We now have 11 days until we leave for Houston for the Shell Eco-marathon Americas competition. With the competition quickly approaching, our cars are coming together. Today we have checked off multiple things on our (what seemed to be) forever-long to-do list. With all of these tasks completed, the end is near in sight!
As mentioned in a previous post, we had issues with our windshield mold for HotRod. Our team solved this problem and successfully vacuum formed a new windshield. Today, we cut away the excess plastic from the vacuum formed windshield and now have a perfectly shaped windshield! We also completed the throttle and the kill switch for HotRod. Both of these are mechanical systems because we are running a diesel engine for HotRod. Last but not least, we completed body work and sent HotRod off to paint! One of our team members did a test coat of paint on the vehicle to not only test out the color, but to also find any last minor imperfections with the body work before the final prime and paint of the vehicle. We plan to fix all of the minor imperfections of the vehicle’s body tomorrow and send it off to paint for the final coat soon after.
Today has also been a very productive day for ThunderDawg. At the beginning of the day, we connected the bottom hatch, which houses the engine chassis and the front two wheels by using the same method of attaching the rear cone. We also installed the 5 point quick release harness into the body. Also, we mounted the front brakes and the gas tank. Things are definitely coming together for our ThunderDawg. Lastly, we are happy to announce that the steering for ThunderDawg is officially complete! We are so excited that we have accomplished this feat that we attempted for the first time this year.
We are very pleased with the steps we are making in our journey to Houston 2012. With just 11 days left, we are continuing to feverishly work around the clock to complete these cars. As the days until the SEMA competition get fewer and fewer, we are accomplishing more and more. We are so excited to see our cars truly taking shape in every aspect!
Go Further
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Environment
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History & Culture
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Science
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Travel
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