Wednesday, August 31, 2011

New School Yearrr

Hiya :), I'm Natalie and I've officially been made secretary of Solar and also been put in charge of the team's blog for the 2011-2012 school year. Already meetings (horribly disorganized without Jessica Millar apparently) have begun as a way of recruiting new members.  So far, mostly what the club is all about have been discussed and how in order to handle particular power tools, a certification will be needed first. Luis, David, and Josh all did a great job in doing this and also showed new members first-hand the inside of the solar knight III, explaining all the things they were hoping to fix about it. Hopefully, everything turns out great this year and that we're able to raise enough money for the Texas race during the summer.

P.S.
Um, I had to change the email address when I was trying to access this blog. I'll change it back whenever~

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Last Couple days, and BACK HOME!

So on the last couple days of racing, we continued to have various issues with our car. We came to the conclusion that it can be a huge challenge to race a new and more advanced car. The race this year was all about learning about our team and solving all the problems that we had. It was very hard at times but we were able to get out on the track and run our car as much as we could. We ran a total of 240 miles! We didn't exactly accomplish the goal we had for our car but it with all of the issues we had we all know we did an amazing job! We are all very proud of our team for being first in the advanced division! :P

Thank you to all other teams who helped us throughout the event and congratulations to the winners!


 Getting ready for the team picture! 

Jessica with cones!  

 Evan and a student from Stony Point helping us figure out what was wrong with our array. 

Ben making sure the array wiring was ok.

SKIII on the track!

Jessica showing our car to Coppell High!

 Our team talking to William Shih!

Jessica and Luis with our Day 3 trophy!

All the teams setting up for the BIG picture!

SKIII!

 Jessica with our 2 day trophies!

Winner's Circle picture! 


WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS, MY FRIEND!

All the teams! :) (Pictured by Roddy Parkinson!)


Thank you Dr. Marks for an amazing event!
Thank you to all of our sponsors for making this possible!
and Thank you to everyone else who helped us along the way! :)


Check out winstonsolar.org for the official race results and more pictures of the event.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Day 6: Third day of Racing

Today we had a GREAT day! We won a day trophy yayyyy! We were able to race almost the entire day :) Even though there was cloud cover for a large portion of the day we were able to complete 70 laps today. it was the first day of racing where we had no major issues. Tomorrow is the last day of racing and we plan on having another great day. Wish us luck!


Charging the solar car.
The team representing Choctaw. :)
 Solar Knight III at the Texas Motor Speedway.
 In the pit tent drinking limeades.
David and Josh talking to Noveen from St. Thomas Academy.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Days 4 & 5: Racinggggg

For the past few days things have not been going well for the Solar Knights. On day 4 we began well by passing all of the scrutineering stations and becoming an official participanting team. It all went downhill 30 minutes before the beginning of the first session of racing at the texas Motor Speedway. We started to have some problems but werent able to pin-point the casue until after the session was complete.
On day 5 we woke up bright and early and ready to begin racing. We did awesome!!!! We were passing and going high speeds until we realized there was something wrong with the car again. We had to pull back into the garage area this afternoon to find the problem and came to the comclusion that there was a bad connection from the batteries to the motor. We were abale to get back on the track a few time after that but things were just not working well from the time on.
We were able to complete 49 laps total in the two hours we were on the track so we are very proud of our accomplishments! :) (check winstonsolar.org for the offical results of the race)
Once the day of racing  was over we participated in a parade in the city of Roenoke, TX. We all enjoyed seeing the publics reaction to our "spaceship".
Unfortunately there have been some problems with the blog camera, so we are unable to upload any new pictures from the last few days of racing.
We'll keep you posted!

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Day 3: First Day of Scrutineering!

In line for scrutineering
 At the tilt station. We had to tilt our car 20 degrees to each side.

