In our attempts to shave off every pound possible from the current car, we have been looking into using carbon fiber tubing to replace various existing components on the car. Although the exact locations where we would be using the CF tubes is not yet finalized, we ordered in a few samples of different textures of the tubing... and I've gotta say, the samples look pretty awesome.
We also recently purchased our new race harness. For the next race, we will be switching from a 6-point to a 5-point harness; a decision that was made for various reasons, including the necessity for the driver to be able to not only egress out of, but also ingress into the car in a specified amount of time. Although as stated by race regulations, we could get away with a 3-point harness, we believe that a race car, such as the one we've built, deserves to be a treated as such, which warrants nothing less than a 5-point harness in our opinions.
Our latest Saturday workday was also very busy once again. The new array stand design is almost completely finished, design of our new rims is well under way, and the ribbing system we will be using to strengthen our car has also almost been finalized. Even one of our business team members (Brigitte) got involved in our activities early in the morning, as she had a sudden urge to remove a capscrew from our steering column pillar mount during a break from a business meeting.
Here's a picture of three of our newest mechanical members working on a the ribs for the top shell. (Left to right; Matt, Mark, and Chris - is Chris crying?). The first occasion of many where they will use their body weight to hold something down while 5-minute epoxy cures, I'm sure.
And obviously I can't end this post without some mention of the hockey that's been going on at the shop. For the time being the electrical team has given up on playing with us, and the business team has never played period... but inter-mechanical team match-ups are still a fun way to wrap up a busy day, and we're definitely creating quite the collection of hockey sticks at the shop... we've even dedicated a shelf just for the sticks.
With that many sticks available for use... an epic clash between the mechanical and electrical team is bound to happen soon.
Anyways, that's it for now... talk to you soon.
John Fernando
Mechanical Engineering Manager
