Rubber Band Car—2024 Engineering Challenge Results
Build a Rubber Band-Powered Car that Goes as Far as Possible
The 2024 competition is over, but you can still try this challenge for fun! Can you build a car to go as far as possible that is powered by only a rubber band? With a simple materials list to build with, what is the furthest distance your car can go?
Full details, including the building, testing, and scoring procedures, can be found in these four formats:
- Elementary School Rubber Band Car Challenge Lesson Plan
- Middle School Rubber Band Car Challenge Lesson Plan
- High School Rubber Band Car Challenge Lesson Plan
- Student Instructions for Rubber Band Car Challenge
Congratulations to All Participants
Over 8,800 students from 32 countries participated in the 2024 Science Buddies Engineering Challenge Rubber Band-Powered Car. Using limited materials such as pencils, cardboard, plastic bottle caps, drinking straws, CDs or DVDs and paper clips students ages 6-18 built a wide range of cars powered by just a rubber band to see how far the car could go. The range of solutions and the perseverance of students was impressive! We saw a number of creative solutions ranging from wind up axels to rubber band slings. We heard from many students and teachers who pushed through the frustration of initial plans not panning out and kept going until they had a working solution, then kept going again to improve their scores even more. Students were most excited to see their creations come to life! Congratulations to each and every student who participated and a big thank you to the educators and parents who supported them!
Figure 1. A few of the teams who submitted cars for the 2024 Science Buddies Engineering Challenge.
"I loved how the students' thinking developed throughout the challenge. Their conversations showed their critical thinking and willingness to try something different to make their car perform better. This was such an awesome challenge!"
Sara Ballard, teacher
Drawing Winners
All eligible team entries were placed into random prize drawings. Congratulations to the ten winning teams listed in Table 1 whose names were drawn from the eligible pools! Through their willingness to try engineering and work at solving the 2024 Science Buddies Engineering Challenge, each of these teams earned $1,000 USD for their school.
| Drawing Winners | |
|---|---|
| Team Name | School/Program |
| Rubber Band Car Guys | Lynbrook High School, Lynbrook, NY, US |
| Aventuras | Johnson High School, San Antonio, TX, US |
| RaeLeigh Smith | Echo School, Echo, OR, CA |
| Daniela | Davinci Academy, San Juan, PR |
| Wyllie Girls 1 | East Quogue School, East Quogue, NY, US |
| Dogman | Du Quoin Elementary School, Du Quoin, IL, US |
| Speed Racers | Jupiter Elementary School, Palm Bay, FL, US |
| Lightning | First Avenue Public School, Ottawa, ON, CA |
| Team Eee | Hickman Charter, Hickman, CA, US |
| Tyler | F A Day Middle School, Newtonville, MA, US |
Top Scores Overall
Students' Rubber Band Cars were scored based on the total distance over which the car could travel, minus the materials costs (calculated in points). Table 2 shows the teams, across all ages, with the highest scores. All scores were validated by Science Buddies staff based on submission photos and the challenge rules.
| Top Rubber Band Car Challenge Scores (Overall) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Team | School/Program | Age (Average) |
Score |
| Let's Roll | Holy Name Gifted Centre, Toronto, ON, CA | 14 | 6666 |
| A-Aron | Willowbrook High School, Villa Park, IL, US | 15 | 5455 |
| Singleton | Willowbrook High School, Villa Park, IL, US | 16 | 5400 |
| Cambree decides | Body J. Michael, III Technical High School, Hagerstown, MD, US | 17 | 5297 |
| The UniCarCycle | New Roads School, Los Angeles, CA, US | 12 | 5228 |
| rubber band buddies | Coatesville Area SHS, Coatesville, PA, US | 17 | 5162 |
| Team NES | Sandusky Central Catholic School, Sandusky, OH, US | 18 | 5148 |
| High Rollers | Cornerstone Christian School, San Angelo, TX, US | 17 | 4961 |
| Bradley H | Freeman Academy, Freeman, SD, US | 11 | 4595 |
| Rocket Racer | Effingham College & Career Academy, Rincon, GA, US | 15 | 4590 |
Top Scores by Age
To recognize the hard work students did creating and testing their solutions and to give student a better sense of how their solutions and scores compare to other students of similar age, the tables and graphs below show the top scores and score distribution for submissions from ages up to age 10, 11-14, and 15-18. (Note: The age used for each team is the average age of all members on the team.)
Figure 2. A few of the teams, students ages 10 and younger, showing off their rubber band cars.