 Ben working on the a-arms
 Our working station in the hotel parking lot.
 Luis doing the turn radius test.
 The whole team at the banquet.
 Picking up one of the chaperones, Jim.
Jessica and Evan being weird! lol


Today was a veryyy long and hot day here in Ft. Worth, Texas! We woke up very early to make sure our car was ready for all of the safety tests we have to pass to be able to compete. At 8 o'clock we were lines up in the parking lot along with the other 15 teams to make sure were all ready for the race. After several hours of being out in the hot sun with very little shade we completed most of the stations and made the necessary repairs to pass all but one of the safety tests (which will be tomorrow on the Texas Motor Speedway). All of our drivers except for Valeria have passed the drivers test, and tomorrow we will adjust the pedals to have her certified to drive.
Tonight was also the openning banquet! We had great Mexican food and each team captain had a chance to introduce all of their team members. Take a look at some of the pictures of our day.
Tomorrow is the last bit of scrutineering and the first day of racing! Were very excited about seeing all the other teams on the track and also see how well our team does the first day. Wish us luck!

Day 2: Mobile, AL to Ft. Worth, TX

Waking up at 5 AM again was not fun for the Solar Knights. We had great timing and were able to pull out of Mobile, AL by 6:10! After another long day on the road we finally made it to Ft. Worth, TX. We were able to check-in with the race coordinators right in time to make it to the driver's meeting. After the meeting we had a lot of work to do on the car and planning for tomorrow, and we are finally wrapping things up at 12 AM! Tomorrow is the first day of scrutineering and we will be waking uo bright and early to make sure everything runs smoothly.
Enjoy the pictures from today! :)



Boys Being Boys!
An intense game of tag with the roof being base lol :P
Ben working on aux. wiring diagram in the van.

LOGOS!



Working on the car at night (changing the rear tire)

Friday, July 15, 2011

Day 1: Plantation, FL to Mobile, Alabama

Today we pulled out of our school at 5:15 AM. We drove through 2 giant storms, had a flat tire, and other small car troubles, but overall we had a good trip! We arrived to Mobile, AL at about 6:30 PM central time. We are all very excited about arriving to Texas tomorrow! We will keep everyone updated on our trip. Tell all of your friends to check us out! :P




As you can tell, there was a lot of sleeping going on in the cars today. ohhh and we caught Evan craddling his phone as he sleeps lol
With all of the rain we were actually able to use the ponchos that we got from our sponsor STS9! They're great! :) THANKS!
Well now we need to rest for another day of driving tomorrow.
Follow us on twitter for more frequent updates on SolarKnighsGo :)

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Packing for Texas

The team is set! Today is our last work day before we head towards Texas. We're packing all of our bags, tools, and everything else needed for the race. We just recieved our sponsor logos and are adhering them today before we load up the car in the trailer!
Friday morning we will be pulling out of Plantation, Florida and we will spend the night at Mobile, Alabama. And on Saturday morning we will drive to Ft. Worth ready for check-in and scrutineering on Sunday. :)
We would also like to wish all the other solarcar teams a safe trip to Ft.Worth and good luck racing! We can't wait to see everyone there! :)


Ben preping the sides to adhere the logos.


David packing things into crates.

Evan packing tables in the van

Jessica getting all of the ropes and bungies together.

Josh getting the tool box ready to take to Texas.

THANK YOU SPONSORS!

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Cow Chip Bingo!

Junior Achievement hosted an event called Cow Chip Bingo on April 10th.
We were invited to display Solar Knight III at the event filled with bounce houses, food, prizes and much more.
The Cow Chip Bingo fundraiser was centered around a cow "dropping it's chip" in a plot of land. The land was divided and each deed was sold for $20. A prize of $2500 was awarded to the owner of the plot where the cow "dropped it's chip" and some of the surrounding plots were awarded smaller prizes.
In the end, the cow dropped its chip in the section 62FF, which was very close to some of our very own deeds. :)
We had a great time at the event! Thank you junior Achievement!