At Lakeshore High School, we formed an extracurricular engineering club called the Lakeshore Electric Car Club (aka the LHS Electric Race Car Team). In this organization our goal has been to design and build an electric automobile for competition. There are set rules for vehicle size, turning radius, battery weight, driver weight, safety belt specifications, braking ability and so on. It has been a learning and growing experience for all of the team members who wish to participate in the building and design of the vehicle. We are attempting a second year and are hopeful toward another victory inspired by team effort shown from previous years. After completing the 1995 race, not only had we won first place, but we also had the unique experience of working together for the 9 months prior to the race to see our ideas go from our notebook sketches, to working models, to fabrication, to a working vehicle. Building off this success, we won the state championship in both the NECA and Electrathon classes in 1998 and the national championship in the NECA class. However, in order to continue we need your support. This is where you, the area companies, industries, and businesses come in. We need to raise enough money to cover the operating expenses of the vehicle described in this document and to cover the research and development necessary to keep us competitive.
Any amount of money or materiel like batteries (especially batteries), equipment, a $10,000 carbon-fiber frame, (a man can dream can’t he?) will be greatly appreciated. All sponsorships are tax deductible as we are a non-profit organization.
For your contributions we have three basic categories.
Any money donated toward our education of engineering and potential victory in the race will be greatly appreciated by everyone involved in our club. By helping us out, you are giving us a chance to gain knowledge about electrical, mechanical and aerodynamic forces working together, the real life experience of designing and building a project from scratch that will help us in problem solving later, on more difficult tasks, and you are giving us the chance to take part in a program similar to those offered at colleges like U-M and MIT while still at the high school level.
Dimensions: Width: 46" Height: 27" Length: 128.5" Wheel base: 74" Weight: Less than 250 lbs.
Chassis: Aluminum tube, 3/4" diameter. Designed and hand fabricated by students with aid from advisers.
Motor: 5.1 horsepower 24-volt Pentad.
Controller: Gary Raymond Electronics.
Voltage: Two 12-volt lead acid batteries in series (to maintain 24-volts).
Our Car After Its Win In the 1995 Michigan State Championship Race
Member GLEA (Great Lakes Electrathon Association)