Drag Racer
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Stones
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Funny...we did that same stunt "back in the day" at our grade school playground. Plastic model cars with strategic weights to keep them on the ground. Usually ended up on the school roof. 
Estes "drag cars" are supposed to be tethered between two anchors, I believe.
Estes "drag cars" are supposed to be tethered between two anchors, I believe.
Fore Check
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Running a "zip line" to control the trajectory of your "drag racer" seems like a necessary precaution.
As a kid, my neighbor who lived across the street built a CO2 racer - similar to a pinewood derby car, but you put one of those little CO2 cartridges up its keister and punctured it to propel it. It as a club project of some sort, IIRC.
Anyway, it ran on a zip line. We had the bright idea of making a "zip line" made out of a 500' roll of kite string (you know, the cheap cotton twine) anchored between two bikes, one at each end. Launched it on a B6 bp rocket engine right there in the street. Needless to say, we didn't take into account the stretch factor of the kite string, nor its limitations. The car quickly careened out of control, snapped the kite string it was zipped to like the string wasn't there, and obliterated itself into the closed garage door of our other neighbor. The lady who lived there knew all of us kids, but she was still pretty upset.
As a kid, my neighbor who lived across the street built a CO2 racer - similar to a pinewood derby car, but you put one of those little CO2 cartridges up its keister and punctured it to propel it. It as a club project of some sort, IIRC.
Anyway, it ran on a zip line. We had the bright idea of making a "zip line" made out of a 500' roll of kite string (you know, the cheap cotton twine) anchored between two bikes, one at each end. Launched it on a B6 bp rocket engine right there in the street. Needless to say, we didn't take into account the stretch factor of the kite string, nor its limitations. The car quickly careened out of control, snapped the kite string it was zipped to like the string wasn't there, and obliterated itself into the closed garage door of our other neighbor. The lady who lived there knew all of us kids, but she was still pretty upset.
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