Meeting Notes 8-6-10

>On Friday evening we had a good turn-out of members, Thanks guys!  We discussed the logistics of shipping the solar car and ourselves to Australia.  Were hoping to get the support of airline companies or the air-force in the form of free or reduced-price tickets.  Either way we will still need a LOT of money!  For the actual race we will need a BARE minimum of 6 people to effectively race (more would be much better!)
>We talked about changing the car design a little.  If we made the body around the vehicle cockpit extend farther back onto the car and eliminate the seam between the panels and the cockpit, we will reduce our aerodynamic drag (note that the car we are basing our design off of does this)   Other minor body shape changes were discussed to improve aerodynamics.  If we dont go too wild with this, we could greatly improve the performance of our car while only making it slightly harder to manufacture.
>We are SOOO close to finishing the old car.  The list of issues we came up with is as follows:

*Add 3 members to cockpit frame to meet regulations, AND finish welding the roll-cage to the body.
*Repair and attach windshield
*Water Proof the Car- (almost done with this!)
*Meet Fastener spec. criteria (Almost done with this!)
*Vehicle HORN – It is already assembled, but the car bumper will need to be altered to install it
*Vehicle impact analysis-this is quite a project, if you are interested in being TAUGHT how to use 3D modeling and impact analysis programs (so you can help him), contact Mike (migraha@siue.edu)
*Sell advertising space on side of car
*Build the battery holders for batteries (they are already designed and a prototype is underway)

Also, we have a cool new stand-alone team poster that you will be able to see in the EB Atrium by the time school starts!