Glary, cloud-dotted weather proved an advantage for Epping students racing their solar-powered car, The Monican, this month.
Two groups of students from St Monica’s Catholic College at Epping each built and raced self-designed cars at the Victorian Model Solar Vehicle Challenge at Scienceworks, and discovered they had a bit of a knack for the craft.
The group behind ‘The Monican’ made it through to the finals after beating about 40 other cars, coming second in the final race to a car designed by students from Box Hill Secondary College.
St Monica’s teacher Chris Macnaughtan said both groups were lucky enough to be sponsored by Simpson Aeroelectrics, which supplied them with lightweight aluminium, low-resistance wiring, switches and some great technical advice.
“Over a period of two terms, students measured, cut, drilled, soldered and glued pieces together to form two vehicles representing their brainstorming and design ideas,” Mr Macnaughtan said.
He said the competition was not only a valuable hands-on learning experience, but it had given the students a sound understanding of the technology behind solar power.
The Monican crew flew to Adelaide at the weekend to race in the national event.
