Hey all, the UK Solar Car team has been hard at work through Fall 2009 and the start of the new year. Currently we are having a camp to work on the new car before school starts. We are meeting at the solar car garage which is located here from 10AM to 6PM every day this week (Tuesday, Jan. 4 to Friday, Jan. 8). Anyone, including the public is welcome to come by and help.

Mechanical Systems
We are currently working on the top shell and chassis. Our top shell will be constructed out of carbon fiber with a Nomex core. Updates have been online, but through the fall, we made a female mold with the help of the fine people at Advanced Pattern Works. Next, we covered the mold with fiberglass for the surface that will shape the car. Then to support the mold Epiphany Foam generously donated a spraying of their closed cell foam on the underside of the fiberglass. As you see in our photos, we flipped the mold over and chipped away the foam to reveal our mold surface. In the next two days, we hope to lay out carbon fiber donated by A&P Technology, epoxy it, and put the Nomex core in. In addition to all this, we are preparing to start this whole process over again for the bottom half of the car.

Work is proceeding well on the chassis. We are currently cutting, notching, and jigging aluminum tubing donated by Hydro Aluminum. The jigged chassis will then be transported to Hydro in Sydney, OH for TIG welding.

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Electrical Systems
We are nearing completion of the design for the solar array, battery protection system, and charge balancing system. Thank you to Suncat Solar for accepting our ATJ cells for encapsulation. We are excited to we working with this new vendor for the construction of our new quality array. Thanks to BearCreekResearch and Don Hall for coordination in support of our battery pack donation and design. Through their efforts, we are now accepting donations to support the purchase of discounted cells from Kokam Batteries. The newer members of the electrical team on working to perfect our driver interface and tail/head lights. This will include showy LEDs and a new LCD HUD.