7.16- Saturday Scruteneering

The day before departure found us early at the race track. Team Volt-Tech began working on completing the welding from yesterday (additional support bars required by the judges), rewiring the low battery monitor for the auxiliary battery, and other necessary adjustments. I took advantage of  a ladder being used next to the trailer to take a better photo of the solar panels that are on the roof of the trailer.

Chris worked moving our backup batteries in the trailer. He explained to me that one of the judges wanted the batteries moved because of the location of our emergency on/off switch. If the batteries caught fire, it would be difficult to turn off power with the location of the switch and batteries. The batteries were moved to the other side of the trailer, and ventilation and fan in battery housing had to be reconstructed and moved as well. Safety is a priority in the Solar Car Challenge.

Four back up batteries and one back up auxiliary battery in their cases and with ventilation hose.

Mr. Harris cut a hole in the trailer side for the battery exhaust. 

Yesterday, the judges required us to add more structural support to the car. Steve has spent a great deal of time welding aluminum tubing and square stock.

Elijah cutting tubing for additional support.

Steve and Alex discussing the end angle of tubing.

One of the additions required by the judges are the two aluminum tubes that are on either side of the center support and angled.

Both the chase car and the other car are required to have caution signs mounted on the back of the car bodies. We will be traveling on state highways and cars approaching from behind must have ample warning of a slow moving electric solar car ahead.

Nick and Mr. Lucks work on wiring the warning signs which will be mounted on the two vehicles traveling behind the electric solar car. 

One of the requirements of cars in our division, electric solar powered, is that some sort of basket me mounted on the car. At least once during our trip we will be required to stop at a grocery store and buy items to put in the basket. 

Marisa and Jackie cut and designed our car basket out of plexiglass. 

Alex, Elijah, and one of the judges discussing the low battery monitor. When the batteries in the car go below eight volts, an alarm must sound to alert the driver. 

It is difficult to wake up so early in the morning and then have to  work in the heat and humidity. 

The electric solar car is required to have two passengers and their combined weight must be a minimum of 320 lbs. Weights are available on the trailer if needed. Here you can see tubing that was welded to the floor of the car to hold a 25lb. weight.

The Texas Motor Speedway's avenues are lined with a tree that is unfamiliar to me. I asked one of the judges and he told me they were mugwort trees. Their bark is smooth and flowers vibrant pink. Their wood is used in bows and canes. 

Alex is holding different colors of squares and is  15 meters away from the car and at an angle. The driver then must be able to use their rearview mirror to identify the color being held up. 

Thank you to all our sponsors who made this trip possible.

Test #5- Braking- The car must be driven a minimum of 15 mph and be able to stop in less than two seconds. Here is a video of our test:

Test #7- Road Test- We will be driving to Minnesota on state highways that will have semi trucks and trailers passing us. In order to test the ability of the solar cars to maintain stability when being passed by a large vehicle, the solar cars were driven in conditions simulating driving on the road and and having a semi pass by.  Here is a video of Chris driving the car for this test:

Test #8 Endurance- The endurance test involves replicating a situation on the highway in which we may need to either load or unload the car from the trailer. It involves a flagman warning motorists to stay to the left of our caravan, and driving in the correct formation for the race: trailer, solar car, one vehicle with flagman, judge, and team members and a final car with team members. Below is a video of Nick driving the car around the track for this test:

An adjustment that we had to make today was adding an additional brake pedal. The judges explained that should the brake pedal break, a back up is necessary. You can see the new brake pedal, made out of square tubing to the left of the primary brake pedal.

Today's socks of the day are Pizzas!

Congratulations team! We passed all eight of the scruteneering tests and were given a permit to drive the car on the road. Tomorrow morning the race begins!

After a long, and hot day we were treated to a banquet at the hotel.

Shown below are chaperones Mr. Harris, Mr. Smith, Mrs. Lord, and Mr. Lucks

Real food—what a treat this was.

 Team Volt Tech: Elijah, Cameron, Alex, Steve, Nick, Chris, Jackie, Marisa

Cameron, our team captain, was asked to say a few words:

Shown below are our team and the other team in the Electric Solar Car division; they are from Plano, Texas

Farewell to the Texas Motor Speedway. Sunday we meet in the hotel lobby at 6:00AM. We begin our journey here in Fort Worth, have lunch in Bowie, Texas and will end the day in Ardmore, Oklahoma. Below is a view of the Texas Motor Speedway from our hotel.