Teams

Elkhorn High School

Monthly Reports

January Progress Report - Car E01 - The Desert Patriot
There have been many challenges while we’ve been making our car. One of those challenges had to deal with all the pink foam while getting the shape of the front and sides of the car. It proved to be quite a job to clean up after we had finished for the day because there was foam EVERYWHERE. Aside from cleanup and trying to figure out a plan for the car itself, there haven’t been too many problems.

To date we’ve gotten pretty far with progress on the car. We have the molding for the wheels done and cut out, and currently we’re finishing the molding for the front of the car. We use the wire cutter to cut the foam into the shape that we want to fit our design for the car. Once that’s done we plan to use fiber glass to cover the foam as a light but protective covering. These are a few things we’ve accomplished so far.

There was some dispute about the [theme] name of the car between Desert Rat and The Patriot. These two names were talked about for a long time. We weren’t able to come to an agreement so Mr. Vinopal suggested calling it Desert Patriot. We all agree on this name and we don’t plan on changing it anymore.

The car is ready for the final cuts on the body. The foam will be cut with the wire cutter and then we will begin the next step in finishing our car. All of the measurements are done and we are close to running our car for the first time.

February Progress Report - Car E01 - The Desert Patriot
Our E01 Desert Patriot car has had many changes since January. First of all, we decided to switch from fiberglass to sheet metal for our body panels. We got a lot out of the experience of working with the fiberglass, but we just decided that it would be better if we stuck to the sheet metal this year. We plan to work with the fiberglass next year or the following year.

The other thing that we have worked on is our new rack-and-pinion steering. We ended up changing it from being underneath our legs, to a cross member above our legs. Along with that we have riveted the metal along the bottom so there aren’t any more giant gaps besides the one on the very front around the cowling. Our group enjoys working with each other, especially when we get to enjoy an occasional pop break. We continue to work hard to make our car race and winning- ready.

March Progress Report - Car E01 - The Desert Patriot
We test drove our car last Wednesday and a number a problems broke out. A person who shall remain nameless forgot to tighten the wheel back up after we changed our gear to a bigger one. The chain broke at the master link because of the loose wheel. Live and learn. We have finished our cowling completely, and we extended the bottom of the cowling to cover the bottom of the frame.

We have also finished installing our rack and pinion steering system too. Mike Jones also made a custom steering wheel out of scrap steel tubing that was lying around the shop. We still have to finish the clear canopy that protects the driver. We also have some work left to do with the body, but for the most part it’s complete. The paint and other things still need to be finished but we are on track for our first rally and we’re working on it.

April Progress Report - Car E01 - The Desert Patriot
This last April was a pretty busy for our team. When the first couple of races at Hastings and Lincoln got closer, we were worried whether our car would be ready on time. Thanks to our dutiful crew, we managed to get our newly nicknamed “ghetto-mobile” on the track. Unfortunately, our car only made three laps around Hastings Raceway, while losing its chain twice. Thankfully, the next day, we made up for it with our victorious first place at Lincoln Airway. With this kind of luck (skill?), things seem to be looking up for out crew!

We had been having trouble getting the rear cowling on and off quickly. We redesigned the cowling mounting points to make for an easier replacement. Also, we added metal framing to our canopy that will five it better support, and make it harder for the wind to steal. We’re looking forward to our next rally.

January Progress Report -Car A51 - Weathermaker
This month the Elkhorn A51 Weathermaker has completed a bunch. First, we started out by fixing some wiring problems from the previous year. Then the A51 crew focused there attention to making the car more aerodynamic by working with fiberglass. We made new side panels and fixed the front end with the fiberglass plus the back cowling had a gap in-between the sheet metal and the fiberglass body, which now is gone because we put some fiberglass over the gap. We also got a semi-new rack and pinion system which we got from our partners in crime the E01 [Desert] Patriots. We also changed our angle of the axel to raise the front end so it wouldn’t keep scraping on the ground when we came from an incline. And finally, before I get to what we haven’t completed yet, we are replacing the set screws in the back cowling for pins that we can put cotter pins in. For the future, we are planning on making a new brake light mount, some bondo to make the car nice and smooth then, we paint!

The design is pretty much the same from last year. The frame is still the square tubing and the body is the main difference. The fiberglass was one of the ingredients to making a better aerodynamic car otherwise there’s no difference in the design. Some challenges we had was that we didn’t have a person who knew how to weld so we have had to recruit. Another problem we had was the lack of people, which does hinder the amount of work that can be completed in one meeting.

February Progress Report -Car A51 – Weathermaker
A51 Weather Maker has had many accomplishments since our last update. Our car has under changes like the back cowling and the side panels. Our crew has worked hard to get the car finished. Next we are planning on getting the wiring done because last year we had a little “wire fire”, and we don’t want to repeat that this year. The last important maintenance item is our car’s paint, because last year our car was like a piece of gray paper with some writing on it.

