About
Graand Kinetic Challenge
This is No Ordinary Race
Graand Kinetic Challenge teams are out to prove that their kinetic art sculpture vehicle is the best! The best in Art, Engineering, Speed, Pageantry, or even the best Teddy Bear.
This glorious two-day event finds teams of human-powered, pedal-pushed, all-terrain, kinetic art sculpture vehicles racing over land, over sand, through the mud, and on the Willamette River. Racers ride around 15 miles through city streets and campus ways, up and down a man-made Sand Dune, through 200’ of mud, and two river miles on the Willamette. Each team has to carry all the required gear for each challenge on their machine, and at no point can they be pushed or pulled by teammates, friends or spectators. Those who follow all the rules qualify to earn the coveted award, the LEO (in honor of da Vinci, the master maker of engineering and art contraptions!)
Back in 1989, Corvallis launched an event to celebrate its culture of creativity and engineering called the da Vinci Days Festival, promoting innovations that combined science, tech, engineering, art, and math. In 1992, a da Vinci Days volunteer and engineer at HP, Raan Young, discovered the wonderfully wacky Kinetic Sculpture Race, which had its origins in 1969, Humboldt County, California. Instead of creating a team, Raan approached the da Vinci Days board and asked if he could create a Corvallis version for the next summer’s big event, especially since the kinetic race aligned with da Vinci Days’ mission. With some seed money from da Vinci Days, Raan gathered teams from California and locally, the Corvallis Kinetic Sculpture Race began.
Since 1993, the Graand Kinetic Challenge has been held on the third weekend of July in Corvallis, Oregon. This fabulous event hosts teams from up and down the West Coast, and sometimes across the country, and right here in Benton County.
What is a Kinetic Sculpture?
Kinetic Sculptures are moving works of art, pedaled by human power over a rigorous, all-terrain, course by teams of fun-loving racers. The engineering marvels move in all kinds of ingenious ways, sculpted into all sorts of fantastical shapes - magical buses, pink rabbits, dragons, pirate and viking ships, hamburger, slice of cheese, and even sea anemones. Imaginations go wild! Racers and their crew are part of the art, decked out in thematic costumes, trying to outcompete each other in the entertaining show they perform for judges and spectators.
Interested in building your own entry? Thanks to our kinetic counterpart, Elliot Naes, you can explore what you want to create inspired by this downloadable PDF “How To Build A Kinetic Sculpture.”
The Teams
The teams consist of pilots, pit crew, and the entourage. Kinetic Pilots pedal the sculpture and steer, the pit crew assists the pilots in transforming the vehicle for the various elements and fixing mechanical issues, and the entourage is the loyal group of friends and family providing support and more fun to the teams. The teams give out "bribes" to the judges, race committee members and of course the adoring Graand Kinetic Challenge fans.
The Spectators
All are welcome! Come as your glorious fun selves, costumes encouraged. Spectators are welcome to follow the race on their bikes (please mind all traffic laws that apply). There will be opportunities to gawk up close and meet the makers. Seeing these amazing and inspiring works of art and engineering is a reminder that it's fun to get around under pedal power!
The Prizes
In the competitions for speed, design, artistry, and pageantry, there are great prizes donated by local artists and businesses. Special recognition in all sorts of other categories honors the spirit and dedication of racers with trophies and prizes.
Judges for each category are gonna get judgy, unless they get appropriately bribed! The ultimate Graand Prize is calculated by a very complicated formula, which takes years of training to learn, and the team that performs the best in all areas earns this Championship Honor.
For teams that complete the race under their own power and follow all the rules, there is the coveted LEO medallion, named in honor of da Vinci, the Master Maker of Engineering and Art Contraptions!
Keeping the Wheels Rolling
This amazing, fantastical, wild and wacky event couldn’t happen without volunteers, and without support from our glorious sponsors, donors, and individuals who donate or buy some merch at the race. The Graand Kinetic Challenge is free for spectators, and we have kept race registration fees low while increasing the cash prizes that honor the teams year-round hard work.
Be sure to thank our sponsors by shopping with them or leaving a positive review on their socials. Inspired to donate? We are a 501(c)(3) and your support is a tax donation, and you can take it further with the Oregon Cultural Trust program, where you can find us under da Vinci Days Inc. Together we can keep the wheels rolling for many years to come!