Kerbin's Time Trial Rover Challenge

[TinnedEpic]

*Updated*

Fantastic times! I couldn\'t have hoped to do better myself. My best time so far is 6:38 so it\'s really not worth mentioning.

I have fixed the typo error in the title now, no more trailing for us.

oh and in response to the \'defined finish line\' I think it will be determined by the distance traveled. obviously it\'s hard to predict just how far you have traveled but the mountains is close to 40k from the space centre so I\'ve divided the scores into 2 categories. those that fell just short of 40k and those which are close to exactly 40k.

so from now on any rover under 38k distance traveled doesn\'t qualify for either category

Right now chanic is in the lead with a whopping 3:25 and chanic you overshot the target distance by 9000m . So pull out your Rover again coz you have a chance to beat your previous score.

[Kosmo-not]

Right now chanic is in the lead with a whopping 3:25 and chanic you overshot the target distance by 9000m . So pull out your Rover again coz you have a chance to beat your previous score.

His vehicle doesn\'t go fast enough to cover 49km in that time. Mine goes faster and gets 40km in 3:52.

One little question: Are we required to come to a stop at the end?

[chanic]

His vehicle doesn\'t go fast enough to cover 49km in that time. Mine goes faster and gets 40km in 3:52.

Aha, I was wondering if someone would notice the travel distance.

chanic you overshot the target distance by 9000m .

I doubt I did, I made a beeline for the nearest mountain. I shall now share the secret of my time and distance so Kosmo-not can proceed to obliterate my time with his superior rover.

A rolling start, to be exact.

Taxiing down the runway.

Starting my RCS-powered U-turn at the far end of the runway

My RCS is pretty minimal, so I didn\'t make it. Now I\'m backing up to make my U-turn a 3-point turn.

Pointed back down the runway. Time to kick the tires and light the fires!

And the payoff. Almost 160 m/s and already pointed at the mountains at T=0.

Huh, so I redid these maneuvers but ended the flight right as I left the runway to test how much of my distance was before the clock started. I got a result of approximately 3,900 m. Not nearly as much as I was expecting. I guess that means I\'m still in the 40km+ category.

Also, I\'ll upload my craft file if anyone wants to play with it. I think it\'s a bit different because it uses no downforce aerodynamics whatsoever, only some RCS to push the nose back down when it catches a bad bump. It makes for a very entertaining ride, as cresting hills results in some pretty spectacular jumps, and thankfully no flight like with my attempts at rovers using wings of any kind.

[Kosmo-not]

I might as well share what I did to make a very fast and stable craft.

I angled all the wings downward so they would keep it along the ground. ASAS also makes it easy to sit back and drink a beer.

Mine has a fifth landing gear for the specific purpose of turning the craft around on the runway (with the help of RCS). It seems that when I retract that gear, the timer starts (most of the time). After that, just turn the SAS on and punch it.

I didn\'t have a good name for mine.

[chanic]

I think my 3:25 record time is invalid

After tweaking my design a little (another engine, more RCS, less wheels) I just retraced the steps of my run hoping to set a better time. I did, but the result screen showed a distance traveled of a little under 36,900 m. It looks like the maximum speed is correct this time too.

Meaning, whatever glitch I encountered before that made my max speed read as 1.8 km/s+ also had the effect of inflating my distance traveled by an absurd amount.

So I\'ll try to do a valid 40k run with my rover, until then I\'m off the leaderboard.

[Kosmo-not]

I put a command module out 40km so I could use it as a finish point.

[TinnedEpic]

It\'s preferable if you can stop but not necessary.

Alright updated again.

[chanic]

Ok, I\'m back with an official time.

I did around 41.4 km in 3:51

I figured it would be close to Kosmo-not\'s because my rover\'s performance seemed close to the speed values he listed for his, but that is way closer than I thought it would be.

Anyways, pics in spoiler.

Oh, and I\'m listing my distance as 41.4k because I subtracted 3,900 m for rolling start runway antics.

[chanic]

Double-posting because I have a new best time.

I wasn\'t really happy with my time before, as it was really just my old buggy with ASAS and canards tacked on. Also, I was really impressed with Kosmo-not\'s amazing downforce fire-and-forget rover, but I decided it finished the run with far too much fuel left.

So now, I have a new buggy that borrows a little from Kosmo-not (wings are the best structural material ever! How do they weigh so little?!), but is also faster, and less safe. It\'s also really optimized for a 40 km run (look at how much fuel I have left).

Without further ado, my new best time is 3:27, and I\'m sure that\'s legit this time. My stats aren\'t glitched and I took Kosmo-not\'s suggestion of putting a command module out to use as a finish marker.

Once again, subtract 3,700 m for rolling start runway driving.

I think this is the best I am going to do. I have tried a lot of designs and everything else has either been slower or too fragile to survive the trip. Once again, I\'ll attach the craft file if anyone wants to play with it.

[Optical9090]

Another attempt at this challenge.

I\'m gonna add some \'chutes now and see if i can go the full 40km and brake any faster.

[TinnedEpic]

More or less how you turn around on the platform whether it be a 3 point turn (my preference) or a wide arch full speed turn is entirely up to you. Whatever you can do to optimism your time do it. After all I\'m only counting final mission time as the decider of placement on the leaderboard

All of these time are fantastic. *updated*

I hope you don\'t mind Optical I used your screenshot to make a .jpg Header for this challenge .

[Optical9090]

Not at all. Now i just need to find a way to power this baby even more 8)

[chanic]

You\'re the scorekeeper Tinned, so however you want to do it is fine. I\'ve just been including the runway distance to subtract because it seemed unfair to include a few kilometers I traveled before the MET even started counting (it only begins when you leave the ground), especially when half of that distance is spent casually rolling at 20 m/s on a perfectly flat surface.