NACAT

CONFERENCE

July 16 - 19, 2018 in Williamsport, PA
20 Hours      144 Sessions*     12 Blocks     4 Training Days
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45th Conference Pennsylvania College of Technology

Valve Cover Race Information

A Look Back at the 2010 Valve Cover Races

The 2010 edition of the NACAT International Valve Cover Race was held July 20, 2010 in the 19,200 square foot shop of the Central Florida Automotive Dealers Association Professional Automotive Training Center at Seminole State College in Sanford, Florida. The event was filled with numerous participants and many unique valve cover race machines. The rules of the run were laid out simply as each race would contain three heats in alternating lanes with the racer which won two out of three advancing to face further competition. Contestants were divided into three groups: Youth, American, and Canadian. With the classes weighed in it was time to determine which of the gravity-powered gradient goliaths would gain glory for its builder and/or school by becoming the ultimate racer for 2010.

In a show of great patriotism and sportsmanship, Jim Voth, Russell Ferguson, and Kevin Boden provided rousing renditions of “The Star Spangled Banner” and “O Canada”. It was then official – the races were to commence.

The Youth class ran first. There was much excitement generated as the children spoke into the announcer’s microphone to relay details of their racer to the crowd before setting their wheeled warriors on track in hopes of victory.

The American class was next. Old friends and rivals battled to see who could prevail, but in the end there could only be one class winner. As is often the case, the American class winner was the “Pink Pig”.

The Canadians ran the penultimate set of heats, as many specialty race teams from Canada were battling to see which could defend Canadian supremacy in the international clash of class champions won by Lee Swalm and his racer “Idle Thinking” in 2009. The races were close, but “Green Mamba” from Red Deer College prevailed.

As with all great races, the night had to come to an end after an overall champion was decided. The battle was between “Green Mamba” and the “Pink Pig”. Would the Canadian racer be as dangerous to the Pink Pig’s success as its namesake’s venom is to its prey? The answer was a resounding “Yes”. After requiring multiple runs due to numerous photo finishes, “Green Mamba” was declared the 2010 NACAT International Valve Cover Race Champion. Canada had once again prevailed and appropriately, at the end of the night’s BBQ, the final trophy presented to the winner was a pig’s head in a serving dish.

If you think a night of valve cover racing sounds fun, please create a racer to run at NACAT 2011. Hosted by Red River College in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, the trek to the heart of the North American continent is sure to provide great inspiration and education. If you do not know how to build a valve cover racer, a tutorial and the rules are available (see the left menu). If you want to see exactly how a race is run, all race heats from NACAT 2010 were videotaped and are being made available by class on NACAT’s YouTube account (click here). Many photographs from the 2010 races are available on the NACAT Flickr account which is accessible by clicking here.

We hope to race you soon!

*144 sessions is our goal. More or less may occur based upon the training facility. An attendee will always have the opportunity to earn 20 hours of Technical Update Training at the NACAT Conference.
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