They're in the air! How accurately and how far can your machine throw a ball? We're going to find out.
Want to see some trebuchet photos, and videos of trebs in action? Click this link: Trebuchet Photos and Videos
Really moving: The Supersonic Trebuchet
Hall of Fame:
Full-Size Trebuchets:
2010: Braden Heron, Melissa Kumar and Ruchi Patel: Distance: 15.5 m
2011: Nathan Keane, David Hunter and Kyle Danna: Distance: 26.5 m
2012: Mackenzie Cook, Jared Clark, Ricky Reksoatmodjo and Arnoud Mols: Distance: 70.7 m
2013: Tie: Brett Klotz, Josh Moncino, Ryan Miller and Andrew Speirs: Distance: 62.5 m
Bryce Fish, Steve Lonhart, Collin McCann and Brett Turner: Distance: 62.5 m
2014: Jack Beyke, James Merlo, Daniel Arghavani and Chris Lallemand: Distance: 94.0 m
2015: Ryan Edwards, Frankie Graves, Matt Murray, Jack Palmer: Distance: 98.0 m
2016: Alvin Ding, Brandon Einck, Reilly Merlo, Davis Ross and Chris Wright: Distance: 131.3 m
2017: Vincent Beraut, Nathan Kvamme, Kaden Pryor, Thomas Sullivan: Distance: 90.9 m
2018: Will Curtiss, Paul Hanson, Hans Larson, Jacob Mueting, Alex Reynolds: 47.6 m
2019: Simon Beagle, Jason Bennett, Aidan Payne, Alex Jory and Jakob Linn: 104.4 m
MIghty-Mini Class Trebuchets:
2020: Ashton Gundrup, Nolan LaRiviere, Josh Mahoney, Lukas Obrecht: 81.0 m
2022: Karissa Woods, Amanda Owens, Jakob Friedmann, Nick Burstein: 30.1 m
2023: Daniel Alivov, Autumn Feather, Livia Johnston, Owen Mercer: 79.2 m
2024: Evan Wong, Jacob Berman: 22.7 m
2025: Darwin Horvath, Brad Forbes, Aaron Weiss: 91.2
Micro Class Trebuchets:
2014: Riley Hilton and Chris Murai: 7.77 m
2015: Mitchell Humphries: 17.4 m
2016: Michael Buslik, Nick Gallizioli, Reese Gyllenhammer and Jacob Utic 17.4 m
2017: Joe Murray, Martin Norman: 18.8 m
2018: Zach Snider, Jessica Wright, Josh Wright: 25.25 m
2019: Julia Lugmair, Heather Patterson and Poppy Tozer: 21.9 m
2020: Giselle Simmons, Francesca Vincenzi: 4.7 m
2022: Kaden Buehrig and Ileanna Bushberg: 58.2 m
2023: Landon Fernald: 16.4 m
2024: Miles Buehrig, Oskar Wasserman: 33.2 m
2025: Jackson Seldon, Tate Paratore, Liam Rizzi: 16.3 m
Rotary Catapult:
2024: Lincoln Verinsky, Mark Goncharov , Yon Borodaenko: 43.3 m
Accuracy:
2015: Eric Beraut, Ben Christiansen, Christian Jensen and Luke McCartney + 1.2%
2016: Alvin Ding, Brandon Einck, Reilly Merlo, Davis Ross and Chris Wright: + 9.2%
2017: Damien Delgadillo, Dev Dhruv, Reid McLeod: + 3.5%
2018: Tyler Erwin: + 2.1%
2019: Solange Charlet, Jade Davidson, Sean Moore and Jon Silver: + 5.8%
2020: Linnea Jackson, Sophia Nicholson, Anvi Penmetsa: + 0.030%
2022: John DuBois, Emma Dyc-O’Neal, Ellie Raffo: + 10.5%
2023: Raphael Girard, Miles McConnell: + 3.8%
2024: Miles Buehrig, Oskar Wasserman: + 11.1%
2025: Michael Sitarz, Will von Haunalter, Anthony Turcios, Connor Allison, 4.70%
Here's a handy resource for you: Trebuchet Simulator
And another! Trebuchet Simulator
A mechanical physics simulator: Algodoo
Video: The Half-Mile Trebuchet
More VIdeo: 2017 New York Punkin Chunkin Contest
Build a catapult: this video shows how to make a CATAPULT, not a trebuchet. But it can give you some good ideas. The link leads to the home page for Woodworking Magazine. Search for "Marshmallow Catapult"; the site will let you have one video free. Marshmallow Catapult
See the "Catapult Plans" attachment at the bottom of this page to see how it's made.
Want to see some REAL math? Have a look at the Trebuchet Mechanics document, below. It's a full analysis of trebuchets, starting with basic principles and gradually introducing more realistic parameters. Don't let the math of Lagrangians scare you... your treb reports need not be anywhere near this complex.