2007 IDSA Derby Race
Every year, M3 competes in the IBM Ultimate Derby race which is held during the annual IDSA conference. These cars are similar to the pinewood derby cars you used to build in Boy Scouts except that they can extend, shoot, jump, twist or do whatever is necessary to cross the finish line first. In fact, some of us still get our dads to help out. The only rules are basically that cars must weigh less than 5 lbs, must be powered by gravity alone and can not interfere with the other cars in any way.
In 2006 we took 4th place with our car “Smoke and Mirrors”. This car gently bent the rules as it gave itself a slight head start and blew smoke down the track to intimidate the other cars. We had so much fun building this car that we decided we wanted to do it more than once a year. Thus, we started an internal derby competition held every quarter. The best car at the end of the year would be sent to the IDSA conference to compete against the other design firms. This “friendly competition” has been a great way to keep the creative juices flowing while bringing the company together as a team.
In 2007 we sent two cars to the IDSA competition in San Francisco. “Scissor Jack” came in 3rd Place while “The Ruler” won the Most Fun Award. But third place just isn’t good enough. This year we hope to crush the competition in aesthetics and velocity.
Trophies
Racing
“Smoke and Mirrors”
“Scissor Jack”
“The Ruler”
