Friday, April 30, 2010

Bancroft-Rosalie April Monthly Report

The month of April was a very busy time for the Bancroft-Rosalie Power Drive team. The month started out with the Big Red Invitational race held on April 11th. Bancroft-Rosalie’s E31 car placed second at this race. The next race was at Columbus. We placed 3rd in this race with both our A21 and E31 cars. Our next race was the Cuming County Open which was hosted by the Bancroft-Rosalie Power Drive team. We needed to make sure that everything was set up for the race and also that the food was ready for the concessions. Unfortunately, we didn’t do as well as we had hoped. We wrecked both of our cars and were only able to get the A21 car back out on the track to finish the race.

After racing at the Big Red Invitational, we had a few minor things to fix on the A21 car. Due to the severity of the crash, we have regrettably decided that we will no longer be racing the E31 car. Instead, we have moved our focus to completing the S20 car that was started at the beginning of the year. We hope to have this car completed by Wayne State College Spring Rally; which is in two days on April 24th. We have been working into all hours of the night, trying to finish in time and are pretty close to being finished.

The Documentation Squad also had to finish the documentation books for the A21 and S20 cars. These books are a very crucial part of winning the State Championship and this year the winning book gets a brand new tool box for their school. This year, our themes for the books were “Go Green” and “Racing with the Stars”. We also tried a new way of presenting our books. Instead of printing out every page and putting it in a book, we have put them in a PDF layout. Not only is this more environmentally friendly, it is also a lot easier and less time consuming. We hope to do very well with our documentation this year.

We would like to give a special thanks to everyone that helped at the Cuming County Open. Without their help, the race would not have been possible. Our next Power Drive rally is this Saturday, April 24th at Wayne State College. We are hoping to race both our A21 and our S20 cars at this race. The team will be working hard to finish the S-20 car.

Rainy Days

The Power Drive race in Wayne last Saturday was canceled due to the weather. We were disappointed but didn’t lose hope because it gave us a chance to finish up the new car. The team has been working hard all week and its showing with the results of the car. As of yesterday the canopy has been completed and the car is now ready to paint. Documentation is finished and the video turned out great. The video is located on the top right of the website. Trust me you will enjoy it.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Ready to Race!!!!


This past weekend the team had 2 races. The first race was the Alternative Fuel Odyssey held in Columbus and the teams did well with the E31 finishing 3rd and the A21 placing 3rd. It was a great race with a lot of good competition. The Cumming County Open was held in West Point on Saturday the 17th. We were not as successful this race. The A21 car was wrecked in the 12 lap but was able to get back on the track and finish the race. The E31 car was not as lucky as it wrecked during lap 16 and was not able to return to the race. The E31 is currently retired until further notice. But all hope isn’t lost. This week the team has been working extremely hard to get the S20 car done and it’s paying off. With a few minor fixes the new car is ready to race and hopefully its first outing will be in Wayne on May 1st. Documentation has also been completed and has been sent in.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

The Season has Finally Begun

Racing season has finally begun! The spring season has begun and our first stop was Lincoln. This past week the team raced at the Big Red Invitational held at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Tractor Testing Track. “It’s one of the nicest tracks we will race at this year and the people at the facility did a great job getting the track ready and running the event.” said instructor Rob Smith. The E31 was driven by E. Browning and R. Mohl. The A21 car drivers were J. Hennig and D. Wortman. Both cars ran well but both came up short with the E31 finishing 2nd in the Exhibition class and the A21 finishing 5th in the Advanced class.  Even though the team did well we are looking forward to doing better in the next race.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Documentation

The documentation part of our cars has begun. Documentation is a huge part in our success at the state race because it counts for a majority of our points. It has helped us to state titles in previous years. The welding is completely finished on the new car. We welded gussets in the joints that we feel need to be stronger. The steering has also been completed and we are now planning on installing the electrical.

Monday, April 5, 2010

Welding in Progress

The Power Drive car is currently being welded on. The welding is almost finished besides a few complicated welds. The team is also testing batteries. This is to make sure we use the batteries that run the longest and are the most efficient on race day. Steering is also being worked on in the new car. We are using a new steering system in the new car that is different from the previous system. Also the A car is getting a new paint job courtesy of Ideal Wheels of Bancroft. A checklist for the E car has also been made and will be filled out throughout the week. The checklist is important to how well the car will race. It gives us ideas what to check and modify so that the car runs well.