Making a New Car

The power drive class are making life size drawings of cars.  The power drive team is looking for a new S car.they are going to try to make it more arrow dynamic faster and so the car will run longer an a constant speed.

Looking for New Cars

The power drive class split up into groups looking for a new car design.  The designs are built on

Aerodynamics so they will create less resistance for the car make the two batteries will last longer in the race.  They also have to make the cars smaller and lighter for the races coming in spring.

B-R Power Drive Heading To Wayne America 90!!

On Saturday September 24^th the Bancroft-Rosalie Power Drive Team will be participating in the Wayne America 90 Race. This race will take place at the First National Bank Center in Wayne, Nebraska.  The first heat will begin at 10 am with the 2^nd heat starting at noon. The A-21 and E-31 are the two Bancroft-Rosalie cars entered in the race. “We hope to take an early lead and stay ahead the entire race”, instructor Rob Smith says. “The team has been hard at work testing batteries, setting gears, and preparing brakes for the upcoming race. ” The Bancroft-Rosalie Power Drive team has won more races at the First National Bank Center Track, than any other team. The team also holds the record for speed and most laps completed.  Last year we dominated the race with driver Alex Berg finishing three laps ahead of the 2^nd place car. The team hopes to see many new and returning fans at this upcoming race!

Power Drive Team Races to Success in Hastings

The Bancroft-Rosalie Power Drive team made a trip to the Motorsport Park in Hastings, Nebraska for their third race of the year. Both cars, A21 and E31, had excellent showings at the 2.15-mile road course. The driver A. Berg and D. Wortman navigated the 13-turn track at a stellar pace of three minutes and 39 seconds for Berg and three minutes and 85 seconds for Wortman.

Berg started five spots behind the winner, Friend, who raced 16 laps. But soon made his way up to the head of the back and stayed in second place all the way around until the end racing 15 laps. Wortman started last but eventually managed to get into the first place spot, but unfortunately ended up in second place racing 14.4 laps behind Cedar Rapids Kennedy who raced 14.4 laps.  Instructor Rob Smith said he was very happy with the results.

The team is gearing up for the team’s 8^th championship in ten years, which will be raced in Papillion, Nebraska on May 7^th at 8 A.M. The team is working hard on braking and maneuverability. The team will be entering two cars in the race, both A21 and E31. The Exhibition Class does not count as a championship race, but we have decided to race anyway.

April Monthly Report

This month our team successfully completed the documentation. We used a lot of new technologies to aid us in creating our documentation books. The students in grades 9-12 are 1-1 with Macbooks.  This enabled the students to collaborate and share ideas when they have technology at their fingertips every minute of every day. Matthew W. a member of the Advanced Computers class helped us construct a video for the A-21 car’s documentation. Jenae G. and Anna B. worked all semester on developing the journalistic layout. With the help of others in the Power Drive class, pictures were added to the topics to give a more polished result. Once the documentation was completed, our documentation specialists digitally transferred the files to the judging committee.

 The Cuming County Open was a huge success! We had tons of dedicated volunteers helping us set up the race, work the concession, throw bales and clean up. Without our volunteers and sponsors that race wouldn’t have been possible. Our A-21 car ended up finishing 3rd, and unfortunately the E-31 car got in an accident.

            The team has continually been working on the S-20 car in order to get it finished for the Hastings race that is held on April 20th.  We have also been testing our batteries hoping to make improvements in our finishes.

Team travels to West Point for the Cuming County Open

The Bancroft-Rosalie Power Drive traveled to West Point on April 2nd for the Cuming County Open. The team knew that this track was very fast, has long straight aways and very sharp corners. They always had troubles in the past at this track, always got caught up in a lot of crashes. But for the drivers A. Berg driving the A21 and D. Wortman driving E31 had to prepare for this track and avoid getting into wrecks. Berg started the race with being last but his teammate D. Wortman began in the middle of the pack. The Power Drive team had two strategies, one D. Wortman was going to get out front and stay out of trouble and two for A. Berg to keep a steady pace in hope of avoiding getting into a wreck. D. Wortman jumped out to an early lead and was lapping cars within 4 laps then finally took the lead for the first 10 minutes; the car was very fast and handling well. Sooner or later the Syracuse driver ran D. Wortman into the bails and flipped the car and almost ran into the water. The E31 car was damaged and not fixable. Bad luck struck B-R again. “Syracuse car gave me no room, drivers must have not had a clue I was there. It’s a shame, our car was very fast believed the team had an excellent opportunity to score a win. Really appreciate all the hard work the team put in on the car. "I hated it for them that we got taken out and lost the race for a stupid reason” stated D. Wortman. Luckily driver A. Berg hung around the pack for most of the race, with 20 minutes to go A. Berg picks up the pace and starts to pass cars and running down the A52 car from Raymond Central. A. Berg made up one whole lap on the field but unfortunately ran out of time. Team member M. Smith stated, “A. Berg was by far the fastest car the last 20 minutes on the track." He was 5 to 6 seconds lap faster then the leader, we just ran out of time.” A. Berg finished 3rd place with a very fast car. The team was in charge for the set up of the concession stand and the race track. Help to the surrounding community for their huge volunteer help, Nebraska public district, Omaha public power, Cuming county district, and the sheriffs for donating radars. The Power Drive Team would like to say thank you for all the effort, it would not be possible with out them.

