June 17 Team Meeting

Today’s meeting was shorter than yesterday’s, but still very productive. With Regents exams running until 12:15, the team got moving without a delay, showing up right at 12:30 and getting straight to work.

Backroads, Crouton, and Charles dove into troubleshooting the redundant braking system and found several leaks. One caliper was missing its internal seal, so the team replaced it, reinstalled it, and bled the system. The redundant brakes are working correctly now, though the team wants to double check them a couple more times to confirm there are no leaks and that performance holds up over time. This is going straight onto the morning and evening multi-point inspection checklist. The team also found a cross-threaded fitting leaking at one of the brake line T-junctions, replaced the fitting, ran a new brake line, and resolved that issue as well.

The highlight of the day came from Kieren’s team on the driver control system. They successfully 3D printed a steering wheel overlay that will house the driver display screen and hold the buttons for turn signals and driver data. The team was rightfully proud of this, and it’s a great example of the kind of integrated design work this car demands.

The team also took a hard look at the solar array mounts. The original triangular mounts weren’t structurally sound, so they were redesigned as trapezoids, which test out at the correct size and height. This shifts the array’s pivot point slightly to the right side of the car, giving the team a much wider range of motion when adjusting the array’s angle to optimize charging throughout the day.

Meanwhile, Nathuli, Winnie, Nina, and Mr. Smolka sat down to talk through the overall shape of the car: driver’s door placement, ingress and egress, fire escape protocols, and how the body panels and doors will be attached. It was a productive conversation, and the takeaway is clear: safety comes first, followed by aerodynamics and drag reduction, in every design decision from here on out.

Winnie, Nina, and Nathuli also spent time on the blog and website, including building out a new team member application. Interest in the program keeps growing, and the team is now in the position of having more interested students than there are spots available.

The biggest win of the day was getting a complete dry fit of the array on top of the frame. The team took photos with a driver seated in the car and ran emergency exit drills to see how quickly someone could get out if needed. There are still a lot of small pieces that need to come together, but these long work sessions are making a real dent in the build. The deadline is next Friday, and the team is on track to make it. The next big hurdle is getting the array glued and soldered together.

What stood out most today was seeing every team member working on something productive, and watching several of them step outside their comfort zones to take on tasks they don’t usually gravitate toward.