Scots Wins 2009 Solar Car Challenge!

The winning 2009 Solar Car Challenge Team

We started on the Solar Car Challenge Project at the beginning of first term. The project involved five students from Years 9 & 10 working with a local industry to design, build, and (in the end) race, a remote controlled car that is powered by the sun (solar).

In Scots' third year in the Challenge our team consisted of Thomas Luff (Year 9), Matthew Knight (Year 9), Harry Arthur (Year 9), Grantley Ward (Year 9) and Alexander Star (Year 10).

Each school involved in the Challenge was paired up with an industry close to the school. Similar to the last two years we worked with Bertazzo Engineered, a metal engineering company in Wodonga, on the project.

We started putting ideas together on our first day. We first came up with the design using a slab of foam. We cut it to the right shape and then coated it in a thin (but strong) layer of metal, then attaching all necessary components to the bottom of the solar panel, which was to fit neatly into the top.

We thought that this design would be extremely strong and also light. Halfway through building this foam framework for our car, we decided to weigh it, and soon found out that it was heavier than last year's car! So we gave up the foam design and started on a new one.

Our next design was to be in the shape of a Formula 1 car and made out of aluminium. We drew it up on ProDesktop and gave it to the workers at Bertazzo Engineered who were able to cut it out (using their high-tech laser cutter) and fold the flat strip of metal to the shape of our car.

It was lighter, stronger, and way better looking! (in our opinion).

2009 Solar Car

We then assembled all the components together onto the bare chassis and installed them to our car. We put on the front and back strips of metal, the wheels, the radio receiver, many capacitors, a battery pack, the steering servo, and (thanks to Mr Edwards) a beautifully designed engine drive system and holder.

After much appreciated help from Mr Rob Fawcett (who wired up all the electronics), we were able to finally drive our car. We ran it using solar energy (avoiding crashing at all costs) and after a few hours of driving practise, decided on the order of drivers for race day. If all went well, we thought we would have a competitive car.

All five of us attended the pre-race barbeque and watched the other schools run their cars around the track at Diamond Park. Although our car was ready, we did not bring it out for everyone to see - it was to be an unknown surprise! We then collected our controller and radio receiver, which we quickly installed to our car. After more driving practise the following Wednesday, we were ready.

Race Day - Friday the 30^th October, quickly came and we were all pumped for the race. Our car was in fine shape and running very smoothly, with our only concern the weather - which was forecast to be thunderstorms (not good for solar).

Track side Race day

We arrived at Transformer Park to practise for half an hour before our car was scrutinised. Luckily, there didn't seem to be a cloud in the sky, which meant our solar panel would be at full efficiency.

In the half hour practise we all had a drive and got used to the track, although we never drove at full speed - keeping our car at just below half pace. (We wanted our speed to be a huge surprise!)

This technique worked well as other students said our car was too big and heavy and just wouldn't be fast enough.  However, everyone's views of our car soon changed.

Harry took the controls to drive our car in a hot lap against two other cars to decide on our grid position, hoping for a good spot. He started off gently - unlike Albury High School's car which sped away quickly.  Imagine their surprise when our car managed to catch up in a few seconds.

At the first turn, Albury High School's driver took their car out wide and Harry expertly drove around the corner, staying very close to the edge and passing the opposition car. We won this lap and had the fastest time out of everyone which meant we were given pole position on the starting grid.

After a quick race briefing and the Celebrity Race, it was time for us to start.

Harry was our first driver and soon took our car out to the lead, followed closely by Albury High School. The sun stayed out and the race went on, and we managed to keep the lead for half an hour before having to make a quick pit stop to bend out the front panel (after it suffered severe damage) and also quickly change over the drive cog (the other one had worn down).

In this short break Albury High School managed to snatch the lead off us, but due to our Team's superb driving skills we managed to peg them back and take the lead once more.

We kept up our form throughout the whole hour, our only real threat was that of Albury High School, who were usually only three or so laps away. Then the hour bell rang and the race was over.

The solar car in action

During the hour we managed to complete 137 laps which placed us First overall! Second prize went to Albury High School who completed 134 laps and third was given to Billabong High School who were some 20 laps behind Albury High School.

Everyone was extremely happy with our result and, to add to this, we achieved the fastest lap time out of everyone - which was 18.25 seconds! It was a fantastic day and everyone who participated enjoyed it and learnt a lot.

I would recommend anyone who is thinking about getting involved in the Solar Car project to do so next year.

Special thanks to Henry Larsen (Year 9) for his video work on race day; Mr Mark Clifford for ordering and supplying parts when we needed them; Mr Jon Retford from Wilson Transformers for his organisation of the event; Mr Ben Nott, our mentor, for working with us to construct the solar car; Mr Raymond Bertazzo, for his support building our car and allowing us to experience working at Bertazzo Engineered; Mr Rob Fawcett, for helping us out with the wiring and the electrical components; Mr Edwards for his help, engine drive system and holder model, ideas and support; and we would especially like to thank Mr Turner for organising it all, helping us along, providing ideas, support, and enabling us to be able to participate in this wonderful program.

The team would also like to acknowledge the work of the 2007 and 2008 teams, who put in place the foundations for our success.

Grantley Ward (Year 9)
Solar Car Team Member