Ideas for Co-developments between teams

Aero Dynamics Tests

Could look at using a wind tunnel to try out Aero Dynamic ideas. More info on WindTunnels.
Could get some Aero Dynamic virtual wind tunnel software to try out ideas. I have seen some software for schools, it costs £250.00 see WindTunnels. This software will take the output of the schools computers CAD package and run the boys model in a virtual windtunel.
Create our own simple wind tunnel for models. More info on WindTunnels.

Develop Simple Car Simulation program

This could be a simple web based program that would allow team members to play with things like pit-stop times, aerodynamic factors, gearing etc and see what difference they make.

Could be web based
Could keep a list of all Users and what performance figures they achieved.
Boys could play with different settings

(I will have a go at this TerryBarnaby)

I have done some initial work on this and put the current info on the GreenSim page.

We could get the boys to workout the actual AirDragCoefficient and RollingDragCoeficients for the cars. Some possible ways to do this:

RollingDragCoeficient

We could use a simple force measurement device (spring guage) and find out the force need to move the car on a level ground. Probably carry out a number of measurements in opposite directions on tarmac. We would need to know the weight of the car (bathroom scales ?).
We could do the above with someone with known weight in the car.
The RollingDragCoeficient should then be: RollingDragCoeficient = Force / (Mass * 9.8).
The actual calculated values for the RotaryRacer are on the page RotaryRacerPerformance.

AirDragCoefficient

We could get a reasonable measurement by measuring the motor current at a few different car speeds. We would need a speed sensor (Bicycle computer ?) and an ampmeter. We would need to take the car to a track long enough to get to full speed. Ideally we would need to run the car at different speeds, a motor speed controller would be usefull here ! Maybe runing the motor with 24Volts and then 12Volts would be enough ...

Car Computer

Develop a simple car computor to measue and display car information. Mainly used to calculate battery condition and current drain. This could be adaptable so the teams could use some common components and implement the systems as they would like for their own cars.