Imagine your favorite fiery driving game on the Xbox
360... Sorry, imagine a fire and a car on an Xbox 360. Well in two days, that's
what about to happen unless three builders can save the day.
The three builders...
- BRIAN WARRINGTON, a mechanic and video game
designer who restores cars and motorcycles.
- SUNNY TRINH is an engineer and entrepreneur for an electronics company who
makes surfboards.
- JIM MYERS is a metal fabricator who remodels homes and builds artistic
unicycles.
The MOD this week, something that hits hard and
fast. Imagine a 2000-pound sledge hammer hitting at 15 miles an hour... an
8-pound sledge hits at 1200 psi. A 16-pound sledge... 2400. And the launch
speed... not 15, but 40. Do the math, and it adds up to 106,000 foot-pounds.
If that wasn't enough, Mike has surrounded the
prize with flaming cauldrons in a pool of accelerant. We're basically playing
"Gears of War" for real.
The prize once again, an Xbox 360 Elite system
with accessories and games including "Scene It" and "Lips" valued at over $1000.
Remember, you can't touch the prize or the MOD if you want to win it.
48 HOURS REMAINING
After the hour of planning, here's what the
contestants come up with... a four layered approach. First, the living room set
up will have a cage made of 4x4s and covered in plywood. They'll build supports
for the cauldrons so they will not ignite the room as well. Then there's a metal
guardrail on the front of the game cube (heh), followed by trash cans filled
with water to absorb the initial impact.
47 HOURS REMAINING
Jim's not thinking that wood will stop a car, but
the guardrail just might. And for the record, no Mike doesn't think that it's
structurally sound. As for the rails? The car's not going to hit the area in
front of the room... the car's going to hit the room. Lots of oversights. Mike's
more concerned with this plan than with any other in the short history of this
show.
43 HOURS REMAINING
The team decides to build the guardrail needs to
be taller. How much taller remains to be seen, but the team decides to eyeball
it.
Meanwhile, Mike has decided, as he usually does,
to stop the problem at the source, building a blockade as close to the ramp as
he can, ten feet by eight feet. It's hard to anchor into asphalt, so he decides
to spike in rebar. Mike will also build a barrier to block the fireballs. That's
an easy score.
Daylight fades fast, and the team is putting
their focus more on the rail that will, maybe, stop the car. Sunny finds
materials for the box but decides to call it a night (it's a school night, after
all).
JUST OVER 29 HOURS REMAINING
Looking at distances, it's very likely that the
car will go over the blockade on the team's design. What they think about doing
is increasing the height and the distance of the guardrail from the box. They
finally decide... hey, let's use the tape measure. The guardrail goes outside
for a test fit... and then Jim & Bryan jump back into the metal work, namely the
anchorage for the guardrail.
Meanwhile, Mike's solution has steel spikes
attacking the car where there is no downward momentum.
22 HOURS REMAINING
The team starts working on the wooden Xbox box.
But will it be enough to protect the setup? After all, there's nothing about
bracing or anchoring the box.
TEST #1: Structural Rigidity. What happens with a
car that launches right over the metal blockade and the water barrels? It hits
the house like a ton of bricks... literally. The box is smashed to pieces. The
impact force is 36.4 tons. Taking it down a notch... and half the weight at half
the height... produces the same result.
The end result: more support on the cross
members, AND the metal cage is going to have to extend to the back of the cage.
The team makes immediate modifications to the plan to that effect. Still, the
ends of the post need to be cut at a precise angle to fit. What that is proves
to be a big challenge.
No math problems on Mike's team. The frame of the
tower is already built. As for the firewalls, well, Mike's already working on
that.
Night falls, and the team's build is looking a
little skeletal.
16 HOURS REMAINING
The crossbars don't fit. The team abandons math
and science and goes with the rustic approach... scrap lumber reinforcement. Jim
feels a sense of urgency, but Sunny is going to trade in some turbo time for
some family time.
Back to the rail, as Jim and Brian take it on as
a two-man team. They call it a night with no boards in place, thinking that
that's something that Sunny can do.
5 HOURS REMAINING
And we're far from finished. The team gets back
into overdrive as they work feverishly to finish the build... On the other hand,
Mike's build is working so nicely, that he's actually decorating it. He finds a
way to anchor something into the asphalt. While Sunny's stock is plummeting as a
carpenter, he decides to fireproof a cauldron. That... doesn't work, so he moves
onto duct taping the frames. Meanwhile, Jim has an idea... fire melts a plastic
bag filled with water, which extinguishes the system.
ONE HOUR REMAINING
It's starting to get crazy.
30 MINUTES REMAINING
It's REALLY starting to get crazy.
10 MINUTES REMAINING
The guardrail is going into place... and the
piece de resistance... a single 2-inch schedule-40 pipe.
And with less than four minutes, the team
realizes that they forgot the water barrels.
Everything is in place with two minutes to go and
it's time for all humans to move out... and time for a car to move in. The
cauldrons have been lit. The accelerant is doused. And the car is ready to
launch. If the build doesn't hold... a giant bonfire.
We countdown.. three... two... one...
Car is launched... and miraculously, it drives
RIGHT OVER THE BOX! But there still could be a firepit inside. Let's take a
look... and... a little dish, but that's a CATCH!
And speaking of catches, let's see if Mike's will
do the same thing. And it does. Two ways to solve a problem.
Next week, more destruction... more prizes...
more headaches. Remember, if you catch it... you keep it.
For more information on this show, go to
sciencechannel.com/catchitkeepit.