Bearing Grease vs. Oil

Our first year we didn't place high at races. In the middle of our second year we decided to change the grease out that was in our tires that allowed the bearings to spin with bearing oil. With research we determined that bearing oil would allow the bearings to move easier. We also discovered during cleaning out the grease that we had dirt and pieces of plastic from our rim that was keeping the bearings from spinning. We have seen improvments with this change. 

Tires

Tire size has made a difference this race season. At the beginning of the season, we raced with tires that came with our car when we first got it. During the racing season, we noticed other teams had changed tires to one that had a better grip and larger size. With asking the officials with Greenpower, we changed to the larger tire with better grip. We have seen some improvement in our race times.

Batteries

 Our team has discovered that the charge of the batteries, the pairing of batteries, and the type of battery can make a difference in the performance of the car. During one of our practices we paired our batteries up with different ones to see which pair would give us the best output. We also bought new batteries that are the orginal brand that is used in England where Greenpower started. We have noticed that they hold a better charge than our other batteries. 

Sponsors

The importance of sponsorship is huge. Funds that help you buy new tires, a additional car, parts, and travel cost are what helps keep our team going. Without our sponsors we wouldn't be able to maintain our car. In the picture above is our team with one of biggest sponsors, Ms. Kerin Thompson. Her company, PSC Indoor Golf, made it possible for us to have a pit stall at Talladega as well as provide us with radios so that we can communicate. 

Importance of a push

This racing season we have learned that even if your belt is perfectly lined up with your motor sprocket, a good start push is very important. The start push could make the difference between 1st and 5th place. Drive times are just that close with each team. A pusher needs to put strength behind the push to get the car going so that when the driver hits the start button the car will already be going at top speed. 

Weight of the Driver

As a team we would love to have everyone drive the car. However, we have learned that having a taller and heavier driver causes our car to slow down. Instead we have our smaller team members become our drivers to have less weight in the car so that our times will be faster. We work hard at all of our practices to train our drivers to be ready for the races. 

Placement of the start switch

The orginal placement of our starter switch kept getting hit with our teams knees when they would get in and out of the car. During one of our races the switch broke and the wiring had to be completely redone while at the race. If another team had not helped us out, we would have been out of the race for the day. We decided to place our switch to the side of the car and place the wires under the foam so that the wires wouldn't have a chance to be broken again. 

Teamwork

Nothing is more important than teamwork. We have learned that if we cut up and play around to much we don't finish items like presentations or practices. We need to all work together to get things acomplished. This is even more important at races. We like working together but also being there for other teams if they need us. It has really been helpful this season because other teams have helped us when we needed it.