Thank You

I speak for the whole Twin Barrels Burning team when I say thank you for the explosive interest in our recent endeavor.  What started as a reason to drink beer on Tuesday evenings blossomed into a veritable movement towards a more barrel vehicle filled planet.  I don't see why it wouldn't happen.  

Our team was stacked.  We had nerdistic levels of expertise and blind devotion focused on the design and fabrication of the silliest car in town.   Our talents comprised a perfect storm of design, craftsmanship and stupidity.  The result was a true collaboration done in a relatively civil manner.  I hardly even cried.  I am welling up with tears now though.  I can't help it.  I loved the process, the flexibility, the open mindedness and of course, the execution of this project.  It was a very rewarding experience. 

I would rather work with those guys than with some of the best people in the world.

And I mean that.   

Best Engineering

Our car wreaked of many things, but engineering?  I mean, I don't know a lot about engineering from an engineering standpoint, per se.   Some of the other cars made me think "engineering", our car made me think, "what kind of idiot...?".  WE WERE THE SLOWEST CAR!   I thought the Drunken Pig (pink and white) should have our trophy.  Now that I am thinking about it, I am going to give it to him...  when I am good and dead.  

Look at us!  oh yeah, engineering, baby!  This is the last picture of the twins I will be posting.  I can't help myself.  

Twin Barrels Burning Rolls!

I might have found my fight club.  Riding 'The Twins" down Mt Tabor was like shoving a whale into a VW and was easily the most terrifying 5 mph I have ever gone.  I laugh so hard when I see a video my friend made of us rolling by.  My body is as tense as a log jam and my head looks like it is in a vise.  I remember knowing where my family and friends were but fearing distraction too much to even move my thumb the 1/2" to acknowledge them with a scream from our siren.  My personal goal was to reach my health insurance deductible but like many other goals I have set, that one eluded me. If you knew my deductible, you would have said it was ambitious.  

We are a six person team and we were in three heats so it worked out that everyone got to take a ride.  We were the slowest car on the track that day but I think our intensity and our struggle vindicated our efforts.  I think I can speak for the whole team when I say that we certainly did not intend to be the slowest but we pulled it off.  In the second heat, Eric and Derrick caused a little drama when they engaged in a 2 mph fender bender with a Water Department Security Jeep that was parked 100 yards in front of the finish line. 

Twins-1 Security Jeep-0.

At the beginning of the third heat we had a troubled start and the Twins were in the gutter 30 feet off the line. We wrestled it back onto the road and aimed downhill again. It slowly began to descend and as it did, the crowd closed in behind and walked down with them cheering and clapping.  It was like a demented Coke commercial, David and Trevor gritting their teeth and having the full 3 mph Twin Barrels Battle while kids are passing them on scooters cheering.  It was very funny.

We ended up winning a trophy for best Engineering!  My friend Julius congratulated us for getting the smartest prize for the dumbest car.  For a while I didn't think we really deserved that particular prize until Derrick reminded me that we put disc brakes on wine barrels with a '57 Ford F100 drop axle for a frame and rode them down a mountain.  I saw several cars there that I thought should have our trophy, though.  I was secretly hoping that we would get crowd favorite but we lost out to a giant Lego car.  I was feeling the love in the pit and from the crowd but I guess the numbers didn't add up in our favor.   We should have gone with a more identifiable brand.

We have plans to do it again next year.  I can't wait.  We will make the Twins faster.  That is all I can say at this point.  Below is the rig as it looked race day.  We installed the siren that is powered by a motorcycle battery.  We also put in some machine guns in the yokes but the yolk was on us when we found out water was all we were allowed to shoot.  This photo was taken by Squid Vicious.

Soapbox Derby Update

If you close your eyes, you can feel the rumble. No, Dave Lombardo didn't move into your basement.  It's not the world coming to an end! 

It is the sound of Twin Barrels Burning.  

The race is 5 weeks away and The Solution is crystalizing.

I am calling it The Solution because it is not a car, it is an answer.