The Numerator 2.0

Yankton P&D Article

2007-10-22T18:39:00.000-07:00

The numerator was in the news today in Yankton's Daily Press & Dakotan. Check out the link below.

Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan

The Numerator 2.0 in the news

2007-10-19T13:49:00.001-07:00

The Numerator has been getting some press coverage.

The Story from the Red Bull website

Sports Illustrated briekly covered the race in thier Oncampus section of SI.com

Brown Universities Brown Daily Herald has a great write up with some quotes from the pilot of The Numerator 2.0

The South Dakota School of Mines has a write up compiled by yours truely.

Providence Soapbox Champs

2007-10-16T15:24:00.001-07:00

The Numerator 2.0 is the fastest calculator in the world!

The Good, The Bad, And The Nerdy now holds the title of 2007 Red Bull Champions! College Hill in Providence, Rhode Island claimed the life of many gravity-powered crafts. However, The Numerator 2.0 owned the course. Piloted by Anthony Johnson and Charlie Murray, The Numerator hit speeds over 30MPH on the course finishing 6 seconds faster then the field.

The Good, The Bad, And The Nerdy would like to thank everyone involved with the event. Many students helped out behind the scenes to made the numerator. Thanks to CAMP for the funding to transport the craft out to the smallest state in the union. Thanks to the Summit Signs and Supplies for the Decals and Mid Dakota Diesel for the building materials.

Keep Drinking RedBull and hopefully they will continue to hosts events like the Soapbox Race.

Stay tuned for more info!

She Rolls like a Charm

2007-09-30T17:05:00.000-07:00

Wheels.......check
Brakes.......check
Seat.........check (kinda)

Well folks "The Numerator 2.0" is approaching race-readiness. We machined and welding the steering system earlier in the week and started testing. The brakes were installed this morning and after some tuning, The numerator took some speed checks behind school. She handles well and lives to fly. Enjoy the pictures.

Frame Construction

2007-09-18T11:29:00.000-07:00

The frame is almost rolling. Thanks to some members of the Baja team, the frame is starting to take shape. All of the lower members were tig welded up in the CAT Lab last night. The front axles will be turned either this evening or tomorrow morning. The Numerator 2.0 should be rolling by Friday!

Update: The Frame

2007-09-11T10:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the beginning of frame construction. I bought the steel from Ace Steel and Recycling here in Rapid City. I used my trusty snowboard rack to carry the precious cargo back to the Lab. Craig Grunfelder and myself spend some quality time with the chop saw last night and got all the miter cuts made for the main frame members. I need to add a few more members into the solidworks model to stiffen the frame up a little bit. My solidworks model shows that the frame and wheels should weigh in at about 52lbs.

My Brother Rusty brought up a cool idea for the wheel covers. He thinks we should write Pi out to a bizzillion places on the wheel covers. Starting on the outer most ring by the rim and spiral the numbers to the center. I think it would look pretty sweet when The Numerator is cruising down the track.

Any thoughts?

The Foam-ula for success

2007-09-05T21:43:00.000-07:00

The construction of the fiberglass shell for The Numerator 2.0 is moving alone quite well. We started with 7 sheets of Polystyrene foam and masterfully craved them using a new hot wire cutting tool. The packaging of this tool said it would cut through foam "like a hot knife through butter!" One we cut all of the individual pieces of foam, we glued them together and we had ourselves a mold.
We performed a wet lay-up over the foam with fiberglass mat and epoxy resin. Once all the shell is covered with the desired amount of fiberglass, we will break out the foam and dissolve the rest with Acetone. Thanks to Brett, Matt, John, and Brian for their help on the lay up. Here are some pictures of the fruits of our labor.

The Final Concept

2007-09-01T09:09:00.001-07:00

The final concept has been created and the manufacturing process went into full swing yesterday. The image above shows "The Numerator 2.0"

Manufacturing of the body shell mold began yesterday and could be completed by tonight or tomorrow. Thanks to Mid-Dakota Deisel and Anthony's Dad, we now have the polystrene foam needed to create the mold for the fiberglass layup. I bought a sweet foam hot wire saw yesterday at Who's Hobby. This will help to cut out all of the 15 inidividual pieces of foam that will be glued togeter to create the body.

Check back for an update on the progress and pictures from along the way.

Just remember...The Numerator is always on top!

The idle period is over....

2007-08-30T07:35:00.001-07:00

greetings race fans. This is your captain speaking. I was on vacation for the last week and didn't get much Numerator stuff done. Oddly enough we passed through Providence on our East Coast Journey. I saw the hotel that the team will be staying at in Providence. It looked pretty cool from the road at 70 mph.

