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March 8, 2008 8:33 AM

World Record Spaghetti Bridge

Bala’zs Botka of Hungary’s Budapest Polytechnic set a world record by building a spaghetti bridge weighing 994.9 grams (2.19 pounds) that held 352.62 kilograms (777 pounds) before breaking. Hungarian competitors in the heavyweight division took the top six spots. YouTube link of the Hungarian team at last year's competition. Rules.

posted by weapons-grade pandemonium (34 comments total)

Hey! That happened just down the road from me! Cool!

The Okanagan valley: world-class gold-winning wines and record-holding spaghetti bridges. What more could a man want?

Oh, beautiful women. Plenty of them in the valley, too. Life is good.
posted by five fresh fish at 8:40 AM on March 8

Cool...
posted by tkolar at 8:44 AM on March 8

To provide a suitable road surface, the bridge must have a solid, continuous pasta road deck that is at least 50 mm wide and covers the full length of the bridge. Note: we recommend using lasagna. The lasagna may be altered as per the rules governing materials.
posted by tkolar at 8:49 AM on March 8 [1 favorite]

Oh yeah, I saw that. Prince was in it, right?

Oh... never mind.
posted by DecemberBoy at 8:50 AM on March 8 [1 favorite]

This brings playing with your food to a whole new level
posted by 45moore45 at 8:51 AM on March 8

2 lbs holding 777 lbs. JEBUS M ROTINI!
posted by DU at 8:59 AM on March 8

Botka of Hungary’s Budapest Polytechnic, weighed 994.9 grams and held 352.62 kg... Hungarian competitors in the heavyweight division took the top six spots, finishing ahead of three local contenders: Brad Reinholz (KSS 12.53 grams), Hayden Kanigan (KSS 11.92 grams) and Ian Purvis (OKM 1.76 grams).

Are the weights for the last three bridges their stress thresholds? 'Cause that's a hell of a disparity.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 9:02 AM on March 8

Certainly looks like a misprint. I'll update this if I get official results.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 9:12 AM on March 8

TV reporter: "They go home winners, but the victory was bittersweet."

What the hell kind of spaghetti is bittersweet?
posted by grouse at 9:13 AM on March 8

Spaghetti squash?
posted by Dizzy at 9:25 AM on March 8 [1 favorite]

Well, if you get the RonCo pasta maker, you - yes, YOU! - can make delicious chocolate spaghetti! Now, how much would you pay?
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 9:28 AM on March 8

I designed the 4th grade champion and record holding drinking straw bridge of my elementary school. Come get some, Hungarians.
posted by ursus_comiter at 9:32 AM on March 8

Where's that confounded bridge?

*burp*
posted by not_on_display at 9:34 AM on March 8

Is there anywhere that doesn't have just one lame photo?
posted by tinkertown at 9:46 AM on March 8

I'm more interested in the car thief asleep at wheel lol!
posted by ORthey at 9:57 AM on March 8

This bridge, it dances?

(Gotta 2nd DU's comment. That there's some engineering.)
posted by Smedleyman at 10:18 AM on March 8

The video doesn't show anything like 777 lbs hanging from it. That must be 353 grams, not kg.

But the world record is apparently 176 kg. But but, the video said they were "2 kg short of the world record".

In short: That video is completely useless for imparting meaningful information. It is also a local news broadcast. But I repeat myself.
posted by DU at 10:22 AM on March 8

DU: "The video doesn't show anything like 777 lbs hanging from it. That must be 353 grams, not kg."

1) It's not weights, there's a giant chain and some sort of hidden machinery that pulls on the chain.
2) That's last year's video, so it breaks at something more like 550 lbs.
posted by Plutor at 10:50 AM on March 8

DU: This is an international, highly regulated event every year here, sponsored by the engineering firm (SNC-Lavalin Inc) that's building this bridge. Yep, 777 pounds.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 11:15 AM on March 8

Echoes of the second best Calvin and Hobbes strip ever.

Can I just say this is the first time I've ever been on television?

(Also, that's not a self-link, I just didn't want to steal some poor Geocities user's bandwidth)
posted by sixswitch at 11:26 AM on March 8

To dream...the impastable dream!
posted by cerebus19 at 12:29 PM on March 8

OMG, I just realized that [redacted MetaFilter user] is Calvin's dad!
posted by grouse at 12:34 PM on March 8

Why are they naming a bridge in Canada after William Bennett? I hope it's not our Bill Bennett of drug czar and gambling fame...
posted by Maias at 3:09 PM on March 8

That's nothing, I've had 30 pounds of pasta hanging off my gut for the last 5 years.
posted by DenOfSizer at 4:32 PM on March 8

"That's nothing, I've had 30 pounds of pasta hanging off my gut for the last 5 years"

I always say "When you have a tool like this, you have to build a shed over it."
posted by mr_crash_davis at 5:59 PM on March 8 [1 favorite]

Our Bill Bennett was a Premier, Maias. A typical BC politician, nuttier than squirrel shit. We seem to elect our provincial politicians as to how much entertainment they will bring us, not how effective they'll be.
posted by five fresh fish at 6:29 PM on March 8

I hope it's not our Bill Bennett of drug czar and gambling fame...

Bill Bennett, former premier of BC, who went by Bill because his father, William (W.A.C.) Bennett, was also premier of BC. Canada is, like, a whole other country and stuff, with, like, their own politicians.
posted by ssg at 6:41 PM on March 8

The drinking straw bridge contest was always my favorite part of Engineering camp. So much fun that I entered college fully intending on pursuing a career in engineering.

You'd think that at some point in 3 years of engineering camp someone would have mentioned the math requirements. I thought it was gonna be 4 straight years of drinking straw bridges.

I have a degree in English.
posted by billyfleetwood at 8:20 PM on March 8 [1 favorite]

Ol' Wacky Bennett.

The Bennetts owned vast parts of the Okanagan at one time. A very well-off family, to say the least.
posted by five fresh fish at 8:32 PM on March 8

Canada is, like, a whole other country and stuff, with, like, their own politicians.

You'd think they could be a little more creative with their names, then, if they're so independent. He could have called himself Mackenzie Clark Wilson, for example.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 9:21 PM on March 8

He could have called himself Mackenzie Clark Wilson, for example.

Why don't you tell your William Bennett to try that one out? We've more than had our fill of politicians with Scottish names up here. Also, since both W.A.C. (William senior) and Bill (junior) were born before the American William, it would look like they would have dibs.
posted by ssg at 9:57 PM on March 8

I loved how the last bridge broke everywhere at once with a huge dust cloud. That's definitely the trick: getting the load distributed across many elements so that one doesn't break before the others.
posted by lostburner at 6:05 AM on March 9

All at once the horse stood still,
Close by the meet’n’-house on the hill.
First a shiver, and then a thrill,
Then something decidedly like a spill, —
And the parson was sitting upon a rock,
At half past nine by the meet’n-house clock, —
Just the hour of the Earthquake shock!
What do you think the parson found,
When he got up and stared around?
The poor old chaise in a heap or mound,
As if it had been to the mill and ground!
You see, of course, if you’re not a dunce,
How it went to pieces all at once, —
All at once, and nothing first, —
Just as bubbles do when they burst.
posted by lostburner at 6:07 AM on March 9 [1 favorite]

lostburner: the way spaghetti breaks has been studied. The cloud of dust is equally a result of its odd behaviour as it is the distributed load.
posted by five fresh fish at 8:21 AM on March 9