March Monthly Report

This month will be the start of a new racing season. Our first race is the Big Red Invitational located in Lincoln NE, on Saturday, March 26, 2011. We are putting the finishing touches on the A-21 car. We are still working on the A-21 car’s steering geometry in order to find changes that might help out with how the car drives and handles. The E-31 car’s body is just about finished. The team has been testing batteries for the last month trying to find better charging techniques and faster ways to charge the battery. The S-20 car’s electrical work and chasis are complete.

The Bancroft-Rosalie Power Drive Team is getting ready for the Cuming County Open, which we are hosting at the West Point Fairgrounds on April 2nd. The parents of our Power Drive team have been setting up a menu for the concession stand and gathering the supplies that will be needed. We have also been lining up volunteers to work the concession stand. Our team is also very excited for all the cars to come and race! We are also quite curious to see if the track record holder Louisville will impress us once again. We hope to see you there!

Power Drive Schedule

Saturday, March 26, 2011
Big Red Invitational 
UNL Tractor Testing Lab
35th & East Campus Loop Road
Lincoln, Nebraska


Friday, April 1, 2011
Alternate Fuel Odyssey
Columbus Municipal Airport
Columbus, Nebraska


Saturday, April 2, 2011
Cuming County Open
Cuming County Fairgrounds
West Washington Street
West Point, Nebraska

Saturday, April 9, 2011
Hastings Rally
Motorsports Park
East Highway 6
Hastings, Nebraska

Saturday, April 16, 2011
9th Annual Bulldog Classic
Memorial Park
North Platte, Nebraska

Saturday, April 30, 2011
Hastings Power Drive 
Motorsports Park
East Highway 6
Hastings, Nebraska

Saturday, May 7, 2011
Power Drive Championships
Werner Park
12356 Ballpark Way
Papillion, Nebraska     

February Monthly Report

         The Power Drive team ran the concession stand for four basketball games to raise money for our cars. The concession stands turned out to be a big success! We earned quite a bit of money for the Power Drive season. Thank you to all the fans that supported the concession stands. We greatly appreciated it. We supplied the stand with delicious pork sandwiches, super nachos, pretzels and hotdogs. The team has also been getting donations from out sponsors, which will be put to good use for components on the car. We would like to extend a huge thank you out to all of them as well.


          Our team has been working on the rear axle of the S-20 car. The motor, motor mount, battery box, and the rear wheel should all be in place and welded within the next week. The bodywork has just begun on the E-31 car. The nose and front of the car are fitted but not permanently attached yet. The plan is to be done with all the body work by next week and start prepping for paint. The E-31's electrical system work is completed. The team has been researching some charges to the steering geometry. After talking with North Platte's instructor, the team feels that we may be able to change the steering and still get the car to handle. The A-21 is getting a makeover, including changes to the steering geometry, motor placement, and lexan on the canopy.

January Monthly Reports

    The Power Drive team has been working hard for our upcoming season. We will be working the basketball concession stand on January 29th, 30th, and February 11th, and 12th.  We are looking forward to putting on a good concession stand, and we will be serving super nachos, pork sandwiches, and pizza. We are open for suggestions (No shrimp cocktail).  
    We are working hard on the documentation and have assigned specific parts to each of the four of us totally dedicated to documentation. Last year’s video will be tough to beat, but we are working extra hard. We have a lot of new and improved ideas to keep us busy.
    The S car chassis is just about completed, and we hope to have it done by the end of the month. The A car has not been getting a lot of attention, but we are working on steering changes, new wheel covers, and still working on the possibility of running fenders on bigger tracks for the A car. Another change is repositioning the driver for a better center of balance. The team has also been working on an E car. The E car has been totally torn down to its chassis. The chassis has been updated, and all the steering hard points have been torn off and re-welded to try to improve the steering geometry. Over the next couple months the team has a lot of work to complete, including battery testing, finishing the S car, changes to the A car and documentation.