Infinite Solar Car Challenge
Our Carey Harrisdale Year 10 STEM class recently had the amazing opportunity to compete in The Infinite Solar Car Challenge at UWA.
The competition demonstrates the use of everyday resources and encourages innovation without the implications of a large financial cost.
The students were required to design, build and race a solar-powered model car, created from a 3D printer. This project was created over six weeks, with each piece needing to be individually printed, taking 60 hours to print in total!
The solar-powered cars raced around an infinite figure-8 track in order to determine the fastest-engineered car. Students were also required to submit a video presentation documenting the team, renewable energy, design phase, build phase and testing.
A variety of both public and private schools competed in the competition, and incredibly our Carey Harrisdale students were awarded 2nd place out of 41 teams!
The students involved in the competition said that they found the process to be fun and a new experience. They learnt about gear ratios, circuiting, connecting solar panels and aerodynamics. They also really enjoyed experiencing UWA for the first time.
The top four teams were invited to represent Western Australia at the Australia International Solar Model Car Challenge in Hobart.
Congratulations Mr Peter van Dam and Year 10 students on an outstanding achievement.
