I find it hard to believe some of the junk they find in that junk yard i.e. the steam boiler for the cars, the new 55gal drums,the new pillow block bearings for the drag racers. That junk yard has to be salted with specific items.Most people don't throw away that kind of stuff. I frequent many junk yards in nj and I wish I could come across some of that stuff! Please come clean! Thanks:)

-- Michael Langowski (MYTMIKE39 @Aol.com), December 30, 2000

Answers

BUT, the point of the show is NOT whether those things could actually be in the junkyard... but IF the teams can put together all the components to make something work. I have heard someone else on this board say, and I second... it is an educational show, and if we can get our kids to watch and learn something, then that is the whole point. If they didn't find the drums, the bearings, etc. then neither team could have made their machines work, and who is going to watch that? As for the boilers, I read somewhere on this board that it is illegal to make one... they still had to pick from I think three hidden, and make it work...Just know in your heart there are planted items, and enjoy it anyway. I mean, really, a whole roll of mylar? We all know it was put there, but how else could the team have made a blimp? If you realize it up front, you can just enjoy the show anyway. Just my two cents...

-- Rhonda (mxrs@zianet.com), December 30, 2000.

Yea some stuff is salted for practical reasons. I think they should maybe make an entire artificial scrap pile so that teams can put together different sorts of machines than have been made in the past.

-- Richard Manahan (rjcyclesk8@hotmail.com), December 30, 2000.

Actually on the episode where they needed to make the steam-powered cars, the host actually said that they had planted the engines. They took full credit for planting the necessary stuff. But wasn't it still entertaining and educational? Yep.

--Gareth Long

-- Gareth Long (longg@firstline.com), January 03, 2001.

Besides planting stuff, have you noticed how the machines become magically finished even after they called time? On the Brit verison of the dragsters, both teams had pretty shoddy rigs at the end of the time, but the next day at the track they were magically replete with roll cage, additional weldings, nicely painted, etc... there's some producing going on

-- axl (asf@ou.edu), January 04, 2001.

The yard is salted. They also have decoys (right size/wrong material, bad motor/good tranny, ect) Thats why you test, test, test. When the tranny was bad with the Brothers In Arms dragster they should have tested and figured it out. The 2 dragster were different. The motorcycle engine was a 4cylinder not a 2 cylinders. Thats why it was slow in the brit version. These were both dragsters. The teams get trial and test period before the contest. Thats why that magicly have paint and are all finished. Plus they have a safety inspection and put guards up.

-- Tyler Sweat (drevil23@icehouse.net), January 04, 2001.

axl - yes, there is some "construction" on safety day following build day. However, it is limited to safety items such as seat belts, roll bars, fan guards...whatever the safety inspector says must be there.

After all, its not bad if an engine blows during the trials, but it IS bad if the engine blows UP and the driver can't get out...or the car flips and the driver doesn't.

As for salting the junkyard...yes it happens. Just remember to keep the safety rule in mind. A pipe that violently ruptures under high pressure is called a bomb...

Brian

-- Brian Flynn (bflynn@nc.rr.com), February 16, 2001.

General opinion around here seems to be that salting is OK. However, some here (me included) feel that if there is an item teams have to have, which is a standardized item, not usually found in a junkyard, and which can only be used in one way, then there is no point in hiding it. Examples would be boilers, steam engines, and rocket engines. You might as well just give these items to the teams IMHO; otherwise you have an easter egg hunt, not an exercise in scavenging, adapting, engineering, and bodging.

-- Eric (earsjohnson@usa.net), February 16, 2001.