Design Update:
-SolidWorks 3D model of the body shell has been completed. Frame design will be finished this week.

Construction Update:
-Body shell fiberglass mold work will begin today. Perhaps fiberglass layup this weekend. Bring your respirator!!
-Frame components will begin their transformation in the machine shop this week also.

Theme Song:
-Mark has been working on THE NUMERATOR theme song for our intro. It is in it's final stages

Battery Update:
-They are on the charger

~The Numerator is always on top.

The Concept: 2.0

2007-08-07T11:51:00.000-07:00

The Cyclepathz

2007-08-07T11:42:00.000-07:00

We got word today that some of our competition from St Louis will be attending the Seattle Race. The Cyclepathz brought Jack in the Box to Forest Park in 2006. They will be racing their new craft, The Lincoln Log, in Seattle. Check out their blog.
http://lincolnlogsoapbox.googlepages.com

We also found out about another Soap Box race in Colorado. The Cyclepathz raced Jack this year. Check out the video of their crash.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtsWhcIV9XM

Just remember folks, The Numerator is also on top.

We're Back

2007-07-14T14:30:00.000-07:00

The Good, The Bad, And The Nerdy have done it again. We received information via the Internet last evening that The Good, The Bad, And The Nerdy have be accepted into the east coast Red Bull Soap Box Race.

The event will be held on October 13th, 2007 on Waterman Street in Providence, Rhode Island.

The Good, The Bad, And The Nerdy have been waiting to prove themselves in the gravity sports arena ever since the race at Forest Park. We want the Soap Box title belt!

Keep checking in for progress updates and Soapbox Gossip.

2006-11-01T20:53:00.001-08:00

The Numerator Race

the numerator launch. and chuck "falling" down the ramp.

2006-11-01T20:53:00.000-08:00

The Numerator Skit

our nerdy pre-race skit. enjoy.

2006-10-30T20:06:00.000-08:00

Red Bull Soap Box Race 2006 (STL) By Roody Savitt

an unforgettable weekend

2006-10-30T19:51:00.000-08:00

Alas, the Red Bull Soap Box Race has come and gone.

The Good, The Bad, and The Nerdy came to St. Louis in full force this past weekend and put on a show worthy of a Broadway play. The Numerator faced up against a myriad of competitors including a group of Elvis impersonators, a bag of cheese puffs, a few pirate ships, a space shuttle and a giant skateboard - to name a few.

While we didn't end up on the podium, the Numerator was on the top in many fellow competitors and spectators minds. We wowed the crowd in the pits with our aura of nerdiness (and our free Nerds candy), Star Wars action figures, chess games, pocket protectors and sweet dance moves. The Derbycell Battery was charged up and powered the Numerator to a great finish in the race, and Chuck gave the crowd a show they won't soon forget when he slid face-first down the 50-foot-tall starting ramp, then proceeded to sprint the entire race course to meet the Numerator at the finish line for the post-race interview.

This video has a clip of Chuck running past the Vans Skateboard and a clip of our pre-race dance routine to get some noise from the crowd: http://redbull.oceanwatch.com/Videos/Web%20Highlight-MPEG-1.mpg

Thanks to everyone who sponsored, supported, cheered and helped us out! We couldn't have done it without all of you, and we already have plans for "The Numerator 2.0" so it will only be a matter of time before The Good, The Bad and The Nerdy return...

-The Good, The Bad, and The Nerdy

...the Numerator is always on top!

The Finishing Touches

2006-10-23T14:18:00.000-07:00

As The Numerator gets the finishing touches, we took a quick snapshot for all you eager fans. There are also a few new videos posted on our YouTube site.

Logistics - Check

2006-10-17T15:07:00.000-07:00

As we begin to cross items off of the To-Do-List, more tasks emerge. We have ironed out a major task on the list. The Good, The Bad, and The Nerdy will be receiving sponsorship from the Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Production here at SDSM&T. This sponsorship will be to the tune of a Suburban, enclosed trailer and gas to get the team and The Numerator safely to St Louis and back.

Who is all considering attending this monumental event? Please let us know by commenting on this post or sending a quick email to sd_gravity_racing@yahoo.com

We want as many people dressed in proper nerd apparel cheering us on, so by all means come!

