Week 9

Test, test, and more testing!!! With less then 2 weeks to go before competition the main focus was testing the car over and over. And by the end of the week to transfer all the parts over to the test car which would be ready by competition next week. This week we had to make sure that all the side panels lined up on the new car, so they could easily be installed later. This years car was faster then ever before and there was a lot of hope to do very well in the competition. There was so much work to be done some team members ended up sleeping on sleeping bags over night so they could work late and go to their classes in the morning. This took a lot of dedication to the club to balance their schoolwork with the club which could take up to 20 to 30 hours of their time per week. While at competition the students are responsible for making up all their class work and letting their teachers know that they will be gone. On the flip side the benefits of this club are enormous, polytechnic is known for being a hands on campus and this club is the perfect example. These students are responsible for building everything and they use what they learn in school and apply it in real life. This provides a hands on learning environment that allows students to learn at a much higher rate then just thinking about it theoretically. The way that the competition works is that there are 3 different competitions throughout the United States over the summer. There are different styles of testing such as the endurance race, the speed test, and also the business side of the car. The teams are scored and the team with the highest points is the winner. Last year the team placed within the top 10, but the car's performance degraded over the three competitions due to lack of durability and endurance. This year the team hopes the car is able to with stand the brutal track conditions and increase the car's performance over the races. The team takes of to Tenessee Valley next week to race in the first competition of the year!!! Wish them luck.  

Week 8

This week the new chassis finally came back from being painted meaning we could start testing the panels and see what changes need to be made. The new chassis was only 68 lbs and was the lightest chassis the team had ever built before. There were 2 weeks left before the competition and everyone was working to finish prepping. This week we had to make sure that all of the panels fit and that we had everything to go to competition. This involved making sure the trailer was cleaned out and everything we needed to go in the trailer was laid out. We attached the tow lines inside the trailer where everything could be strapped in nice and safely. This week the team took the car up into a dry riverbed and ended up flipping the car and broke the steering line that steers the car. The team had to make sure this wouldn't happen and had to make sure that they had plenty of spares in case it broke again. Also they blew out the rotor in the rear wheel because the screw was loose causing them to blow out the whole wheel. This is a reminder to always make sure everything is tightened. This week as all interns have to I had the privilege to sweep up the whole shop and make sure everything was put away properly. We are hoping to have everything ready to move to the new car by the end of this week as competition is just around the corner. This years car is noticeable faster and more agile than last years and hopefully that means we can preform even better than last years car.

Week 7

Time is of the essence and as competition is just around the corner the major emphasis was put on testing the car and finishing the new chassis. This week Nassim and I were assigned the task of removing the old foot box and making a new one for the competition chassis and car. The job of the foot box is to protect the driver's feet from being hit by an rocks that might get kicked up and to provide support for the drivers feet. To create the foot box we took the old one off and measured it on a piece of metal sheeting. Then we cut the metal using the shearing machine and used sheet cutters to cut out the inside of it. Then we had to use the metal bender to bend the notches into the foot box. It was a tedious and time consuming process and once we were finished we had to use the press so it would fit nicely in the role cage. After we had to drill holes where the rivets would be later placed in. This week the new chassis was supposed to be completed so it could be powder coated for the competition. The team took the car to the dessert for testing to see how the car would handle in the off road terrain. During testing the car performance was excellent and was considerably improved from last years, but there were still improvements that needed to be made. The team was falling behind their deadlines and had to work constantly throughout the nights just to keep up.