I am delighted to report that after I showed up at the Club Launch on Nov. 15th, and distributed the remaining Halloween bowls, that we had a "drag race" and were judged by a completely impartial group of old hands and vendors who had gathered to witness the show down.
Before we get to the results, let me tell you that I cut out my center with side cutters, breaking a number of other web pieces and having to reglue them with thick CA. I used two centering rings and an internal motor block to hold an 18 mm motor housing in place along with a metal motor clip.
My competitor used the black plastic bowl (since mine was purple) and disappeared over toward the vendor's table to assemble his. To my great surprise, he came back in record time and told me he was ready, having hidden his finished product behind his back.
Sensing something was amiss, I insisted to see what he had done, as I attempted to load a B6-4 into my motor mount, and discovered some wood glue had CA had leaked into the tube, requiring a hobby knife to carve it away, before the motor would settle in to any depth at all.
During this time, I got a good look at his supped-up bowl and discovered that all he did was CA glue a D12-3 motor onto the bowl without cutting anything away or building anything remotely like a motor mount. (I had thought that he dopped his motor with black powder or something until I realized that he had just tried to out-class my motor!)
Knowing that I was out-matched, I agreed to race anyway, and after a bit of stuggle to get the ignitor and clips in place, we finally were ready. We had a single person press both launch buttons at the same time while others were assigned to watch for:
1) first off the pad
2) highest flight
3) last to land on grass
I crossed my fingers and warned everyone to take cover as we were flying untested scratch-builds and honestly didn't know what might happen.
The buttons were pushed, and I realized our club secretary wasn't present to record the race. And I forgot to whip out my new smart phone, so there is NO video of the race.
But trust me, this is what happened... I thought they went off the pad together, and would have assumed so, except the watcher who launched said No, that mine was off the rod first! Point one for me!
Second, there's little doubt that his black basket went higher than mine, but not an outlandish amount! So he got a point for that.
But in a close heat, they both dropped fairly gently back to earth, and against all odds that I would have given, his impacted the ground within a second or two before mine did!
There was great joy in Mudville, as the old hands cheered my victory! I had scored two points to his one, and so, the little engine that could, won!
I can only think that two things happened in my favor. One, I suspect my launch lug, which was a plastic soda straw, almost immediately sheared off, giving my basket a little less friction to get off the rod.
I don't know what he had used, but it may have been a paper straw or a bigger McD's straw cut to fit. I didn't examine his build closely...he wouldn't let me.
His motor was at least four times as strong as mine, and so I assume it went twice as high as mine did, but it was hard to gauge from my location.
As his motor was so much larger and heavier, I am assuming that that additional weight made the basket heavier so when it flipped downward, it was overcoming the slight air resistance more than mine,
and so came down faster to close the distance and edge mine out to impact the ground sooner.
At least, these were my private thoughts.
As it was, there was a good deal of teasing and general good humor all around for this bit of light hearted fun in a chilly cold of 40 degrees and slightest of breezes.
So, I'm counting the experience as a success. My opponent asked if he could keep the bowl, which I heartily agreed to (I have a third, purple one held in reserve that I almost passed out to another competitor.) and I suspect that he's going to either re-work his craft to be lighter, or cut away the centerpiece or fashion something and ask for a rematch next time we launch...probably March or April.
I asked around and yes, one other rocketeer who was there had seen this thread on the forum, and verified that this was an actual nationwide Halloween project that many had tried. So I think that helped to convince my competitor to jump in.
Again, many thanks for the support and instructions for this bit of Halloween fun for all!