2006-10-12T22:16:00.000-07:00

The Numerator on TV

Check it out. We made the News!

buttons buttons buttons

2006-10-11T22:54:00.000-07:00

The Numerator finally has buttons. we went to school for 8 hours today, got back our probability and statistics tests (we probably could have done better, but the Numerator was more important) and then worked on sanding/painting/installing the buttons for another 8 hours tonight. if you're in the area, tune into KNBN for the 10:00 news to see The Numerator in action tomorrow, Thursday October 12th. (or the 6:00AM news on Friday)

Summit Signs is generously donating all the numbers/letters for the buttons and "The Numerator" side decals. if you ever need signs, decals, stickers or anything else like that, call Summit Signs at (605) 342-8303!

the green display window will be here on friday, so by next week we should have the Numerator pretty well completed. stay tuned for photos and videos.

Nerds unite!

...The Numerator is always on top!

2006-10-08T22:00:00.000-07:00

The Raconteurs- Steady As She Goes

Check out this rad soap box race video - this video is getting us even more excited for Forest Park!

the week's end

2006-10-08T19:26:00.000-07:00

well folks, The Numerator is looking a lot more like a calculator now. we spent pretty much the entire weekend assembling the chassis and body, testing the brakes/steering, creating the button layout and making the buttons, so we decided to throw a few pictures up for the masses.

the completed chassis, saturday morning:

post-testing, saturday afternoon:

completed button layout, sunday afternoon:

only 20 days 'till Forest Park!

the smell of fresh paint

2006-10-06T19:40:00.000-07:00

aah, the smell of fresh paint. it brings joy to my heart and tears to my eyes. tears of joy, of course.

The Numerator's frame is fresh out of the paint booth, a.k.a. back half of the shop. We layed a kickin' coat of krylon special over the freshly welded aluminum this afternoon, and it looks fast. really fast. the body will be reunited with the frame tomorrow, and some lucky folks will be seeing The Numerator in action at an undetermined location this weekend.

Red Bull Soap Box Race fans, competitors, judges, riff-raff and the like, remember: The Numerator is always on top.

-The Good, The Bad, and The Nerdy

The Office/ Numerator Get Together

2006-10-04T15:42:00.000-07:00

The Good, The Bad and The Nerdy will be gathering at the Sports Bra, aka bridgewood estates to watch "The Office" and to discuss global soap box racing domination. If ya want to join the fun, let us know.

ps - check out this RED BULL event from 2005,
http://www.redbulldragsterday.com/

The Call

2006-09-27T16:49:00.000-07:00

Drum roll please.................
I am delighted to announce that "The Good, The Bad and The Nerdy" have been accepted as a collegiate team for the 2006 Red Bull Soap Box Race. We received the call while in the middle of our probability and Statistics class. What are the odds?

Well I would love to give an acceptance speech, but it is time to celebrate.

~justin

Do we have what it takes?

2006-09-22T15:49:00.000-07:00

Thirty-five teams have been selected and posted on the Red Bull website.

As I ponder this question of "having what it takes" I must take a step back and look at the work that has been put into the numerator. I think whether we get the go ahead from Red Bull or not, The NUMERATOR will be at Forest Park on oct 28th.

How can we show RED BULL that we are worthy of a spot on the hill?

The good, the Bad and the Nerdy has not put all this work into a 175lb rolling paper weight.

I invite the selection committee to contact us to discuss the Numerator.

justin

2006-09-15T13:07:00.000-07:00

So we still have a chance. Red Bull notified us that we are being considered for the collegiate series of the Soap Box Race in St. Louis. I am not quite sure what this all means. But I guess it is better than getting an answer of NO.

Work on the numerator goes as planned. We have determined the material to use on to construct the actual calc body. The answer is coroplast. It is basically corrugated plastic. I think we can buy it in gray, thus not needing to paint the body!

The Red Bull Mobile Energy Team will be promoting at the MS 150 race here in Rapid next weekend. They are going to stop by the shop and check out the goods.

So i guess I am ending with some good news this post. YEAH

jw

Still in the Running

2006-09-15T13:02:00.000-07:00

Still rubbing the rabbit's foot

2006-09-11T16:54:00.000-07:00

Well loyal followers, Today is judgment day. Red Bull said that they would have the 30 lucky teams picked for the race by Sept 11th. That is today!. As of 5:51 Mountain Standard Time, THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE NERDY has not heard a word.

I still have faith. I have faith that the Red Bull has not overlooked the creativity and desire that our team holds. I believe we would show ST Louis a good time.

On a lighter note, Monday Night Football starts tonight. YIPPEEE. I am being sarcastic. I am not a football fan and I dont have a favorite TEAM.

