Turner METSA Student Races RC Car with NASCAR Driver

The R. L. Turner/METSA RC Lions participated in the Student Racing Challenge, formally known as FastTrack RC, competition on Thursday, April 12 at Texas Motor Speedway. The event, which included 10-15 Dallas ISD high schools, was sponsored by the US Army. The event featured guest NASCAR Cup Series driver Ryan Newman who took a breather from his racing to enjoy some carefree RC driving with our own team's driver Seth Bullis.


 The RC Lions presented the following projects:

· Custom made national race track using precisely cut PVC pipe to serve as track outline

· Erected their 2011 National winning 8’ wind turbine/solar panel system which powers the RC’s 6 cell batteries

· Pit crew showcased their creative engineering chassis and body work. Two solar panels were adhered to interior of car body to power cooling fan which was custom mounted to car chassis (racing tests showed a 20 deg. F difference when fan is on to cool motor which in turn saves battery life). Next, this system integrated a circuitry of wires which connected to two pairs of metal connectors (one adhered to body, the other to rear mounts) which served as conductors to either cut or allow current to run through system. All part of the quick release system for this year’s pit crew competition

· Marketing portfolio’s which included sponsorship forms, team identity information, and team logo and car design

· Homemade vacuum forming press made from home vacuum, 2X4 plywood for box frame, and shelf plywood

· 2010 & 2011 winning 3D RC car model created by our school’s ZCorp printer but designed by Jesus Legaspy & Eric Lanuza Brown using a custom made wind tunnel for real world tests and SolidWorks for virtual air simulations

· “New This Year!!” RoboCar- autonomous RC car using C code programmed to drive obstacle track

Participation in this event allowed us to qualify for a travel stipend to this year’s national competition in North Carolina. Please congratulate Mr. Guerrero, METSA Science & Engineering teacher and the following outstanding students for their commitment to science, mathematics, and engineering: Faustino Rocha, Monica Alderete, Seth Bullis, Russ Gaudet, Nestor Sandoval, Jessica Le, Editmar Contreras, Cezar Ultrera, Jesus Legaspy, and Eric Lanuza Brown.

For more information or to inquire about how you can help sponsor this team, please visit the following sites:

Team website:
http://www.wix.com/ftrclions/officialwebsite

League website:
http://www.fasttrackrc.com/