon. Unfortunately the balloon popped during the first race! The other is an attractive and faithful reproduction of a Union Pacific train engine. This is appropriate because the KC Faire is held at the old Union station.

Makers from around the country bring their cars to KC and our group proved once again that teamwork and talent can produce excellence: we came home with two trophies! Our drivers won second and third place in two separate sprints and we also won first place in the last event! An additional word is required to describe this final honor. The last event was a backwards time trial, in which every car sped around the track as fast as possible in reverse gear. Our astute team interpreted the rules to-the-letter. While other drivers attempted to steer while looking over their shoulders, we simply lifted the body of our car, bolted it on backwards, and raced around the track in half the time. The referee was so impressed by our brilliance that he allowed the infraction and awarded us first place. A forthcoming video will show the quickest backwards lap in history.

Meanwhile here are a few photos from the race. There will be a couple more posts from last weekend, showing other teams’ cars, and a longer video. These will serve as an introduction.

The pit before the race
Prepping for the KC Maker Faire Power Racing Series
A heavy rain cleaned the track before the race on Saturday
A heavy rain cleaned the track before the race on Saturday
Lining up for the first sprint
We must keep the piñata dry

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