Norwell Clipper Racing Development

The space frame for Greenpower’s electric kit car. Do you see those tires? Do you know how difficult

it was to fit those on the wheels? I’ll let you guess… NOPE! Not even close - March, 2021

Following the shutdown of both international and regional competitions last spring, like so many organizations, US FIRST Robotics had to fundamentally change the build and design process for the upcoming year. So in an effort to reduce the spread of COVID-19 between teams and organizers during the 2021 season, the design, construction, and programming of robots has been postponed until 2022. While US FIRST is always active in fostering an interest in hand-on experience and transferable skills, without a chance to engage in hand-on learning this year, the Norwell Robotics team has decided to temporarily switch things up… temporarily...

Ladies and gentlemen, as of the 2021 season, the robotics team will be establishing the Norwell Clipper Racing Development! (Applause) Rather than trying to make Marty from Stop & Shop, Norwell robotics is looking to maintain its core values of hands-on experience and educational opportunity by engaging with a new style of competition. We intend to build a Greenpower all electric race car. Now, never before have we tried to build an electric race car, so never before have we had less of an idea of what we’re doing. All we essentially knew was that Greenpower was a UK-based program now featuring a competitive branch in the US, but all we really needed to know was that they offered incredible opportunities to hone skills in engineering, design, programming, management, and obviously, racing!

Lots of race cars being photogenic at the same time during a Goblin heat in the UK - May, 2019

Whether in the UK or the US, each team’s goal is the same. All participating high school students sign up for the Formula 24 Advanced season, at which point they need to design, construct, and tune a fully electric race car in order to go head to head with other teams on the track in May. Points during these competitions can be earned by the teams who can deliver a high number of laps during endurance races, fast laps in the time trials, or cohesive messages for the educational presentations.

Admittedly, being born into existence only months prior to competition isn’t always easy, and while the Clipper Racing Development seeks to compete with other cars come May, the team will still be able to practice racing at the Palmer Motorsports Park throughout the spring regardless of whether the build is complete. At the moment, the team’s favorite photographers have documented pieces of the build’s progress taking place within the high school shop. While all teams have the choice to construct the kit car or a custom design, each race car must use a 240 watt Greenpower DC motor powered only by two 12 volt Greenpower batteries. In our case, we didn’t intend to break the regulations during our first year, so we’ve postponed motor manufacturing until next spring.

For the actual build process, however, the team has been able to prioritize experiential learning, assembling the steel frame of the kit car, wiring electronics from the front console to the fuses and batteries in the back, and aligning the gear chain no differently than an angry pedestrian would for his bike. Meanwhile, to acclimate to the Greenpower environment, the Clipper Racing Development has reached out to its sister teams in the UK, working alongside those generous enough to share their experience whenever the pandemic has allowed. Along with contacts abroad, the team has also been forging connections with local engineers to discuss aerodynamics, review professional cars, design bodywork, all the good stuff...

Actor portrayal of students arranging electronics according to a circuit diagram

(Robert Hodges-Falcone, left, Sophomore; Cameron Achorn, right, Junior) - March, 2021

While the back wheels are mysteriously missing, Quinn Delcore (left, sophomore)

and Samuel Dougherty (right, Senior) secure the front wheels in place - March, 2021

Although the team isn’t as familiar with the Greenpower program as some of the veterans it could be facing in May, many transferable skills from previous robotics seasons have been applicable to the challenges we’ve faced so far. The future, however, is a different question. So as we begin to develop the final design of the vehicle’s bodywork, and even though we have no clue how to make a 30 mph go-kart competitive, the Clipper Racing Development is prepared to forge ahead in its first year, as the process for constructing a race car continues to be a worthy learning experience, and admittedly, pretty fun…

Sketches of awesome designs for the race car's bodywork - March, 2021

Functional car, sitting a bold 45 millimeters above the ground - March, 2021