Event Year: 2025
Event Location: Cocoa-FL
Competition: Junior Solar Sprint
Division: 4-6 (JSS Green)
School: NSU University School
Team Name: The NSU Solar Sigmas
Project Name: Hot Rod
Team Size: 4

Hot Rod

Car Name: Hot Rod

Team Name: The NSU Solar Sigmas

School Name: NSU University School

Team Members Names: Robert D., Dylan F., Niko M., and Miron R.

Design Documentation

Top View without Solar Panel

Side View #1

Side View #2

Front View

Bottom View

Special Feature of Car – We chose a small gear for the motor and a bigger gear for the axle for speed.

Special Feature of Car – We made our car very light

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Project Log

Date	Hours	Tasks / Work Done	Obstacles Encountered	Modifications to Car
8/28	1	We drew our idea of what our solar car would look like. We started to gather materials.	Since it was our first time building a solar car, it wasn’t easy coming up with a building plan
9/4	1	Cut body, decided on white panel (lighter), chose wheels. We decorated the car body with markers.	Deciding on axels and wheels was hard since we weren’t sure what would be best.	cut car body and decorated the car
9/11	1	We picked out our gears and we drew out where the axels would go. We used a t-square so that they would be straight.	Looking for the right gears was difficult because we weren’t sure which gears would make the car fast.	drew the lines for the axels
9/18	1	We decided where the gears and motor will go.	placing our gears on the axels
9/25	1	Tested panels outside with a voltmeter to see how much voltage it made and which angle would be best. We put wheels and a gear on our back axle.	First time using a volt meter. It was hard to put on the gear and wheels with a hammer and not bend the axle.
10/2	1	Put on front wheels.		front wheels on
10/9	1	We started the electrical system and aerodynamics.
10/16	1	We put on our back wheels		back wheels on
10/23	1	We put on the motor, glued down the battery pack		motor and battery pack on
10/30	1	We put on the ball holder		ball holder on
11/6	1	We ran our solar car and it was very fast.
11/13	1	We started to set up the panel and ran car again.	Our front axel came loose
11/20	1	Put on legs that hold the panel and reglued the axle and wheels.		panel supports on
12/4	1	We put our solar panel on.		solar panel on
12/11	1	Made the car to not turn left, but now it is turning right.	It is hard to make the car turn
1/8	1	Made the car not turn right.
1/15	1	Worked on making it straight again.
1/22	1	We ran the car in the hall on the guide wire. It was turning so we heated the glue and tried to adjust the alignment of the axels.	Car was turning.
1/29	1	Ran the car in the hall.
2/5	1	Ran the car in the hall.	car is still turning.
2/12	1	Worked on making the wheels parallel.
2/26	1	Tried the car outside but it wouldn’t run. Ran the car in the hall.	Car not running well on solar panel.
3/12	1	Ran the car outside. It was our first time running it with the solar panel. It wasn’t going that fast so we made the decision to change the gear ratio. We changed the gear on the motor to a smaller gear. It was a good decision. It ran faster.	Eventhough it was running well in the hall, the car was running slowly on solar panel.	Changed to a smaller gear on the motor
3/15	2	Saturday. Ran the car outside. Worked on Web Page. Our teacher soldered our wires. Worked on Web Page.		wires soldered
3/19	1	Worked on Web Page.
3/29	1	Worked on the Web Page.
4/2	1	Worked on the Web Page. Ran the car outside. Our car is running fast but turning. We are having a hard time getting the wheels parallel. When it turns it rubs against the guideline and it slows it down. It is finishing but would be faster if it didn’t rub on the guide wire. On 4/9 we will put a piece of wood on both sides of the car for the number and reinforce everyplace that is attached with kid hot glue with adult hot glue.	It is difficult to get the car to go straight.

