Idea 1 - Railgun - put the pumpkin on a cart and excelerate cart + pumpkin.
Idea 2 - possible improvement to the air cannons. Have 2 gas releases. First is a smaller release of a heavy gas. Get the pumpkin started, and the heavier gas, being larger molecules, might leak less around the pumpkin and act as sort of a plug. Then hit it with the large volume of air.
As for the ideas of growing pumpkins in boxes/forms. Not allowed, per the rules. You can breed the pumpkins to a state you like better, but you can’t form them.
I was under the impression that sabots were not allowed. Also, it wouldn’t matter because the air resistance would tear the pumpkin apart once it left the cart. Sturdier pumpkins are needed. Can they do what the largest pumpkin people do and cross-breed them with squash? They’re not hollow if it’s done right, apparently.
I think the air cannons have to use compressed air. I tried (but failed) to find a story about one of the air cannons being disqualified for using some type of gas (Helium?).
By this definition ordinary modern artillery cannon qualify. Heavy? Check. Dense? Check. Non-self-propelled? Check.
The point of these competitions to date IMO is to stick with power sources known in ancient times: gravity, springs of some nature cocked by human or animal power only, etc. Once you allow more modern power sources then explosives, air compressors powered by gasoline engines, rail guns, warp drives, … it’s all fair game.
I think in another couple of years of continued air cannon development they’re gonna hit the limit of what the gourds can be grown to withstand. Pie-ing 8 of 10shots will not be entertaining. Then like any sport hitting a rule barrier, they’ll need to decide what rule changes will keep the game entertaining enough to keep the sponsors happy.
One approach is then to limit air tank capacity & pressure or something similar to weaken the cannons. The real competition will then be engineering to extract max range from the limited power source.
Another approach would be to go for max performance & switch away from gourds to carefully machined uniform cylindrical blocks of oak or something. Range would go way up and while they’re no longer chunkin’ punkins as such, they’re still using home-brew air cannons to fling inert hunks-o-stuff a very long way. That might still be a crowd pleaser even without the risk of pie.
Right now, the trebuchets/catapults/torsion devices in the Punkin Chunkin competition are wound by all kinds of mechanical/modern methods, and the catapults’ energy storing device can be (IIRC) pneumatic.
I believe the towns around the competition would be in danger then.
Supersonic speeds by themselves would be sufficient to pie a pumpkin, though I don’t think subsonic speeds would. Subsonic, I imagine it would just be the acceleration.
