Baltimore Kinetic Sculpture Race |
| Next Page > |
| Want to See the Next Race? For an email reminder 1 month before the race on Saturday 1 May 2027, and when the 2027 Spectator’s Guide is available, join the Spectator Mailing List! |
| Were you in the race? Please contact Tom Jones if you have anything to add or update, or would like high-res photos of your team’s entry. |
Saturday 2 May 2026
The City of Baltimore abounded with joy as 27 teams gathered at the American Visionary Art Museum for the annual East Coast Championship Kinetic Sculpture Race. The largest crowds ever filled the Canton Waterfront for the water entry, Patterson Park for the sand and mud obstacles, and streets along the 15-mile racecourse. Restaurants and bars along the route sponsored watch parties as teams raced by. Many sculptures exhibited this year’s theme: Fantasy and Folly. The crowd gleefully moooed and made road runner noises.
The day’s excitement included a purple trombone, 400 phone calls, a dog with a broken axle, a disintegrating Pooh woodland, ACEs won and lost, and hydrocatastrophic gnomes. Kinetic connections grew as four of these teams had also raced in Lowell, Massachusetts last September.
Our 7 all-terrain photographers followed the race from start to finish, taking 15,384 photos (358 GB). The best 410 are in this report.
Click the “Next Page >” button to go to the next team, or select any of the teams listed at the bottom of the page.
Champion: Meep Meep and Meyond
 |
Meep Meep and Meyond won 2026 Grand Mediocre East Coast Champion. The Nova Labs makerspace of Northern Virginia brought the kinetic joy of |
|
 |
All propulsion on Kinetic Sculptures must be entirely human-powered. Three pilots powered this sculpture with bike-pedal chainsets. This year they optimized their chain tensioner and welded keys and sprockets to the drive shaft instead of stopping regularly to tighten set screws. |
|
 |
 |
Rule 1+ states: Each Sculpture must carry at all times 1 comforting item of psychological luxury heretofore referred to as the “Homemade Sock Creature” (HSC). Homemade Sock Creature must be made in a home, from a not-too-recently-worn sock from the home, and resemble a creature homemade from a sock. (penalty: 1 hour) Their sock creature was a coyote. Pit crew sported thematic costumes, including an ACME anvil helmet. |
 |
To prepare for the Canton Waterfront splashdown, they inflated dunnage airbags painted to resemble ACME TNT that always worked so well for the Coyote. |
|
 |
On the water, paddles attached to the main wheels provided plenty of propulsion. |
|
 |
They made some progress into the sand without help, but soon 3 of their pit crew had to assist. The rules permit pushing for non-ACE vehicles. |
|
 |
Only 2 pit crew were needed in the mud. Along the racecourse, the crowd continuously called out "Meep-Meep". |
|
 |
Volunteers at Wash World cleaned mud off vehicles and crew. |
|
 |
After the Patterson Park obstacles came the steep downhill challenge of Lombard Street. On the way back to AVAM, they slipped a chain that mangled a tensioner. Volunteers from the Station North Tool Library extracted the part, wrenched it back, and reinstalled it before the team could dig into their tool inventory. Thanks, Tool Library! |
|
 |
Nineteen years prior, another team created Coyote & Road Runner–themed Acme Kinetic Sculpture with a far less robust design. That team later adopted the name Team 1800 Lbs and are described next here in the 2026 race. |
|
 |
With one mile left to go, pilots still exhibited plenty of energy. Rotating pilots is allowed for non-ACE teams. |
|
 |
The finish line is next to the American Visionary Art Museum that sponsors the 15-mile race. |
|
 |
Pit crew bicycles had signs held by Wile E. Coyote in various episodes. |
|
 |
 |
During down time, the Coyote consulted the ACME product catalog for new ideas. Bribes are legal in kinetic racing; this team provided ignited TNT to judges and Kinetic Kops. |
 |
Here’s the team moments after receiving the championship trophy. |
|
 |
This is Nova Labs’ sixth entry:
|
|
|
All Pages At Once (huge!) |
Next Page > |