Click on a thumbnail sketch to see the full size picture.

Preparations

With the loss of Patrick I am down to just one person doing virtually all the mechanical and construction work. That's me. Naturally my first priority was to replace the broken jackshaft. I found a local shop, L&M Welding, that machined me a CrMo shaft and charged me $25 for parts and labor. They were punctual and their work was to spec. What a contrast from the last machine shop I worked with! When I left, I assured them that I would be back with more work.

When I removed the parts from the broken jackshaft I discovered that the jackshaft wasn't the only part to fail. The freewheel mount was also completely shot. This is a part I welded from part of a bicycle hub and a 5/8 collar. Unfortunately, the result is that the freewheel is cantilevered out from where it is supported on the jackshaft. It was clear to me that the right way to do this is to machine a replacement. Not only will the resulting mount weigh less, but it will be stronger. Unfortunately there was no time to do this, so I welded together a replacement just like the old one.

The oar locks we had been using were no longer available, so I bought and mounted some replacements.

With some help from Philip Thoennes I made a new mount for the grill and headlights. The new one sports sturdy tow points near the new headlights. And the whole assembly is easier to remove and sturdier than the old mount.

I worked with Carl Price, another designer at work, to produce a nice picture of TimeRex making a time jump. I then sent that picture in to be made into daVinci Days trading cards. Carl also produced a couple of very nice gargoyles. I installed one of them on the brake handle.

I found a radio decorated as a computer. A nice fellow taking a walk on my block pointed out that it was the right size for the Teddy Bear. (I can't remember the guy's first name but his last name was Fox.) So of course I built a computer stand to hold it in front of Teddy's seat.

Martha Chamberlin constructed some much needed decorations from fabric. She also made five more Rex vests.

Elizabeth Allen made 140 bribes! And these were excellent bribes. She really has a talent for this kind of work.

Julianna Thoennes made a replacement helmet cover for Teddy since the old one is now somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.

The First Day - Parade and Art Judging

This year da Vinci Days was Friday the 17th thru Sunday the 19th. I don't really understand why, but the parade was scheduled for 3:00PM Friday. In spite of that it was well attended. Philip and Brian rode Rex in the parade.

	Nighttime work on TimeRex. Even though the sun had set it was still plenty warm.
	TimeRex at daVinci Days before the parade.

We didn't come up with a better song, so we used the one from last year.

• It's a scientific marvel from a distant future time.
• It's a wonderful invention from a crazy genius mind.
• It has changed the face of history and politics and crime.
• And it's lots of fun to own.

• As we journeyed past the century our fusion engine stalled.
• So we opened up our history book to see who we should call.
• It told us that daVinci Days were lots of fun for all.
• Now Corvallis hears our song.

• For the glory, a Kinetic race to run.
• For the glory, what a heck-of-a-lot of fun.
• daVinci Days are known through time as great for everyone.
• So TimeRex came along.

The Second Day - Road and Sand

We had planned for Brian to co-pilot with me. But a few days before the race Brian hurt his back so Philip took his place in the race lineup Saturday.

The road race was uneventful and smooth for us. The weather was fairly hot, in the 80s and 90s with the humidity around 50%.

Last year after we had touble on the sand, we returned to practice. We had it down. A few weeks ago the officials changed the sand pile. The intention was to make it wide enough that two vehicles could be on it at once. They didn't get there yet, but perhaps next year... But the sand hill didn't look any worse than last year.

But they officials threw us a curve ball by reversing the course. That meant we were climbing the steeper path. Still TimeRex made it. We just traveled very slowly over about two feet of the course. Its possible we would have been much faster, but I made a mistake and chose the steeper side of the climb. Well it was good exercise.

The Third Day - Mud and River

The mud pit and the river exit have always been my personal favorite parts of the course because of their difficulty. But this year the spectators showed up earlier than the officials had expected and they were not able to properly stir up the mud.

The first five vehicles had a milk run. But then the race officials got an idea. They reversed the course. That made the deepest mud section into a climb. The first team to have to try this challenge was Fishbert, Melissa Boyd's vehicle. We were next. Most of the mud was still a milk run. But that last ten feet was good exercise.

Just to make things more interesting, Philips gears had shifted so that his chain had a tendency to fall off the low end of the cluster. While this was not serious, it looked serious to the spectators. But once he figured out where to leave the derailer adjusted, we plowed right out.

Those first five vehicles thru the mud bog were now sent back thru. I don't imagine they liked this. But it was fair. They really had had it too easy.

While we waited for those and the remaining vehicles to beat or be beaten by the mud, we checked out those balking chains and sprockets. It's a good thing we did. We wouldn't have been able to exit the river with the chain the way it was. But after about 15 minutes with vice grips and the chain was workable.

But this year the river was our undoing. We got up onto the pontoons smoothly. But as soon as we hit the pedals it didn't happen. We didn't move. For some reason the prop had no power. Whether we pedaled fast or slow, it turned slow. Looks like something in the prop drive system sheared. Someone in the audience called out "Time for plan B" when we reached for the oars. But as soon as we applied power to the oars, there was a loud pop and the brand new, never used, oar locks snapped. That guy in the audience called out "Time for plan C", and he was right. So we just used the oars as paddles. Of course we couldn't apply much power that way so we basically drifted with the current to the exit point.

	We practiced water configure while waiting in line. This also gave me good access to the chains and sprokets.
	We can see that the prop put out power for a couple of seconds before the pin sheered in the drive shaft.
	TimeRex Plan B: Oars.
	Oar lock sheered off. Plan C: Use oars as paddles.
	TimeRex exits the water. Actually our exit was excellent. It was quick and smooth. So even though we were very slow in this section of the race, we didn't forfeit our Leo award.

• Best Overall - Peas De Resistance
• Best Art - Fishbert by Melissa Boyd and team
• Best Local - Killer Tomato
• Teddy Bear - Coast Guard