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Design Drawings

Design Drawing: Top View

Design Drawing: Side View

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Final Car Specifications

Car Size with Panel	Length: 28cm	Width: 14.5cm	Height: 8.5cm
Weight with Panel	216.74g
Wheel Size	Front wheels: 3.4cm	Back Wheels: 3.4cm
Gear Ratio	motor gear: axel gear small gear: big gear 12:64 3:16

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Materials Used

Item	Approx. Cost
New:
Pitsco Ray Catcher Solar Vehicle Kit	48.75
Pitsco Ray Catcher Solar Panel (3V)
Pitsco Motor (3V)
balsa wood for car body
spacers for bearings (4)
alligator clips (2)
battery pack with switch	1.40
solar made axles (2) and wheels (4)	8.19
piece of black binder comb to keep car on guide wire	0.15
pipe cleaner	0.02
Velcro	0.05
Consumables (these were available from our Innovation Lab):
duct tape
solder
markers
hot glue
masking tape
Recycled materials:
wood pieces
plastic cup

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Test Results / Trial Runs

Test Runs 1 – date: 1/22/25

Weather conditions: Ran inside in hall
Ran on panel or battery? ran car on battery

Observations of results: The first run it turned to the right and stopped. On the second run it rubbed on the guidewire but finished.

Any recommendations for improvements: We used a heat gun to move the front wheel to make the wheels parallel so it would go straight. It kind of worked but it is still turning.

Attempt	Time, s (seconds)	Distance, m (meters)	Speed, m/s
1	no finish	17
2	8.27	17	2.06

Test Runs 2 – date: 1/29/25

Weather conditions: Ran inside in hall
Ran on panel or battery? battery

Observations of results:

Any recommendations for improvements:

Attempt	Time, S (seconds)	Distance, M (meters)	Speed, M/S
1	8.75	17	1.94
2	8.6	17	1.98
3	7.3	17	2.33
4	8.3	17	2,05

Test Runs 3 – date: 2/5/25

Weather conditions: Ran inside in hall
Ran on panel or battery? battery

Observations of results:

Any recommendations for improvements:

Attempt	Time, S (seconds)	Distance, M (meters)	Speed, M/S
1	7.31	17	2.33
2	7.66	17	2.22
3	7.28	17	2.34

Test Runs 4 – date: 2/26/25

Weather conditions: Ran inside in hall
Ran on panel or battery? battery

Observations of results:

Any recommendations for improvements:

Attempt	Time, S (seconds)	Distance, M (meters)	Speed, M/S
1	7.06	17	2.41
2	7.47	17	2.28
3	6.90	17	2.46
4	7.5	17	2.27
5	7.72	17	2.20

Test Runs 5 – date: 3/12/25

Weather conditions: Excellent sun
Ran on panel or battery? ran on solar panel

Observations of results: The car was running slowly even though the sun was good.

Any recommendations for improvements: The car ran great in the hall, but not outside even though the sun was really strong. After our 3rd run we decided to change the gear on the motor to a smaller one. It ran a lot faster.

Attempt	Time, S (seconds)	Distance, M (meters)	Speed, M/S
1	7.81	7.2	0.92
2	7.65	7.2	0.94
3	no finish	7.2
4 with new gear	4.69	7.2	1.54

Test Runs 6 – date: 4/2/25

Weather conditions: Excellent sun
Ran on panel or battery? ran on solar panel

Observations of results: The car is running well but still turning. We got times without the guideline. With the guideline if wouldn’t have finished.

Any recommendations for improvements: We have to figure out what to do so that the wheels are parallel. We tried measuring them but that didn’t work. We may take them off next week and reglue them more carefully.

Attempt	Time, S (seconds)	Distance, M (meters)	Speed, M/S
1	6.88	18	2.62
2	6.14	18	2.93
3	6.13	18	2.94

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Video of Our Car Running

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Car Features Video

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Additional Information

Drawing of Our Original Car Idea

It sure looks different from the finished version! This was our first time doing making a solar car so we had no idea how to plan.

Electrical Schematic: This is our schematic of the electrical circuits. It is the same DC motor in both drawings.