For the first time ever, Pumping Station: One hosted a Summit to discuss new rules and talk shop for the 2012 PPPRS season. Four hackerspacs showed up with representatives from i3 Detroit, LVL1, Milwaukee Makerspace and Sector 67. The teams shared ideas to improve the series, discussed new prizes and new angles to develop the series from. Click the break below to see a full list of the new concepts discussed:

New Moxie Rewards

New Races, including a Relay and Reverse Battle Royale




A Clarification of the $500 buyout rule




White List of battery technologies used




Safety Guideline Packet for New/Old Teams




Updated Moxie System to reward more points for more epic maneuvers




New Trophies including an official Moxie Cup




Changing Constructor’s Title to Panel Judgment “Best of Show”






Many of the teams involved were very vocal about improving safety and simultaneously improving team creativity. Many of the challenges proposed were technical in nature, forcing the cars to do more with the same limitations as last season. This would allow teams to drive focus away from “gaining that extra second” on the track to preparing the car to take bumps, jumps and various obstacles. Teams were dedicated to maintain some race events, but also emphasized that they desired to build cars that did other kinds of racing, including a relay race, which rewarded team’s pit stop efforts.


Many of the new rules proposed were directly inspired by the 24 Hours of LeMons series. The series also races $500 cars (real ones though, not our tiny monstrosities) and shares a very similar goal in regards to how teams behave and how crowds react. The PPPRS is dedicated to make competitive motor sports fun, without removing the incentive to succeed and work hard towards goals. LeMons series has achieved this by dispercing the types of goals a team can achieve. One such award, The Index of Effluency is prized amongst LeMon teams.  The IoE is an award given by judges who determine a prize for a team that produces a car that is both usable in a race and impossibly difficult to complete laps. Such past examples include a BMW M-powered 1963 Thunderbird or a Mid-Engined Karmann Ghia.  PPPRS intends to be inspire the next generation of rules around these concepts in order to promote both a fair racing environment and one that people don’t practically kill themselves to win over.


Competition is a curious thing in PPPRS. The balance between a “racing series” and a “carnival circus” is a fine line. We can all parade our cars in public and have a good time, but it should be noted that teams also, at the same time, be rewarded for building an awesome car. PPPRS intends to achieve this, mostly because teams want it, partially because we don’t want to afford the legal when it comes to injuries from increased speed-wars that hackerspaces would inevitably wage if we kept the Formula the exact same as last season.


If you wish to contribute to the PPPRS rules for 2012 please join or PPPRS Google group. Discussions will be held through the winter until a final draft that is relatively satisfying is posted. Then teams can complain and build and practically catch on fire as they attempt to top each other in Moxie. It is the best we can hope for.

Don’t forget! If you don’t feel like debating rules, we’ll see you in May anyway, just be prepared to race a race determined by a group of people other than yourself! In short, don’t be picky: have a good time.