I hope the next post will be in better spirits.
JW

Do you know what time it is??

2006-08-28T21:57:00.000-07:00

Does anybody realize what today's date is? Well for those of you not counting down the days, today is August 28th. We have only two months before race day.

The Good, The Bad, and the Nerdy is making great progress. Yesterday marked the first roll in the numerator. Some of us took the beast out and got some good street time in the west blvd. area. She rolls like a dream.

The word is out

2006-08-27T10:54:00.000-07:00

The numerator has hit the market. The rumors are circulating. The anticipation is thick.
I am trying my best to let red bull KNOW that we are serious about this event.

I would like to make a formal apology for my poor grammar and spelling on this blog. I am human, I make mistakes.

Moorman will begin working on the team uniforms shortly. He is requesting ideas and inspiration for t-shirts for the team/roadies/fans.

Numerator- its always on top

VIDEO PREVIEW RELEASE

2006-08-26T13:51:00.000-07:00

We have been working on THE NUMERATOR all week and have some progress to show off.
The links below will show a few little video clips. I hope this keeps all the fans happy.
Check them out, tell your friends, jump on THE NUMERATOR band wagon while there's room!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TjqAgVAqfw

Don't underestimate the power of the NERD.

Waiting for the Word

2006-08-22T11:19:00.000-07:00

The application has been mailed.

Cross your fingers that we will get the good word Red Bull.

Class starts a week from today.

here a link to one of the craziest human powered vehicles in the world.

Watch the video. trust me

http://www.hammacher.com/publish/72232.asp?promo=xsells

crazy huh??

The Application

2006-08-16T21:53:00.000-07:00

We have assembled the first rough draft for the application that will be sent to the Red Bull Pit Crew. Larissa and here graphic design skills will be adding the final touches. Red Bull should have the application from us by the first of next week.

I am confidant that the people at Red Bull will see our desire and allow us to bring the Numerator to the STL for a weekend of enjoyment. by the way mark, what do ya have planned for us that weekend??

School starts here at Mines in less than two weeks. OUCH.

Spead the word of the Nerd,

The Numerator, undressed

2006-08-14T21:18:00.000-07:00

Here is a snapshot of the initial 3-D model of The Numerator. The finial aspects of steering geometry and vehicle dynamics are still on the drawing board. The steering system incorporates ackermann steering, much like your car. This method of steering allows the inside wheel to turn more than the outside wheel, lessening the effects of tire scrub. Tire scrub increases rolling resistance, which slows ya down. That is enough dork talk for today. Enjoy

THE NUMERATORS

2006-08-14T14:00:00.000-07:00

The Numerator

The Fastest Calculator has been given an official name. The Numerator.

As we all know, the numerator is always on top!

The announcement of the offical driver(s) will be released later this week.

??Interested??

All media/press requests should be routed to sd_gravity_racing@yahoo.com

Gravity

2006-08-01T20:50:00.000-07:00

We first must come to grips with our power source for this race. Gravity. I could whip out my physics book and copy some long, drawn out, wordy definition, but I think I will cut to the chase. The only means of propulsion for this machine is the same force that keeps a baseball cap on our head. I am not belittling the power of gravity, I am merely making you aware. This thing will not have a HEMI.

As this blog grows, I invite you to make comments and suggestions for the machine, our members and our fans. We hope to keep you posted with pictures, stories and drama that arises during this project. We all know that no reality event would be successful without drama. And most inportant, Keep your fingers crossed so we can get excepted to race!!!!!!!!

Forest Park...........88 Days

The Starting Line

2006-07-31T15:31:00.000-07:00

Well folks, The quest for victory has begun. A group of college students, engineers, disc jockeys, and scientists have assembled to accomplish one common goal... RED BULL SOAP BOX DERBY, ST. LOUIS.

"This unique non-motorized racing event takes to the streets in St. Louis’ Forest Park on October 28, challenging both experienced racers and auto amateurs alike to design and build outrageous, human-powered Soap Box dream machines and compete against the clock in a downhill race. The team with the most speed, creativity and showmanship will, in addition to earning themselves a place in Red Bull racing history, win the grand prize" ---www.redbullsoapboxstlouis.com

Our group, South Dakota Gravity Racing, aimes not only at being the first machine down the track. The machine we plan to assemble will only be part of the spectacle that will be debuted in Forest Park on October 28th, 2006. The team has one true goal in mind. A goal which we hope we share with all the competetors, TO HAVE FUN.

We'll Keep Ya Posted!