Trap Racers - A HOD Version of the classic mouse trap car. Basswood for the win.

Hayden Davison, our program director, mentioned in passing this summer how cool it would be to offer a mousetrap car kit. I wanted to support all his ideas, but I did not think anything would come of it. Hayden developed the first couple of prototypes, and then I took a crack at it, and somehow I fell in love with the idea. We ordered a kit from a leading mouse trap car manufacturer, and right out of the box, its performance far exceeded ours.

Our first cars were made from Baltic birch plywood, the axles were wooden dowels or plastic tubes, and we tied knots to the mast arm and axle. There are a few key points to building a world-class mousetrap car: 1. The car needs to be light. Most companies use basswood…we were using heavy plywood. 2. You must have a release on the string or paper that is attached to the axle…it must release after being tensioned so that it does not rewind on itself and stop the car from rolling. 3. It must be modular. The trap needs to be adjustable, and the wheels should be interchangeable.

Our current trap racer is faster and goes further than the competition. Our kit is built from solid basswood. We mill our basswood in-house to a thickness of around 1/8 inch. This makes our frame material lighter than the competition. Then we laser cut as much material away to make it look cool and weigh even less. We use stainless steel axle bushings, which provide very little friction for the axles. The wheel hubs are flat rubber washers that interlock the axle to the wheel. What truly sets our kit apart is the torque adjustment. We have modified the traps so they can be bolted to the frame in various placements, depending on wheel sizes and floor terrain. The carpet needs more torque, so move the trap back a bit. On a smooth floor, use the large wheels to add some weight in the back and move the trap forward to get some distance.

Purchase your kits here, and make sure you buy at least two!