Thursday, July 24, 2014

On our way to Austin,TX




It was the last day of the race as we said our goodbyes to Baylor University. Dr. Marx greeted us in the morning and waved us off the start to our final stop in Austin TX. 

The finish line of the race was the Samsung Microprocessor factory in Austin TX. 
Our over 300 mile journey had come to a close and we received our 3rd place trophy that night at the banquet. We also received the Matt Tunnel award for the most prestigious skill in driving and trailering.  




Wednesday, July 23, 2014

On the road rally to Waco!



It was the morning of the the first road rally day and we were pumped up and ready to go.
By winning the previous days race we got the trophy at the flip of a coin from having a tie number of laps as staten island. We charged our batteries in the sunlight and suited Matt up in his cool shirt vest for the long trek ahead. Our destination for that day was Waco TX which was over 100 miles away.

We completed 98 miles that day and arrived in Waco Texas long enough to adjust our charge controllers and get some well earned sleep.

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Quest For The Checkered Flag!


Lapping the competition we went as Matt, Dylan, and Brandon drove a total of 125 laps.
We raced all day and took a 30 minute break to take the official race picture.

The day was a success as we neared towards the competitors lap. We took first that day for the daily award and received it the next day.


Monday, July 21, 2014

Down but not out



With the other cars racing around the track, The Solar Knights were pent up in the garage prying out the sheared bolts from the carbon fiber after yesterdays accident. Luckily one of the judges named Malcolm helped us get the bolt out with Easy-Out. With the car in running order we were ready to race the next day.


Sunday, July 20, 2014

Scrutineering Day 2


We worked all day till sunset today trying to complete the last 3 scruteneering stations. 
We finished the mechanical station, and with the end in sight we finally had some belief.
But out of Murphy's law our lighting system failed last minute. We decided to finish the lighting at a later time and complete the road race station. The station was made up of  3 laps of driving, trailing, and unloading. In the final portion where we had to unload the car, the back wheel slipped off the ramp and smashed onto the ground. Causing the wheel arm to rip from the carbon fiber. It was a catastrophe. We were upset knowing that we would not be able to race because we did not finish scruteneering. But Dr. Marx said at the banquet that we could race if we had the next day to fix the car.

Saturday, July 19, 2014

Scrutineering Day 1



The first day of scrutineering has arrived and we work round the clock making final tweaks and knocking out half of the scrutineering stations. Everything is looking good but we still have trouble on our lighting system.

Friday, July 18, 2014

Dallas!



Saying goodbye to New Orleans we embarked on our final 12 hour grueling leg of the drive.
Fast and furious we went down the highway arriving at the Dallas hotel to check in 7 minutes before we were penalized. We spent all night working on the car and installing our new Lithium Battery Company batteries.

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Rise and Shine




For the second day of the trip we decided to leave at 8am EST from the hotel. Before departing we checked to make sure our car was still strapped down and ready for the road. After a few more hours of travel we crossed timezones, we are now in alabama and in Central Standard Time.

After many hours of driving in complete downpour, we arrived in New Orleans Louisiana!
After checking in our hotel we walked down the street to the famous restaurant Mothers, home of the original Po-Boy. After eating one of the most delicious meals of the trip we took the trolley on down to Bourbon street, where Matt could not have been happier. We walked the rest of the evening checking out the shops, until we took another trolley back to the hotel in the prep for our last day of driving.

As we came back to our hotel, Nate from the Lithium Battery Company had driven all the way from Tampa Florida to deliver our brand new batteries. Thank you Nate from the Lithium Battery Co.

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Off To The Races


We left South Plantation High School at 12 noon with our convoy to Texas ready to go.
Only an hour into our drive we saw our first of many issues. The cover for our Solar Car was way too big, in fact it was big enough to cover a schoolbus. We stopped in palm beach county to purchase one that would fit the cars streamline body at Autozone, and more straps and bungees to tie it down from the Home Depot.




We arrived in Gainesville at about 4pm hungry for some Jimmy Johns subs, who hooked us up with free drinks. Thank you Jimmy Johns of Gainesville Florida on University Drive!
With our stomachs full we were able to tour the Swamp and stretch our legs.
After we left Gainesville we travelled to Tallahassee and had dinner by FSU where we spent our first night.

Friday, July 11, 2014

Battery Struggles



So its the end of the week and there's about a week before we leave for Texas. The car is pretty much ready for the race except for some external parts like lights and the horn. We have been having trouble getting our battery box to adequately fit in the car. After we finish these last minute things we will attach the top of the car and test it at a yet to be determined location this weekend.

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Safety First



Today we took a break from some our more mechanical task to focus on some more safety oriented stuff such as located safety vest, orange flags, cones and checking our fire extinguishers.


After we sat down to thoroughly go through rules and our scrutineering packets to make sure we were following all the rules.

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Last Minute necessities



Today we completed the process of installing the 49 diodes on the solar car to prevent the reverse flow of electrons in our circuits witch we are now in the process of wiring.


We are also trying to program a motor-controller which will let us power our motor and move at different speeds and interpret information from the hall sensors as the motor turns