"I loved how this year's challenge involved making something move, multiple parts had to work together. Many teams failed, some failing multiple times and this was a great process in overcoming those challenges, working through the process of changing the design, improving designs and working together to achieve maximum success."
Cortney Watson, teacher
| Top Rubber Band Car Challenge Scores — Up to and Including Age 10 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Team | School/Program | Age (Average) |
Score |
| Team Faith | All Saints Catholic School, Jupiter, FL, US | 10 | 2910 |
| Bass Tracker | Oak View Elementary, Fairfax, VA, US | 10 | 2906 |
| Team Kindness | All Saints Catholic School, Jupiter, FL, US | 10 | 2901 |
| CarCar | Abbotts Creek Elementary, Raleigh, NC, US | 10 | 2782 |
| Crane Crushers | Crane Country Day School, Santa Barbara, CA, US | 9 | 2563 |
| Flowers | Saint Rose of Lima, Toronto, ON, CA | 10 | 2550 |
| JEB | Corbett School, Corbett, OR, US | 10 | 2461 |
| Original | Hidaya Academy, Urbana, IL, US | 9 | 2441 |
| Smith 5: Weston, Max, Hudson | Hazel Wolf K-8, Seattle, WA, US | 10 | 2379 |
| The Average People | Abbotts Creek Elementary, Raleigh, NC, US | 10 | 2179 |
Figure 3. A histogram showing the distribution of scores for teams of students ages 10 and younger.
Figure 4. A few of the teams with students between the ages of 11 and 14 showing off their rubber band cars.
"I absolutely loved seeing this group of students create their car as a team. After the trial runs, they looked at their cars through a critical perspective and then made adjustments to make significant improvements. As their car traveled farther and farther, they would get more and more excited and in turn I would be more and more proud of them!"
Rebecca Freund, teacher
| Top Rubber Band Car Challenge Scores — Ages 11 - 14 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Team | School/Program | Age (Average) |
Score |
| Let's Roll | Holy Name Gifted Centre, Toronto, ON, CA | 14 | 6666 |
| The UniCarCycle | New Roads School, Los Angeles, CA, US | 12 | 5228 |
| Bradley H | Freeman Academy, Freeman, SD, US | 11 | 4595 |
| Jarrguarr | German International School of Silicon Valley, Mountain View, CA, US | 13 | 4571 |
| The Winged Fossils | Moody Middle School, Richmond, VA, US | 12 | 4369 |
| Mason | Saint Joan of Arc School, Aberdeen, MD, US | 13 | 4139 |
| The AMA's | Athens Bible School, Athens, AL, US | 14 | 3885 |
| STBS NAN | Saint Benedict's Episcopal School, Smyrna, GA, US | 13 | 3699 |
| Zero Friction | Athens Bible School, Athens, AL, US | 13 | 3535 |
| Thunder | Ethel Dwyer Middle, Huntington Beach, CA, US | 13 | 3420 |
Figure 5. A histogram showing the distribution of scores for teams with students between the ages of 11 and 14.
Figure 6. A few of the teams with students, ages 15 and up, showing off their rubber band cars.
"The students enjoyed working together and thought it was fun to make. As a teacher, it was a pleasure watching the creativity and imaginations of the students come to life as they faced this challenge together."
Nicki Jeansonne, teacher
| Top Rubber Band Car Challenge Scores — Ages 15 and Up | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Team | School/Program | Age (Average) |
Score |
| A-Aron | Willowbrook High School, Villa Park, IL, US | 15 | 5455 |
| Singleton | Willowbrook High School, Villa Park, IL, US | 16 | 5400 |
| Cambree decides | Boyd J. Michael, III Technical High School, Hagerstown, MD, US | 17 | 5297 |
| rubber band buddies | Coatesville Area SHS, Coatesville, PA, US | 17 | 5162 |
| Team NES | Sandusky Central Catholic School, Sandusky, OH, US | 18 | 5148 |
| High Rollers | Cornerstone Christian School, San Angelo, TX, US | 17 | 4961 |
| Rocket Racer | Effingham College & Career Academy, Rincon, GA, US | 15 | 4590 |
| Rubber Racers | Willowbrook High School, Villa Park, IL, US | 17 | 4568 |
| Canyon Cooks | Canyon High, Anaheim, CA, US | 15 | 4360 |
| A and E speedy | Mercy McCauley High School, Cincinnati, OH, US | 17 | 4309 |
Figure 7. A histogram showing the distribution of scores for teams with students ages 15 and up.
