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Legs - Diary

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Adam burns rubber
Adam burns rubber

For two pins

How fast can you make a bike go? Explore leg science.

Keep on running

Adam wants to enter the record books. But how fast can your legs carry you?

7th November after noon
The Pop Bottle Rocket Championships begin and Adam blasts himself down Rockingham Speedway with a water rocket.

12.15pm
Pop bottle rocket time trials begin. The Avery family is still worrying about their damaged vehicle, which received a sitting on by Mrs Avery last night in the hotel bedroom. Nick Labsvirs is confident he will remain the only dry contestant at the end of the Championships. Nick Taylor is concerned that his four CD wheel driven car might do a circle as it has frequently done in the past.

1.15pm
Nick Labsvirs dad pumps up his son’s vehicle with Nick crouching down behind it. It is the envy of all the contestants, above all for its anti-soaking tube attached to the back.

Imagine our shock when his car shoots away before being counted down, crashes straight into director Paul Bader’s foot and yes, you’ve guessed it, sprays Nick and the cameraman with two litres of water.

Nick regains his composure when his fantastic vehicle is declared the winner on its second run – the only car to get anywhere near the finishing line.

The fears of the contestants are mostly born out. Their vehicles shoot off in all directions with the most acrobatic being Mr Avery’s, The cause of the problem, according to Mr Avery's son Zac -11 years old - is its over-sized front wheels.

The CD vehicleNick Taylor’s CD wheel driven machine is fast but, as predicted, can only go in circles.

2.45pm
After lunch Adam's water rocket vehicle is still in bits. But by 2.45 it is ready for a stability test. Producer Jonathan tests it at 40 mph and it stays upright - and what's good enough for Jonathan is good enough for Adam.

3pm
Now it is time for Chris to get on board and see what happens when the team pumps up the tank and opens the tap at the back. A massive spurt of water sprays across the Pits car park and makes Jem and Chris very happy.

3.30pm
A last minute safety test is carried out on Action Man. He is sitting in Jem's superior pop bottle rocket device. Key to its success is Jem's 'spit valve' which he is thinking of patenting.

It works with a little rubber diaphragm inside the neck of the bottle which keeps the water in (under pressure from the air). All Adam has to do is stick a wire in the valve and off Action Man goes. The vehicle crashes nicely into a garage door and the wheels fly off. Adam looks queasy but is assured that the wheels on his machine are not made of flower pot saucers as these are.

4pm
It is now or never. Adam puts his new helmet on and then tries to get it off. Director Paul, nervous about the failing light situation, tells him it is easy - all you do is release the red button on the side.

Just press red, AdamAdam has trouble looking down through his face to see the button as his chin is in the way. He tries to 'feel' the red but maybe this will one day be possible - to feel colour as opposed to seeing it.

4.45pm
In the gloomy evening light Adam at last powers his bicycle along the Rockingham Motor Race track and into the record books (we are writing them this very minute).

He manages to cycle his inordinately heavy four wheeled bicycle to around 10 mph, then releases the water jet. The G force is tremendously absent as Adam is boosted an extra 10 mph, powering him on - to a staggering 21 mph.

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