Here they are.

1st place - Scorpion



3rd place - Lean Green Speed Machine



Here are also the 2009 Vic time trial results. This spreadsheet also has car panel and weight information.



miseli

miseli wrote:Yes, congratulations nader.

It's a remarkable achievement for a primary school to beat the older students from some of the much more fancied High schools and Colleges. Well done.

I have seen some photos of both Syndal South cars and I think you have done a good job with them. In fact, I will load up the scrutineering pics that I have.

miseli

With the help of Ian Gardner, any school can win.

I know.

You still have to give the students credit for where it is due though.

Hi all

These are some really basic designs but being able to get everything perfect is a challenge! Well done and congratulations on your exceptionally performance at the Vic competition! Your school has an upper hand compared to other states as you know the weather conditions. From what I've heard W.A might hold the nationals next year! So watch out!

Nader can I assume those wheels are nylon? How did you get you hands on nylon wheels our did someone help turn the wheels up. I wouldn't expect a primary school students using lathes or more fancier equipments such as lasers. But if you did turn it up yourselves, may I congratulate on a wonderful job you have done. From personal experience wheels can take up to 1 hr each if you have poor maintained machinery at your school!

Tony, I was wondering if your going to bring some easymax 3 maximiser's down the Melbourne. If so, I might get my hands on one to do some testing. That is if you don't mind. Girrawheen has 3 of engelec maximizer! But after reading some posts, I don't know if they are the best in the market at the moment. I know John is bringing some of his maximisers down! So i would greatly appreciate it if you did. Whats the price range for these maximiser?

The wheels used on most VIC cars com from RI Gear, and they dont turn them down themselves.. Link Here.

I will bring a couple of maximisers down with me, but as ive mentioned in previous posts, the difference between the max4 and the easymax is negligable.

I initially developed the easymax unit for the NSW teams as it was easier to use, and i got frustrated of teaching people how to use the other unit. If you want one, they can be purchased here: http://solarmppt.com/product_info.php/c ... ucts_id/28

Johns maximiser works really good, and i doubt you will see much difference at all between the units.

Thanks, Tony!
I know the ins and outs with John's Max4 so I'll stick with it! I'll be publishing most of these details in my article after the nationals!

Everything is so easy these days. Everything can be bought. Next thing you know it, a company will have the build your Solar Model Car Challenge Kit.(basic 4 wheel drive) Carbon fibre axles cut and drilled, foam kit - for the body, Plastic kit - cabin windscreen, wheels, bearing, nuts and bots, switches, wires etc... Don't forget the maximizer, motor and heart of it all- the panel!

My wheels are not 100% accurate. Do you reckon theirs are? If so, I'll tell everyone just to buy theirs!
Yes I noticed, the wheels didn't have holes in them. They have been made by pressure holding them. I tried that method! The wheels were alright however the center hole tapered in due to the heat and not due to the machining.

A lot of the teams are using those wheels. Not only Victorian cars but also cars in NSW.

Wheels aren't the only thing that they sell either. They also sell guide rollers, bearings, gears and other things.

Yes, the national event could very well be heading over to WA next year. There has been some interest from your committee and I think a preliminary bid was made. I think it will depend on funding. If it doesn't go to WA, the other most logical place would probably be a return to UNSW.

I've got a good feeling, that W.A. will do everything in its power to bring it to Perth next year! The Western Power competition is always a success and generous with their gifts!Trophy's for the top four schools and framed certificates! Prizes for best poster and fastest qualify, best team work, etc. $500 first place, and $250 fastest qualify. Although I would have to say the NSW's competition is well funded than W.A.; handing out money to top 4 places and other little prizes. Girrawheen actually won all the prize money this year, along with a hydrogen cell car for fastest qualifier and a really nice plasma ball for best poster! Most of these are donated to the competition, I think?

Marc? Are we suppose to fill in the registration forms and hand it in to the organizers, with car names and team members names? Do the organizers just know number of cars from each state and which school they belong too? Or do they know all the details!

I've almost got Shadow finished! Just a few more wiring and selecting of the panel! After that, I'll post some images up. Its one hell of a car. The question is, whether is fast or not! I spent an extra 2-3 hours trying to fix up the design fault! It worked! I just hope it doesn't break during the competition due to the force applied on the thin parts! I've pushed my luck with this design, especially trying to cut a lot of weigh so it will be the lightest car in the national competition. Horizon 2 was the lightest car last year (finishes 15th due to fault solar panel on the first day lending to incorrect draws on the second day)! I hope we can hold the record for lightest car. So far its only 1-2 grams lighter! But as seen in the VIC competition a few hundred grams doesn't change a lot if full sunlight!

