Almost done...

No, not with our time in Arizona - we are at the half-way point, though.  Back to Steph's school again for our last time with her class with the Gravity Cruisers.  Today was what I would be calling: the semi-finals.  We work with two different classes, and the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finishers get to move on to the finals on Thursday, where they will compete for distance against all the semi-finalists in the grade.  In all, there will be 12 teams vying for the coveted "Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals" furnished by General Motors.

It was more fun today, since we were no longer working with their cruiser builds - they were ready to go... or not.  The top finishers today topped 6 meters.  A few barely made it a meter.  One imploded at the start line.  The top finisher in the first class beat the second place finisher by 2 centimeters.  The real race in each class those was for 3rd place - that's the cut-off.

In the excitement, several of them got their lines wound backwards on the axle... I said, "Turn your car around and run it backwards!"

"Huh?"

"It's about the distance, not which way the car is facing."

Joan and I worked together to keep the process moving... the more runs any team could get through in the time allotted could make the difference.  Some of them didn't get my reasoning.  "Oh, sure, you're in 3rd place now, but if someone comes after you and beats your distance, you might have time to get another run in... if you keep things moving."

"Ohhhhhhh..."

Good luck!  See you on Thursday!

(No photos - I didn't have time.)