Sparkle Pink

Event Year: 2023
Event Location: Cocoa-FL
Competition: Junior Solar Sprint
Division: 4-6 (JSS Green)
School: Timber Lakes Elementary
Team Size: 3
Team Sparkle Pink

Photo & Basic Info

About the Car

Our car is named Sparkle Pink because our car will glisten in the sun when it races down the track. We believe that our car is innovative and creative. Something special about our car is that we designed 3D printed wheels using Tinkercad. Also, the solar panel is angled perfectly to capture the sun’s rays. Some of the earth-friendly materials we used are parts of a yard sign and a bottle cap for the ping pong ball holder. We used the engineering design process to make our car. We improved our chassis by velcroing the solar panel, so it would be easy to angle or to place the ping pong ball in the bottle cap holder. We encountered some obstacles with our gears. The gears were not spinning very well at first, so as a team we decided to use different size gears to improve our car’s speed.

Vehicle Features Video

About the Team

  • Car: Sparkle Pink
  • School: Timber Lakes Elementary
  • Grade/Division: Grades 4th/5th
  • Team Member : Abby O. (5th Grade)
  • Team Member : Careliz B. (5th Grade)
  • Team Member : Aliza E. (4th Grade)
  • Coaches: Amy Tyler, Steve Osterhout

Car Specifications

  • Car Size: Length 27.5 cm Width 14 cm Height 17 cm
  • Weight: 199.9 grams
  • Wheel Size: 4 cm Front Wheel
  • 4 cm Back Wheel
  • Gear Ratio: 1:6
  • List of Components:
  • Ray Catcher Kit $41.35
  • 2 Gears $3.20
  • 2 Axles $2.50
  • 4 Wheels $ 3.20
  • 2 Balsa Wood Sheets $ 5.50
  • 4 Rubber bands $1.00
  • 1 Ping pong ball (free)
  • 4 Nylon Spacers $1.40
  • Battery Holder $ 1.35
  • 1 Eyelet 50 cent
  • Total Value $60.00

Lab Guide/Car Photos

Documenting & Building

Tinkercad Designs
Design Drawing #1
Design Drawing #2
Painting the Chassis
Measuring
Attaching Panel Support
Building
Designing 3D Printed Wheels in Tinkercad
Attaching Motor
Attaching Axle

Obstacles:

  • We had trouble with loose front wheels and cutting the yard sign for the panel support.

Car Photos

Underside
Left Side
Right Side
Back
3D Printed Wheels
Front
Top
Bottle Cap Holding the Ping Pong Ball

Car Testing Videos

Sun Power Test

Battery Test

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