Yes, I believe Western Power do a really good job over there with the WA event and I don't see why the same couldn't be done with the national event.
I guess we'll see.
If things end up falling through with WA and NSW are unable to host, you may very well find yourselves coming back to Tasmania.

jhg, you must fill in the registration forms and send them to the organisers. I received the entry list to date from one national committee members yesterday and there are still a number of outstanding entries that they are waiting on. They have not yet received any WA entries yet. I'm not sure how exactly your state's system is working this year, but last year your WA coordinator collected them from you guys and then they sent them to us all in one go. You might have to send your registrations straight to the event organisers this time around. I don't know.
One of the organisers has just sent, or will be sending out, an email to all state coordinators asking them to chase up schools that haven't yet entered.

miseli

Will the entry list be published prior to the event?

How many cars do you have at the moment? I read somwhere (earlier in this thread I think) that more than 32 teams may be entered but only the fastest 32 qualifiers go through to the next day (just like at a state event) is this true??

Cheers

I will see what can be done about getting the entry list published. The list is still very incomplete so I won't stick something up quite yet. I'll give it another week or so. Once all entries have been received I don't see why something couldn't be released before the event.

At the moment only about 20 official entries have been received. The expected number will be around 30. To make up the 32 for the event, it is likely that there will be 2 or 3 on-the-day wildcards issued.

These will be handed out to any spare cars that are present on the first day of the event. These spare cars may come from any schools already in the competition that have brought a spare along or to Vic schools that have turned up on the day on the off chance of being given entry.

If the number of spare cars is greater than the number of available positions, a race-off of some sort will be required. This will take place before the event begins. A few other factors like how many cars a particular school or state already has in the competition may also influence the decision of who is given a wildcard.

miseli

Yes Finished!
Am I the first to return the registration form from Western Australia? I went to school today and heard that we needed to send off the form. I actually saw the form a week ago. So I was expecting it to be done but wasn't sure if Western Power had sent them off for us! Sorry about the Western Australian delay. This year their has been a change in the Western Power coordinator. Thuy's new to it all, I think. But shes getting there.

Redlands! I couldn't imagine that the top 32 cars were given to the fastest cars out of the lot (For example 40). It would be a total upset. Especially if your school paid for the students to go and they got declined a spot due to them not being faster than all the other cars!I'm sure by the time most of the official entries have been submitted there will only be 1 or 2 unfilled. I'm sure these the VIC will take these spots! They have some really fast cars!

Yes jhg, you are the first. Well it's the first entry from WA that I've received anyway. Paul may have received a few others in the last day or so.

Just to reiterate, those entries that have officially been invited and registered are definitely in the competition. Only those last 2 or 3 positions that still need to be filled (if there are any) may require a race-off.
Feel free to bring along a spare car. We are still expecting 3 or so entries from Taiwan, but if that happens to fall through for some reason there could end up being 4 or so positions open.

miseli

We will definitely bring three cars along. Just in case one of them breaks or something or there's an extra positions to fill? 4 panels etc, heaps of repair equipment. I can't remember how many times my connections broke at the state competition this year! Too many to count! I used last years connection which were a bit dodgy. With my new car, it has new wiring, including a replacement of the maximizer wires.

Never or less, all three cars are fast and at 100% sunlight can record times in mid 16 secs. Well that's my prediction from the Western Power competition. I'm hoping to get a time in the high 15's if the weather permits. As you said, It's pointless (not worth while - just setting yourself for an upset due to regulations) as one car from each school can only be in the top 4. I suppose if you can get 3 spots in the nationals your doing something right. If all three cars from your school are in the top 8 of seeding then your almost guaranteed a spot in the top 4. That's what we plan to do! Although we already have two official entries, it would be quite funny to see who fights over the extra positions! We will!Just to increase the competition for wild card entries. "Competition within a Competition!"

If the coordinators allow us to enter a third car, I can't guarantee it will be the slowest of three cars. It could be the fastest car out of them all! Who knows? I certainly don't! =[

The trial and race times for the NSW event are out:
http://www.science.unsw.edu.au/sunsprin ... race-times

Marc can you please bring our poster from last years nationals to Melbourne?
I was also wondering if you would know who would have the lost/ left behind stuff from last years national competition. We actually left a really good soldering iron which we need if possible...

Yes jhg, I think I should be able to bring along your last year's poster.

I can't say there will be much of a chance in you getting back your soldering iron however. Apart from a number of posters, there was not really a great deal of stuff left behind by teams last year. It is likely that another team may have picked it up instead. If that was the case, it could be anywhere.

miseli

Thanks Marc, the iron wasn't mine so, I'm not really fussed. The person it belongs to doesn't remember that we borrowed it for the nationals last year. I plan to keep it that way.

While at work, I had an ingenious idea about measuring speed. Instead of using a radar gun, if you have access to a wireless camera and small and light GPS unit (ballast), then you could film the speed thought out the race. The measurements recorded by a GPS is almost 100% accurate!

I've just had a quick look on the net and it might just be worth getting a GPS data logger instead.

They are accurate but they usually have a delay, and the car needs to travel at top speed for a minimum of 12 meters before the gps even pick up the speed.