Design and CAD
Body shape, frame layout, suspension, and the drawings everything else is built from.
About
A first-year team at Westwood High School.
Westwood Solar Car is run by students. We design the car, build it, raise the money for it, and drive it. This is our first year entering the Solar Car Challenge.
Why we are doing this
A school engineering class usually stops at the drawing. This does not. Someone has to pick the parts, order them, find out they do not fit, and fix it. That gap between a design that looks right and a car that passes inspection is the whole point.
Nobody on the team had built a car before this year. We are learning CAD, wiring, composites, and budgeting by getting them wrong first, which is slower than reading about them and works considerably better.
How the team is organised
Electrical
Solar array, battery pack, wiring, and the safety systems the rules require.
Build
Fabrication and assembly. Turning the drawings into a car that actually exists.
Finance and operations
Fundraising, sponsorship, budgeting, and getting the team and the car to the event.
The competition
The Solar Car Challenge is a national event for high school teams. Before a car is allowed to run it has to pass scrutineering, a detailed electrical and mechanical safety inspection. Teams that pass then race for several days, either on a closed track or on a cross-country route, and are scored on the distance they cover.
Track years have been held at Texas Motor Speedway. As a first-year team our goal is to build a car that passes inspection and finishes, not to win it.