Geoff Elder's Rocketry
"pushing it to the limit"


This is not the official page for Bowling Ball Loft records. You can find that at the AHPRA site here
The record page at AHPRA doesn't get updated often. The goal for this page is to be more up-to-date and hopefully include a little extra information which may be useful to anyone else looking to set or break a record...
 

Altitude Competition
Heavy - 16 pound ball
Motor Range Alt. in feet 1 Motor Set by Rocket Name Location Date
Unlimited 25,200  P10000
6 x AMW N4000
Gates Brothers Porthos II Balls 2002 9/21/2002
J 2,547 AT J800 Geoff Elder KH One Mallets Bay, VT  (launch from frozen Lake Champlain) 3/15/2003
K 6,416 AT K1050 Geoff Elder KH One LDRS 22, Argonia, KS 7/19/2003
L            
M 8,486 AMW M1850 Geoff Elder Lightning Strike LDRS 22, Argonia, KS 7/18/2003
N            
O 12,111 3 N2000
4 x M1315W
Gates Brothers Sumo LDRS 21, Amarillo, TX 7/13/2002
Lite - 8 pound ball
Motor Range Alt. in feet 1 Motor Set by Rocket Name Location Date
Unlimited            
I 2,755
CTI I540 Geoff Elder Ed, Edd n' Eddy LDRS 23, Geneseo, NY 7/2/2004
J 5,885 AT J415 Geoff Elder Scooby Doo LDRS 21, Amarillo, TX 7/13/2002
K 7,142
9,604 2
AT K550
AT K250
Geoff Elder
The Correll Brothers
Scooby Doo
Bald is Beautiful
LDRS 21, Amarillo, TX
LDRS 20, Lucerne, CA
7/13/2002
7/22/2001
L            
M            
N            
O 12,111 3 N2000
4 x M1315W
Gates Brothers Sumo LDRS 21, Amarillo, TX 7/13/2002 

Previous Records
16 Pound Unlimited 17,423 P Tripoli Las Vegas Cherokee (another link )
2000?
8 Pound I
1,981
AT I284
Geoff Elder
Stripes
Mallets Bay, VT  (launch from frozen Lake Champlain)
3/8/2003
8 Pound I
1,933
AT I284
Geoff Elder
Stripes
Cobleskill, NY ( CTRA-NARCONN)
9/7/2002

Notes:
1.  Altitude must be sensed by barometric altimeter
2.  At the Bowling Ball Lite competition at LDRS 20 the Correll Brothers won with a very light rocket called Bald is Beautiful. The altitude was measured by an accelerometer but there were some issues because the rocket had a spiral path. Since 2001 accelerometers can no longer be used for reporting altitudes in this competition. Perhaps it wasn't this high, but it was still very high! Personally, I don't think either record will stay long, altitudes above 10,000 feet are quite possible with the right rocket and a K motor.
3.  'Sumo' was launched with both an 8 and a 16 pound bowling ball!
 
 

Parachute Duration
Heavy - 16 pound ball
Motor Range Duration Motor Set By Rocket Name Location Date
Unlimited 22 Min   Mark Clark Thunderball   2000?
K            
L            
M            
N            
O            
Lite - 8 pound ball
Motor Range Duration Motor Set By Rocket Name Location Date
Unlimited            
I
4 Min 10 sec
CTI I540
Geoff Elder
Ed, Edd n' Eddy
LDRS 23, Geneseo, NY
7/2/2004
J






K            
L            
M            
N            
O