I Have This Crazy Aussie Friend...

Just read this story that came from him and judge for yourself:

Hi Globe, Hope you don't mind Rabbit meandering .................

A few years ago, oldest son had a Billy Cart race for the Boy Scouts. (I think you call it soapbox derby)

Rabbit had his fireworks company and his pyrotechnics lab at the time, and we lived in the country, a few hundred Kilometers from here. Rabbit had a grand idea whilst building the Little Billy Cart, of fitting the thing with a huge rocket. Yes Warner Brothers was on his mind I guess. Rabbit set up the Little vehicle, which was built light, and flexible but smart, with a fitting which allowed for easy fitting of the rocket. Rabbit made a really “Big” Rocket. The biggest Rocket you ever saw. Rabbit uses traditional fireworkers skills and so it was tube rolled by hand from good kraft paper, and choked with a garrotte and tied to give a crude nozzle. Thecase and nozzle is then formed on a base and using a former and heavy mallet, or Hydraulic press. The Rocket was not going to fly, it just needed to give thrust. It was so big, even as a fountain it would have been a bit of thrust, and the course for the race was down hill anyway. Of course even visually if it did nothing it should be cool thougt Rabbit. He was of course not putting his then 9 YO son on any vehicle with such a big firework attached this was to be fitted for the DAD’s race, at the end of the day. Finales were Rabbit’s bread and butter in those days, so it all looked good up to the race. How big was the rocket?

It was about eight inches in diameter, and generally normal in relative scale to smaller ones, except the length to width is about 4/1 instead of 6/1. It was a BIG rocket. Rabbit was very happy for it and fondled it a lot in between and the test Rocket of 3/4 scale had perfomed well. Six inch diameter Rocket was bigger than anything Rabbit ever saw before even, so he was a bit premature going public with one even that size after one test.

The ten or so Dads were all lined up at the start line of the big hill and crack goes the start gun. Most of the Buggys got away from the start line a second before Rabbit as he was lighting the fuse with a match. He could have used electric det but wanted the Warner Brothers effect, the Wily Coyote look to maximum effect. The Rabbit gave a big push with his legs and lauched the buggy forwrd just as there was this almighty BOOM, and the Rabbit the whole crowd who were standing behind the start line, dissapeared in a huge clowd of Smoke. Rabbit came hurtling out of the smoke a second later and was simultaneously trying to see behind to see if anyone was hurt and line up the actually airborne buggy for the landing which seemed imminent. The combination of forward momentum almost co-incided with the arc of the descending hillside, so the landing was for a long time apparently postponed.

There are two of the other drivers who say Rabbit flew over their heads, but no witness to say which one of the two was telling the truth, and they were at different ends of the lineup. The witnesses never emerged from the smoke cloud until the race was over. Rabbit would have won the race easily too, he was way out in front when he landed, but having not had much practice at landing flying Billy Carts, he blew it and broke the One front wheel (It was a Tricycle design for low friction). This made the Rabbit's buggy a bit hard to steer and he flipped it about ten meters after the landing.

The distance was measured from where Rabbit took off, to where he landed and it was Forty one meters. Better than the Wright brothers eh?