Team Germany is On the Move!


We’re on the course today — NASA’s 16th annual Great Moonbuggy Race is finally upon us! Here’s more pre-race highlights from Anne Geyer and Team Germany. If you’re not yet signed up for real-time race results via Twitter, get on the stick! Visit
http://www.twitter.com and click “Follow” on MOONBUGGYRACE to get the latest GMBR news!

March 31, 2009

And again the alarm clock rings earlier as I thought. Like yesterday I get up by 6:45 o’clock and disappear under the shower. After breakfast we should start immediately; however, unexpected problems delay the departure. The e-mail server refuses service. So we have to find another more elegant solution to avoid this problem and maintain correspondence with the home and our American friends.

There is also pleasant news. We made it onto the first page of The Huntsville Times! The interest which we have released with the media is huge. It would be nice to see the results of the camera shots. But unfortunately the broadcasting time is unknown to us.

By 9 o’clock it is done, so we can start. Before going to the HCT, we insert another short stop to meet one of the Indian teams. They arrived yesterday and are still correspondingly tired. Their moonbuggy is still on the way by ship to America. I can understand that they become slightly nervous. I would be restless too if I did not know that every part is here and that the moonbuggy works right. At the moment we cannot do anything for them, but we offer them our help if it should be needed.

At the Huntsville Center for Technology, we head immediately for our garage and make the buggy ready to go. