Kinetic Sculpture Race Archives

Kinetic Sculpture Race 2017 Arcata

Despite the rainiest winter in my memory, the 2017 Kinetic Sculpture Race kicked off in Arcata on a calm, dry morning.

This big red dragon was the most ambitious sculpture I saw this year.

This giant orange rooster had a ton of followers.

Alchemy construction built something with stained glass windows on top.

This kinetic VW racer fit right in with its surroundings.

This Soul Train picture doesn’t do the sculpture justice. It was disco ball shiny and metallic.

Santa with an airhorn.

The individual racers really stepped up this year.

Kinetic Sculpture Race 2016 – Arcata

Good weather caused a nice turnout for Kinetic Sculpture Race 2016. The race starts in Arcata at noon, every Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, and continues through the sand dunes, and down Dead Man’s Drop. Saturday, it’s into the bay in Eureka, and on Sunday, racing to the finish line in Ferndale.

Dragonass. I remember a very similar dragon made of styrofoam from many years ago. I wonder if they used the same base?

Planet 9, sponsored by Pierson’s Building Center. Move over Whirled Peas, there’s a new spinner in town and it’s awesome. The raised clouds casting shadows on the planet were an awesome touch. It spins slowly. I can’t explain the cats.

Lost Coast Brewery steampunk shark. We’ve seen it before, but that’s ok. It’s a crowd pleaser, despite being barely seaworthy.

Atomic Funguys. The Funguys really went all in on the neon this year.

Humdinger. The pilot was playing a trumpet.

Mad Hatter’s Tea Party. You can always tell who the race officials are by the number of bribes they have pinned to their shirts. Bringing a table along proved a convenient decision when a bureaucrat showed up with a stack of paperwork.P-awesome. This has to have been the most barked at sculpture in the race.

Lava Rocks. It looks like a comfortable place to sport a cool mohawk.

Kinetic Sculpture Race 2015 Arcata-Ferndale

Memorial Day once again brings the Kinetic Sculpture Race to Humboldt.

Traditionally, the race begins on the Arcata Plaza with the noon siren. Due to the dismantling of the fire house, the siren had to be carted in and manually started, which happened 15 minutes late, and the mishaps didn’t stop there.

There were a lot of racers dealing with new art or equipment, and some big newcomers.

This zombie pink elephant was exactly what I like to see in the race. It was original, attention grabbing, and gave the impression that an equal measure of attention had been given to both art and machine.

I don’t say this often, but this steampunk shark was such a well polished design that I would welcome seeing it back without much alteration in future years. As much as I like to see new stuff, I hate to see something like this scrapped in the name of progress. The tophats of the riders even popped open to reveal shark teeth.

I think this butterfly was the first catastrophic casualty. It only made it a few blocks before breaking down and calling it a day, which is unfortunate. Better luck next year.

This Blue whale skeleton was just shy of life size, and it was their first time on the course after traveling all the way from Sacramento. Things were looking good until they hit a crosswind that broke the head loose.

The couple on the right are getting married at the finish line, so turning back was not an option. Half an hour later they had it back together and were back in the race, though they had to repeat the whole procedure again later.

These guys boldly went until about Dead Man’s Drop before they broke down and spent the night on the wrong side of the bridge.

As always, Kinetic officials were everywhere, looking for infractions and heavily laden with bribes.

This Borg was apparently finding plenty of culture to assimilate.

Kinetic Sculpture Race 2014

It was a beautiful Arcata day for the start of the annual Kinetic Grand Championship. Racers seemed to be focused on their machines this year. There wasn’t the usual fire-breathing spectacle, but there a lot of mid-sized machines, heavy on gears and muscle. Everyone made an effort to bring something at least a little new this time. Listening to the interviews with the judges, I definitely got the impression that they were looking for something novel as well as functional.

If I had to pick a favorite this year, I’d go with this shark. The lower jaw doesn’t have a center, so kids could stand in it to get their picture taken in the jaws.This is the first time I think an entry has been too seaworthy. It would have had a better look if it had rode a little lower in the water. It floated at about wheel level.

This starship Enterprise lookalike was called Star Trukkers. It had a nice clean look and seemed to perform well.

Hell on axles was certainly vibrant.

I don’t know anything about these guys, but I really like something about the design. It looked comfortable, something like pedalling around on a reclining couch. Normally, I would be concerned about being able to stop without just rolling around like a hamster in an out of control hamster wheel, but the low center of gravity and two person seating really makes this one seem stable and easy to control.

Race Like an Egyptian had, ahem, quite a prow on it. Didn’t do so hot when it hit water. Not the most streamlined float ever, but an entertaining entry.

Blue Oyster Cult. I’m a bit puzzled, but googly eyes make everything better. Nice barnacles too.

Lost Coast Mutnineers. We’ve seen better pirate ships, but this one had the engineering to make it work well.

This thing needed some dry ice or something, but it looked good for how little there was to it. I’d be interested to see one of the big players run with this idea in metal and propane.

I don’t know the story behind this one. I like it, but I wish they had used the screw for water propulsion, or at least had it spinning.

They were calling this one Cloud of Unknowing. I’m going with Crowd of Unknowing. Supposedly the most drivers ever in one entry at a dozen. One of these years, someone is going to refit an old school bus with bicycle propulsion in all the seats and enter it in the race. It does seem like the ones with more people function pretty well, but I’ve been seeing an increase in the number of entries that have a bunch of people pedaling like mad to propel something at a fast walk.

Duane Flatmo Doomed Buggy

Here’s Duane Flatmo in his Doomed Buggy. Not his usual spectacular entry, but it’s always good to see him in the race. This one was a bit front heavy (I’ve seen the back wheel come off the ground a few times) and flipped over going down Dead Man’s Drop. Duane suffered only minor injuries and was right back in the pilot’s seat.

Thank you to all of the people who worked so hard for our entertainment. I look forward to next year.

Kinetic Sculpture Race 2013 – Arcata – Ferndale

Humboldt County’s annual Kinetic Sculpture Race started off this year with unseasonably nice weather, with the throngs being shamed by the stigma of getting a sunburn in Humboldt County, a feat normally accomplished only by the most pallid of individuals.

The above entry may look familiar, but it is not a rework of last year’s entry, it was there in addition. They are both beautifully animated and controlled by the pilots. These things were definitely a favorite, especially of the children, and if they can continue to produce more, I think they could become an attraction all on their own.

The HMS Lady Luck is an interesting piece of engineering as well as sculpture and performance art. The mast seemed to be worked in as a steering system rather than a method of propulsion, and the many sideways people providing propulsion you may remember from previous incarnations like Gloryopolis and Classical Nudes.

The Post-Apocalyptic Cockroach won some awards for speed and engineering. I don’t know about the apocalypse, but it looks like the pilots could survive a massive hailstorm with nothing but hearing damage. I’ve seen those tires in an local outdoor store and they look huge on a bicycle, but I think they must be much more efficient on the road than the much bigger tires of most of the competition. I saw them at the bottom of Dead Man’s drop and they seem to have gotten through all the sand and cliff quickly, which I would have expected to be their biggest challenge.

I sometimes give the entrants a hard time for not changing their sculptures from year to year, but there are obvious exceptions. Duane Flatmo brought back his fire-breathing Snapdragon and won the Spectator’s Favorite award, a clear sign that the crowds are happy to see it again.

These guys crack me up. There’s nothing like coming over a hill to find a group of safari guys carrying a giant dead ant up a sand dune to make you feel like you’ve fallen into a parallel universe. I think it is also an odd case of something getting better as it was simplified. They started out with a fire engine, then stuck the ant on top of it, and now took away the fire engine to make what I think is the best of the three.

This puffer fish sculpture sponsored by Mr. Fish is a classic which keeps changing species each year.

I’m putting these guys up as an honorable mention. They’re a bit light on the sculpture, but they look ready to race in style and comfort. If I had to commute several miles a day over land and sea, I think this is how I’d want to travel.

Kinetic Sculpture Race 2012

It’s Kinetic time once again in Arcata California. It was an overcast morning in the end of May. Labor Day weekend. A cold breeze coming in off of the ocean didn’t phase the spectators, who were out in great numbers to see a race that seemed a bit subdued compared to olden times. The things that impressed me this year were less in the spectacle of it all, and more in the smaller details.

These guys need a bigger dinosaur. It looks like an afterthought. Putting the driver in the back seat is nothing but awesome though.

The above entry, inspired by roadkill and full of vulture pilots, is the work of Duane Flatmo. I don’t personally see his style shining through on this one, but it was my favorite among the larger entries.

Lost Coast Brewery sponsored this fire truck themed fire ant that shoots fire out its arse!

Sasquatch hunter

Predicting the weather in Arcata is unreliable enough that I’m not sure why we employ meteorologists, but the gamble paid off for this crew. A sunny day racing in a wookie outfit would be hellish, but the icy weather made them look more sane than those in shorts. A tribute to the sasquatch or bigfoot which are rumored to inhabit local forests.

The one and two seater contestants really made the race this year. I love this FlintStones inspired car. It seemed well engineered and convincing and they weren’t having any trouble getting around. I’m not sure how the steering works.

This little crab was awesome. Both his arms and claws were fully functional and I have no doubt anything messing with him would have gotten a good pinching. His little eyestalks were on springs.

This one ought to be fun in the bay. These two chicks in a frying pan had a jet of fire above their heads.

It doesn’t look lime much in photo, but this one impressed me more than any of the others. I’m not sure what the creature on the front is. It is deer-like, but had something dragon-like about it as well. It had a strikingly complex seris of controls operated by the lone driver via several levers.

Sometimes all it takes is someone going a small extra step in order to bring something from good to great. There were lots of people in mushroom suits racing around, but going with the full body suit with eyeholes makes this guy look like a viable super hero. The above gnome is best seen in motion, since he gets around by bouncing rather than pedaling. To see him and all the rest, check out Bob Doran’s video below of the first two laps around the plaza at the start of the race. In the coming days the race will go through the dunes, across the bay, and all the way down to Ferndale.

Kinetic Sculpture Race 2011

It’s kinetic time once again in Humboldt County California, and this year there were even more challenges than usual for our brave contestants. The weather has thrown them the usual mix of sun, hail, and rainbows, but this year, in addition to slogging through sand dunes, the bay, and 42 miles of track, they also got to slog through months of politics.

Most of the entries this year seemed a bit sub-par. The bigger contestants like Calistoga and Yakima are no longer in it, and most of the rest are just new paint jobs on last year’s model, though I can see why. It all started with disputes over who was in charge, licensing problems, and threats of cancellation. Why would anyone put months of effort into building a sculpture for a race that may not even happen? On that note, I’ve got a message for those involved in the politics: nobody cares who you are, so either get your crap together or hand over the reigns to someone who will.

Tess and Sara Kraus

This year, the politics went too far. When officials barred Tess and Sara Kraus from piloting their tiger (below, made by local high school students) for failing to prove their age, these two responded in true Amazon style by getting up and rousing chanting supporters from the crowd with a speech that would make Xena proud. In the end, parents had to take the place of the devastated teens, and pedal the float past the officials, at which point they switched back, and continued on. They’ve been told they will not be treated as a part of the race, all in the name of some liability tyrant. Well, I hope someone feels safer now.

Lost Coast, Tiger, endeavor

There was certainly no lack of enthusiasm though, and turnout was good, considering. I was glad to see the Endeavor entry come in first on day one. NASA needs a victory under their belt after the gutting of our space program. The high ground and the best technology have won nearly every war and industrial race in history, and those of the future will be no exception.

Sheriff grills gorilla

This albino gorilla even seemed to be having some trouble with the law. I moved on after taking this shot, but I expect the gorilla is in Guantanamo by now.

Above is this year’s entry from Duane Flatmo, a man who puts out so much awesome every year that I’m tempted to put him in the site navigation. I’m not that impressed with the conversion this year after seeing his last several entries, but taken on its own merit against the rest of the field, it is still a contender for number one.

And it breathes fire!

This one gets my vote for most questionable engineering. Maybe I was missing something, but these guys were pedaling like mad and going at a slow walking pace. The guy next to them even felt the need to put his foot on the ground to keep his bike from falling over, and it sounded like they were using their pedaling to tumble rocks in their pontoons rather than for propulsion. It looks heavy, but it was apparently blown over by the winds at the dunes.

Gloryopolis, above, is another great entry. You may remember them from last year’s Classical Nudes sculpture. They reused a well engineered base, but did a complete overhaul of the art. This is what it’s all about, and they pulled off the superhero theme better than I’ve seen done before.

Kinetic Dog, fish

There are some interesting regulars in the race that don’t get a lot of notice, like the dog above. I’ve posted pictures of this cycle/dog pair before, and now I’m curious. Has this dog been in the race since it was a pup? I’m going to have to go through my old pictures. The salmon on the right was entirely scaled with compact discs.

There are hundreds of people in single person contraptions and bicycles as well. I don’t know if it is home made or off the shelf, but I want the cycle below. It looked comfortable, efficient, and she could turn it 360° in place.

Three wheeled reclining cycle

If you would like to see more coverage from Kinetic Sculpture Races past, check out my coverage from past years at the links below:

2010

2009

Kinetic Sculpture Race 2010

We hit the streets, roofs, and piers of Humboldt County, California For their annual Kinetic Sculpture Race. This is the original home of these races, but there are now nearly a dozen around the country, and many of these contraptions will also be seen in the Corvallis race and at Burning Man.

Despite the increased number of races, there has been a decrease in the quantity of the more impressive and original machines, owing mostly to the loss of Calistoga and Yakima as sponsors. In recent years, Duane Flatmo has been almost carrying the race, with his fire breathing dragon from last year being the best I’ve seen. There are still a good number of smaller entries as well, which are what keeps the race unpredictable and full of personality, as well as some returning favorites.

Duane Flatmo’s entry this year was an aluminum lobster made of recycled parts and complete with pinchy claws and working jaws and tail, done in the same style as his previous Kinetic Carp and dragon. He was sponsored by FoxFarm.

Mad River Brewing Company sponsored this train. Just look at this guy racing a beer train through the streets of Arcata, he couldn’t be happier.

By far the most daring entry of the year has to go to this float, entitled Classical Nudes. Its drivers were dressed in nude suits and created quite a stir. They were pursued by a pit crew filled with some very stern looking nuns in mini skirts and roller skates. The statue on top was hinged, and could be easily secured for the tougher parts of the race.

There is one float that has been in the races in recent years that pretty much just gets a new name and paint job each time, but I’m always glad to see it. It has won numerous awards and seems to me to have the best engineering for the various trials of these races, taking to the water like a duck. Why mess with perfection? This year it was going under the name A Black Tie Affair.

I don’t know the story on this one, so I’m going to say it was inspired by something someone saw in a vision after eating some bad sushi. It would seem to be a giraffe from outer space with ruby slippers.

Guy racing a camel. The legs were attached to his pedals. I think he was associated with a group riding a flying carpet.

This is one of those events that brings all sorts of people together. I thought this was a great picture of the spectators around the judges. Worthy of a caption contest.

For more on these races, crossing the sand dunes, and some video see my post on Kinetic Sculpture Race 2009.

Kinetic Sculpture Race 2009

We sent zogdo senior video correspondent and garden coach Genevieve Schmidt to the 2009 Kinetic Sculpture Race (Humboldt, California) and caught the above footage of the race. Humboldt County hosts this race every Memorial Day weekend, and it draws quite a crowd of bizarrely dressed spectators. Many of them dress like this on daily basis. The star of the show for the second year running is the dragon built by Duane Flatmo out of hubcaps and similar materials. This year it has a fiery new trick, and it’s a real crowd pleaser.

I had the pleasure of helping to make some of these possible, mostly by machining various gears and other parts. This is one of those races where if you are entering to win, you’ve already lost. Corruption and bizarre rules are built into the race so deeply that it seems clear they are there to prove the point that this race is about the journey and the fun, rather than the finish line.

I’ve been to at least a dozen of these races now, and the quality of the entries and the size of the crowd varies wildly. I’d say the best one I went to was about four years ago, back when Yakima was still a leading competitor.They were connected with sculptures like an early variation of the Hippypotamus, which this year came complete with sage smoke billowing out of its nostrils. In the past couple of years, the race has vastly increased in notoriety, making the front page of Digg last year, and the front page of CNN two days before the race began this year.

Some of the new arrivals this year included The Octomom, complete with eight tentacles for grasping her young.

The Glory Hogs would occasionally stop to barbecue and hand out free hotdogs to their adoring fans. We got a great rooftop view of the race.

I hadn’t seen this beetle (firefly?) before, but I didn’t catch its name.

The symbol of the race is the Kinetic Chicken, personified in this sculpture that arrived with great fanfare last year. It came into the race at the last minute with a huge entourage of chicken headed cyclists, towering over the crowd in chromed glory.

Also new was this skunk.

Quite a crowd of people follow the race on bicycles and skateboards, and give quite a representation of local color, like this dog, and this protester with a noble message about personal responsibility and smog reduction.

I’ll end here for now with a giant angler fish, a closeup of the dragon head, and a great show of Flatmo helping Twinkle light their star.

Update: Dead Man’s Drop and the dunes

All of the more interesting sculptures managed to make it to the sand dunes this year.

I don’t have the weight specs for thedragon, but it’s nothing you want to be pedaling up a sand dune. Here, the pit crew helps out a bit.

Dead Man’s Drop is a steep section off the back of a sand dune leading to a small trail through the trees. The dragon made it down safely, unlike Big Top (red and white in the right corner of the picture) . A note to anyone considering purchasing a Flip Video Recorder: they have a nasty habit of suddenly dead batteries, which loses the enitre currently recording section of footage, however long it may be. It cost us a great film from right below big top as it rolled down the hill.

The spashdown in the bay:

We arrived at the bay to an icy windy day, spectators shivering in their down coats, while Zog, true to form showed up in a T-shirt.

This guy in the parking lot had his dog jumping through a bicycle tire ad nauseum; why? because he could I suppose. I have a cat that will retrieve thrown asparagus, but you don’t see me bringing him to perform at events.

The bay crossing portion of the race takes place with the racers going down a ramp into the 50°F waters of Humboldt Bay, many of them submerged to the knees in barely seaworthy craft. The most notable difficulty I saw this year was this giant picnic basket. As soon as it hit the water, we could hear loud cracking noises as something went horribly wrong inside. The side panel of the float (using the term loosely) was meant to open up as their escape hatch, but it was obstructed by the dock. Everything turned out ok, but I doubt they made it upwind with such poor aerodynamics and some obvious structural issues.

While it is more mechanically interesting than truly sculptural, I’ve been quite impressed with Twinkle (formerly The Patriot Act). They’ve had some time to perfect things, and what they have ended up with is a machine that made the race over land and sea both look effortless. I didn’t spot them in the dunes, so I don’t know how it fared in sand, but the back wheel is used for steering on land and as a rudder at sea, and those big wheels with the paddles on the sides really worked great.

The Flatmo Dragon took to the water like a swan. A terrible fire breathing swan of DOOM! A great improvemnt over last year making the headlines worldwide after capsizing. This has truly become a remarkable machine that would draw crowds in any event on the planet.

I’ll likely more or less end this post here for the season, but if you were in the race or would like to see more of a particular entry, I do have a lot more photos. Feel free to comment below.