Buffington at Banneker High School in 2007
History:
The competition dates back to 2007 when the students in Mr. Buffington's engineering class , built
the 1st functional leaf blower hovercraft. Mr. Buffington tossed around the idea of a hovercraft competition to several high schools starting with Mr. Dwayne Belcher of Westlake, Mr. Greg Mervich at Chattahoochee and Dr. Steve Sweigart of Alpharet
ta High School . This was the beginning of a yearly competition that many middle and high schools students have participated and have continued their education in engineering after high schools to several colleges and universities . Each year, the competition was held at a different high school to garner support and interest. Main Sponsor:
Technical Training Aids
John Holt
Chris Schier
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Rules
Hovercraft teams must be able to do the following:
• Maneuver 25 meters straight course (approx. length of basketball court) for time placement. Seeding will be determined based on this time trial race.
• Two crafts will race head-to-head maneuver 50 meters in a figure 8, going around first cone to second cone, 180 degrees around second cone, back through first cone returning to starting line. There will be double elimination with a winner’s bracket and loser bracket to determine final race. There will be judging for “Best Design & Most Technologically Innovative.” Guidelines for this are loose but based on the coolest looking craft and most inventive
Trophies will be provided for winners. Design Constraints
1) Hovercraft must be built this year. Previous year’s hovercrafts are not allowed.
2) Hovercraft must be constructed from ½” to ¾” plywood 4’ x 6’ max. size of base.
3) Hovercrafts can be powered by electrical fans or leaf blowers. Limited to 4 items max. in any combination.
1)Hovercraft must move under own power. If hovercraft stalls, pilot must independently get craft going with no team assistance.
2) Hands and feet must remain in or on hovercraft at all times during competition.
3) Team members are not allowed to touch hovercraft during competition in any manner.
4) Team members handling power cord must remain at least 3 ft from craft during competition and cannot pull hovercraft with power cord.
5) Team members are responsible for maintaining power to their hovercraft. If the power cord becomes unplugged, it is the fault of the team. Team may position one team member at the electrical outlet to prevent power cord from being pulled out.
6) If a circuit breaker trips, the race will be restarted when total power is restored. Race will restart from same positions as when power went off.
7) If the pilot touches the floor with hands or feet during competition, a 15 second penalty will be added for each violation. Hovercraft pilots must be able to maneuver their crafts without touching the floor with hands or using any pole, rod or device that touches the floor in any way to turn, stop or steer.
8)If a cone is hit by craft there will be a 15 second penalty added to the time for each violation. A penalty flag will be thrown when this violation occurs.
9) If hovercraft runs into the wall, team members can turn the hovercraft in the proper direction, but not push it forward. Pilots and team members cannot move cones when maneuvering craft and must move around cones.
10) Teams cannot switch drivers during competition but can switch drivers for different events.
11) Team members handling the power cord must maintain slack in the cord that attaches to the craft.
12) If after 2 min. in time trial a team scratches, that team and goes to bottom of seeding.
13) In the races, if no one has crossed the finish line in 3 min, the craft closest to the finish line is declared the winner.
14) All crafts must have a driver
