NOTE: We are not the official web site of the contest, so our information is designed to help you succeed. For more information about the contest, please visit the NAR's web site. For official rules, visit the Rocket Contest web page.
RockSim Tutorial Videos - RockSim is the tool of choice for designing your winning TARC rockets. The FREE tutorial videos will guide you through an introduction of RockSim, and then walk you through some of the advanced features of the software so you can really tweak your design for precision performance. There are also some specific videos for TARC contestants that will help you learn some advanced simulation techniques.
Building High Quality Rockets - Consistency is a big key in the TARC contest. Our Getting Started in rocketry page will show you how to build high-quality models so that you'll have an advantage over the other teams in the contest.
TARC Tactics Report - This is a special indepth report that describes the key things you'll need to concentrate on when you're designing and building your rocket. We are giving it away for free, but you have to ask for it by emailing it to us. The information is too valuable to freely distribute to people that don't want to buy their supplies from us.
TARC Impressions - This article reviews the results from the 2008 TARC contest. It gives some additional insight on those things you should concentrate on if you want to win this event.
Interpreting Altimeter Data - You've download the flight data from the PerfectFlite altimeter to your computer. Now what? This report shows you how to read that information so that you can get some important information on how your rocket is flying. You'll be amazed at all the information that you will get from the simple altitude vs time plot.
Tracking Your Rockets - When you are performing your test flights, you should NOT use the electronic altimeter. Why? Because it may drift away and get lost. The altimeter should be saved until you are performing launches for the actual contest. While running your test flights, you should track your rockets using optical tracking. It is very cheap to do, and the results are highly accurate. This report will show you how to do optical tracking.
e-zine Newsletter #90 "Hints and Tips On Winning The Team America Rocketry Challenge" - This older article comes from our e-zine newsletter archives. Since the event has changed from when this article was written, unfortunately much of the information is out of date.
e-zine Newsletter #96 Tells you how to increase the reliability and survivability of parachutes, and where to buy parachute material.
e-zine Newsletter #104 "How To Design and Build Engine Mounts"
e-zine Newsletter #113 "How To Arrange Parts to Make Payload Compartments"
Starting a School Rocketry Program - In this article, you'll get information on how to set up your school's first rocketry program. This article is designed for people that have never built or flown a model rocket before. It explains what is involved when you first get started.
