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Race to Colorado ends before beginning, wheel fails
By Jim Kilpatrick, jkilpatrickacnpapers.com
The Coppell Solar Car Racing Team unveiled its car, Aurora, on June 1 with high hopes of competing in the Hunt-Winston School Solar Car Challenge in July. The race was to take them from the Texas Motor Speedway to Golden, Colo.
Only days before the race was to begin, the Aurora suffered a tire blowout, ending all hopes of competing.
“We believe that the blowout suffered by the team was caused by the weight of the car,” said Michael Yakubovsky, head of the engineering department at Coppell High School. “The wheels should have held up with the weight of the car, but they didn’t.”
They worked over the weekend and found tires and brakes to replace the failed parts; however, the brakes would not fit the new tires. There was also a need for several pieces that needed machining.
“Since we do not have our own equipment, we had to find a shop to take on the job,” Yakubovsky said. “One place thought they could get the parts done overnight and back to us by Tuesday morning [of the race week].”
This would have allowed the race team take the car to Amarillo and re-enter the race by Thursday, according to Yakubovsky.
“However, by the time the new parts were fitted onto the car, it was too late to get back into the race,” Yakubovsky said. “In spite of all of the setbacks, the students never gave up. They worked long hours all week to get the car back up and running. Even when it was evident that they could not re-enter the race, they still worked to get the car finished and running.”
Yakubovsky was proud of his team.
“We constantly hear how people have a lack of work ethic and always look for easy solutions. These students are nothing like that,” Yakubovsky said. “I am proud to be a part of their team. They never gave up, never quit trying, and finished what they set out to accomplish.”
Currently, the team is working on improving the car and cutting weight from it. Plans are to have the car running during the year in parades and at other school activities.
“We worked really hard this year,” said team member Raj Panesar. “We’ve gotten a lot of results, and even though we didn’t get where we wanted, we have something to look forward to next year.”
“Next summer, the team will run at the 2011 Hunt-Winston School Solar Car Challenge at Texas Motor Speedway,” Yakubovsky said.
Saagar Patel is proud of the team’s efforts and is also looking ahead.
“Even though we didn’t make it to the race, we put in a lot of effort, and learned a lot about how to build a car,” Patel said. “I’m looking for
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