The Ultimate Kids Car Racing Experience

THE CO2 DRAGSTER PROGRAMME is all about two ruler-long racing cars, placed side-by-side on a “race track” being propelled by a carbon dioxide cartridge, pierced to start the release of the gas.  The gas powers them down a 20-metre track in a burst of harmless CO2 white vapour. 

The whole scene is a scaled-down version of drag racing.

The dragsters/ whizz cars are tethered to the track by a length of nylon fishing line. Two hooks (eyelets or screw eyes) linked to the bottom of each car prevent them from leaving the track.  On passing the finish line the dragsters bury themselves in the high-tech stop mechanism called a pillow.

This programme is frequently used to demonstrate mechanical principles such as mass, force, acceleration, and aerodynamics. We build timers (to 1000th of sec., 100th is too slow) so that speeds can be calculated

CO2 cars are in technology/engineering curricula in parts of the world such as Australia, New Zealand, the U.K., and the United States. In the   Students learn about the forces of gravity, drag, wind resistance, and the motion of air as a fluid. The projects mainly test a car’s aerodynamic, mass and friction properties. These forces can influence performance in a race, so students and teachers can consider these as learning elements when building.