I was recently confronted with the challenge of making a "mousetrap car." The rules were simple, make a functional car using a few slabs of balsa wood some copper bars used as axles and CD's as wheels (and of course a mousetrap.) My group used a fairly simple design, simply cut out 3 pieces of balsa, two were long rectangles, about 2 inches by 10 inches. these were put on the sides of the car and glued to a 4 inch by 8 inch piece of balsa (which was put on top of the car, so it had a top and two sides, the top did not fully reach the length of the sides, we then had the idea of using only three wheels, we assumed that in the front if there was only one wheel, the weight on the axle would be less. (which would reduce the friction between the axle and the balsa. The cd did not fit in the middle so we had to cut out a rectangle from the 4 by 8 piece of balsa to make room for it. the back wheels were simply put on the sides so no more cutting was necessary. We glued the mousetrap to the platform we had made (the 4 by 8 piece of wood) we cut the rectangular bar on the mousetrap (the part that "squashes" the mice) and added a copper bar to it to extend the reach, we were hoping this would increase the distance the car could go. we then tied a string to the end of the bar we had attached, and tied the other end to the trap. when setting off the trap, the car reached around 10-15 meters.
I was just wondering if anybody else had some ideas for the car, or if you have made a successful car, and how you designed it. Thanks.