Now for the details of what we have done this month. For the back cowling, we have fiberglassed it to get it smooth and then we filled it with Bondo. We are now sanding the back to get it real smooth. The other thing was the side panels. We decided that we didn’t like the way a piece of Lexan worked, so we sized the panel to the right size and cut it out. In the end, we have gotten our panels done and we are sanding the rear cowling to get it really smooth. We plan to move on to paint preparation soon.

March Progress Report - Car A51 - Weathermaker
This month our crew rewired our car that included a new stationary brake light and amp meter. We had trouble with wiring the volt/amp meter but we finally figured it out. We are also about ready to paint. We also have just put our new fiberglass side panels on. We just have a little bit more sanding and bondo to do, and the car should be ready for its awesome paint job.

We’ve also been having some electrical problems. We went to test drive the car and the first lap the driver got a “hot seat”. This was caused by our seat touching the battery posts and sparked. So we riveted a plastic board to the back of our seat where it was grounding to the battery, and we made sure our battery post covers were installed correctly. We also changed the rear wheel because we found that the axel was bent. But the car is evolving into a monster, and we can’t wait to see our hard work out on the track.

April Progress Report - Car A51 - Weathermaker
April was a month for testing, finding problems, and fixing problems with our car. We changed the front axle because it got bent at one of our rallies. Our crew is working well with the help of our leaders. Our car finally was painted our car and all of our hard work in paint preparation really shines in the results. More rallies to come this month to get ready for State.

January Progress Report - Car A01 - Night Rider
We have progressed greatly in the past couple months. We have made some radical changes with our car. The first changes you will be able to see is two new role cage bars that start from our shoulder and extend all the way to are feet. This will protect are shoulders and knees if a rollover occurs. We have covered the bars with eighth-inch sheet metal. The bars will make the car more rounded shape, and making it more aerodynamic. Another benefit this does is it shrinks our canopy, and now we have a new smaller one. Pit stops and driver changes should be faster. The second major fabrication is our back cowling. It is from an earlier car from three years ago. But with some fabrication we bent and tweaked it to fit smoothly on our car. This year we are trying to stay light, and with the help of a smaller canopy, we built a new head plate that rests right above the driver’s head. This new head plate is ten times lighter then our last one, since it is built out of fiber glass rather then metal and bondo.

Some small challenges we had to over come was are new side panels along the new frame. With some help from our coaches, we were able to bondo and sand the new side panels to a smooth surface that is now ready for painting.Our rear axle mounts have been replaced, and we managed to weld it right on the second try. The car will be capable of test laps soon. Talking about paint, we have decided to have a 2 toned color. It will start out black in the front and transform to red in the rear.

February Progress Report - Car A01 - Night Rider
We accomplished a lot this month on A05 Night Rider. We started to design our side windows for the car. We measured out the area and traced it on some tar paper. We took the form and put it on a sheet of lexan and traced that. We used our new hydraulic sheers to cut the lexan. It came out nice. We added ears to the lexan so the side would lay flush to the framing. We then sanded it for better looks and texture. We then began to drill it and rivet it to the car. We made it bend out a bit with the car for better aerodynamics so it makes a tear drop design.

We rolled our car during a summer rally last year and one result from it was we burnt out the brake wire. We went through our line and removed the faulty wire. We pulled out enough new wire and began our work. We rewired the brake lights to a quick removal plug. Then to the matching plug we did the same. We soldered the wired to a fuse, from that we sent it to the controller. We tested it and it didn’t work so we went through and looked at it thoroughly and realized we put it on the wrong end of the controller. We then switched it to the right side, and tested it again successfully. It’s always an adventure on the A05 crew!

March Progress Report - Car A01 - Night Rider
This has been an exciting month. We were featured on Channel Six news with their “High School Cribs” segments where our students talked about our high school and we had a chance to discuss our Power Drive club. It was fun to drive for the camera.

We finished fitting our canopy and are ready to put it on. Mr. V. got us a new rear wheel and sprocket. The sprocket is made for a go-cart, so it fits tighter and is stronger than our last one. We put in new brake lines but a have yet to make adjustments in testing when it is finished. The car has been primed and almost ready for paint. We do the finish sanding next. Also, we repainted the steering wheel nice and black. Next to do is battery testing.

April Progress Report - Car A05 - Night Rider
This last month we built our canopy and fitted it with Velcro. We then added mirrors to the sides and painted it in our Night Rider theme. It is red with fading to black. We fixed our wiring, and now our brake light works fine. We finished our car with numbers, school letters, and Power Drive decals.