The drag race contest is another event that looks pretty straightforward at first glance. Like the line follower, you can build really basic, simple robot with little or no intelligence that can take part successfully. If you want peak performance, the robot is going to need some kind of intelligence on board.

The aim is to race against another contestant along a straight course, 7.2m long. The robot must follow the contrasting line marked down the centre of the course and it must come to a halt after the finish line but before the end of the course. Just like a standard drag race, a countdown indicator tells the handlers when to release the robot and the winner is the first across the finish line. If your robot overshoots the end of the course, it will be disqualified.

The contest is run as a knockout series so there is always plenty of excitement. Top performers are very, very fast.

Performance

In case you are wondering, to get the robot down past the finish line is about 2 seconds, you robot will need to be able to accelerate at about 3.5m/s/s and have a top speed of around 5m/s. To finish in 1.5 seconds you will want to accelerate at more than 6m/s/s and have a top speed of around 7m/s. Oh, and you will need lightning fast reflexes.

Contest Rules

UKMARS maintains the rules for the UK Drag Race Contest.