Christmas break!

Well, the team has made it to Christmas break. We have the mobile command center well underway. And the body team has the chassis system design done. The reports are going to be submitted soon for the competitions. After break the push weeks will start as the new car needs to be built so that it is ready for the first competition at Shell in the spring.
-Sarah

Updates since Wes last posted

The team was able to fly to California to compete in Shell Eco Marthon. This was an awesome trip. The team was a lot smaller than normal because they only brought one car GL2. But they had an amazing time. We also had some ground breaking events such as GL2 having the new computer system onboard. This was coupled with some minor problems but it was a good preview of the how vital the computer system may become in future years.
- Sarah

Forever and a Day Ago...

At least that what it seems like since we've posted last. We are currently working on a new car which is exciting and time consuming all at the same time. Everyone knows how that goes. It'll look like our blue car that has the wheels on the outside but we've completly resdesigned the steering, chassis, and engine. Which means everything is different on the inside but still the same on the out.

Wes

It's over.

The Shell Eco-Marathon has come and gone and now we are stuck at school trying to catch up on all the work we missed. Overall it was a good experience for our team especially the younger sophomore members who have never been to a competition. The Cedarville Teams ended up placing 6th with Gold Lighting 3 (the red car) with 1,151.1 mpg and 7th with Slipstream (the blue car) with 1,056.3 mpg. We were the top combustion engine run cars without fuel injection. Which means...next year we are running with some fuel injection action. Our small school was able to beat out schools such as Rose Hulman, UCLA, LSU, Louisiana Tech University, and UC Berkeley. Here are some pictures from the last day of competition.

Wes





Team Picture

Evonne Showing Her Excitement for the Shell Eco

Nate and Dustin waiting at the Airport

Eco Day 2

Day 2 was our first day of "racing" here at the Shell Eco-Marathon. The day started early (4am) for some of us on the team due to a live TV interview with the Dayton ABC/FOX and NBC stations. After that we prepped our cars for the track and then took the group pictures with all the cars and shell volunteers. From there things kinda when downhill a bit...Right as the Gold Lightning car was about to head out we couldn't find the connector for the headset so we flipped our bay upside down trying to find it. Eventually we just resorted to using cell phones w/headsets. Once that problem was solved I drove onto the track only to have the canopy blow open on me due to the extremely high winds we had here. Fortunately there was no damage but UNfortunatly it meant back to the shop...To fix that problem we made a stronger latching system to withstand the high winds. Now, just before you think nothing else could possibly go wrong, it did. As we are rolling out to the track we blow our back tire. *sigh* Needless to say we were a bit frustrated at that point. Never the less we fixed all our problems (for the most part) and we were still able to put 3 good runs on the board and allow Mary some practice time.

Wes

Me getting in GL3 before the tire blew.

Driving (finally)

Talking to Dr. Z about race afterwards

Brandon driving Slipstream 2

Mary pulling in after her run in Gold Lightning 3

Walking back after the last run of the day

Team Photo