Thread: Electrathon - A Different Kind of "Hotrod"

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When we designed the car above, I put a student on a table with his legs sretched out straight and a board under his back. I propped the board up with books untill he could easily see over his toes. Then I started taking measurements. I did a similar process with the orange car, but I propped up the "driver's" knees with a bar to simulate the front axle under his knees and then propped up his back until he could easily see over them. In both cases I did a quick diagram with measurements. Then it was time to start building...

The next step is to acquire something to build with. Some of the well-healed teams in the Northeast use some pretty exotic materials in their builds like carbon fiber and Kevlar, but I'm on a budget here so we'll stay a bit more conventional. I made a trip to the local Lowe's and picked up some EMT conduit. I got four 10-foot pieces of 1/2 inch and two pieces of 3/4 inch. I also grabbed a roll of aluminum "kick panel" from the area where they have siding and porch screen stuff. The aluminum is .025" thick, 16 inches wide and 10 feet long. All together it was $45.