Linear Powered Vehicle for engineering
 

I have to build a linear powered vehicle carrying one person who provides power, to be run around a 100 ft long figure 8 track for engineering... any ideas?

Mandatory specs:

max 4'x3'

driver no more then 18" off ground

Powered by one person

Straight line linear pumping motion and elastic must create energy and motion of vehicle

No stored energy (flywheel etc)

Motion must come from both pumping and elastic (in other words, if either the person or the elastic was not present the vehicle would not move)


Well? I have a few, but Im still working on it...

Footrests are on rails, rails are attached via a ratcheting mechanism to an axle. Large bungee cords return the rails to the home position when pressure is released. The axle can either be the rear axle, or can be connected to the axle via bicycle gears and chain. Steering can be cut off of a bicycle and mounted on the front.

Schematic:
http://www.boomspeed.com/mrcactus/bike_assembly.JPG

Yup, pretty much what we were looking at doing... now to make it a reality... thats the semi-difficult part.