Every year Dremel Tools hosts a North American Sales Conference. Their nationwide team of sales representatives meet for several days with various teams from the corporate office. The goal is to introduce new tools and accessories and how to use them. Part of the conference is a building event in which they gather in teams and must build a project within a time frame (that sometimes doesn’t seem fair.) It’s always a lot of fun and people who otherwise never get hands on experience have the opportunity to get their hands dirty and work with some pretty cool stuff.

This years project had a theme…..”NASCar.” (North American Sales Conference) The idea was simple….teams had to build a soap-box style car that would run down a track and compete for speed against other teams. They were supplied with many different materials that could be used to make their car including plywood, acrylic sheets, stock lumber, etc. All teams were given the same wheels and axles as well as the same exact tool and accessory arsenal in which to build their car. However…..there was a catch. The teams could not use any mechanical fasteners whatsoever. No nails, screws, glue, tape, etc. Now that’s a challenge!

The picture above shows the final two designs that were created to showcase possible ideas that the teams could reference during their build. Before they were created, Dremel needed to see some ideas for approval. The renderings below show 3 different designs that might be built at different skill levels. The teams were made up of 12 or more people and were given two weeks in advance to start planning their build. They were even allowed to bring in decorations to make their cars unique. With a total build time of 2 hours, plenty of material and tool choices, and a team of 12……how many people does it take to build a NASCar?