Australian International Model Solar Challenge 2019
On the 30 November to 1 December three teams from John Forrest Secondary College (Fulcrum – Year 12, Helios – Year 9, and Irrational Paper Gazelles- Year 7) competed in the Australian International Model Solar Challenge in Hobart. The teams arrived at the competition site at the University of Tasmania to a bright sunny Hobart day. There were more than 30 teams from all over Australia competing and 5 teams from Taiwan. The teams were very competitive with lots of the cars doing very fast times during early practice.
As racing started the conditions became more challenging as the weather began to vary widely (rain, hail, sunshine we had it all). This affects racing because the amount of sunlight affects the amount of power available to the cars, and hence students need to pick the correct gear to match the conditions. The competition starts with a round robin to rank the teams. Following the round robin all three John Forrest cars were ranked in the top 16.
Just prior to the elimination rounds however tragedy struck with the Fulcrum car coming off the track during the final practice session and breaking a wheel. Although it was repaired in time to race it was never quite the same and was eliminated early as was Irrational Paper Gazelles. Helios made it through to the quarter finals but was eliminated by the team that eventually finished second.
So in the end Box Hill Senior Secondary College took out the Race, while a team from Er Xin High School in Taiwan took out the overall competition. The Year 12 team, Fulcrum, won an award for the best engineering knowledge based on a questionnaire conducted during the race, and also received an honourable mention for the quality of their video.
The John Forrest Secondary College Engineering Club would like to thank our Major contributors – Bayswater and Noranda Community Bank branches which help fund the trip to Hobart and the contributions and support we received from City Rotary and Routers Australia for helping to finance and build our cars, Woolworths Morley for assisting in fund raising.
