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.