Making a small car

I have the following ingredients to make a car:

• 1 - AA size battery
• 1 - motor
• 2 - big paper clips
• 4 - small paper clips
• 1 - 8" long 1/4" wide dowel
• 1 - jinx wood
• 3 - large wooden wheels
• 2 - small wooden wheels
• 6 - elastics (varying sizes)
• 1 - piece of thermoplastic polymer (about 12 cm by 4 cm)
• 4 - thumbtacks
• 2 - pins
• 2 - pieces of copper wire
• 1 - marble
• 1 - popsicle stick
• 4 - toothpicks
• 1 - bag (optional)

This car needs to go up 1 ramp, drop a marble into a hole, continue going up another ramp and pop a balloon at the end.

Any tips on making the car go up the ramp with the least energy possible?
Thanks in advance.

Gud luk mkin da car m8

Make it as light as possible. Do you have to use everything?

Whats the angle of the ramps and the top speed, and weight of the car. Some simple math, and I could figure it out.

Very cool sounding project. :D
Yeah post a bit more info on if you have to use all the materials and possibly any measurements and numbers that we could use to do the math!

Considering you have an odd number of wheels, and 2 different sizes, I would use on of the big ones on the axel, and use it as a gear, similar to using 1st gear on a bike. The motor will turn a lot more times than the wheels turn, but its easier on the motor then having it exert more force.

Ah Pet, the little engineer from Canada. :D

What? I liked to play with model cars, motorizing them. And even back in scouts, we had little derbies. So, understanding gear ratios was a good thing.

Haha thats cool. :D
I always played with Lego!

well is it a wooden ramp aswell? seeing as your wheels are wooden i would suggest running the elastics around the wheels to give them traction to the ramp.

I agree with Bob Magic and Samuel.

pick up the car and throw it :) least amount of energy

lol if the wheels are those little plastic black wheels that they give u in all those things, sandpaper the wheels down. makes them roll smoother. Should help a bit.

Sorry, I haven't been able to be online much lately.

To answer some questions:

I'll be able to check the specs of the ramp Tuesday. Before then isn't really possible. It's not a wooden ramp though. Also, the weight of the car depends on the materials used, and I'm still in the process of putting it together.
And yes, the wheels are wooden.

Thanks for all the help guys!

To answer Samuel's question regarding the angle of the incline: there are 2 inclines. They are separated by a short horizontal plane. This plane is 15 cm in length.
The first incline is 20 degrees steep. The second incline is 30 degrees steep.
The first incline is 16 cm long. The second incline is 17.5 cm long.
Also, the inclined portions are made of a tape used to simulate the texture of asphalt.
Any further help will be appreciated!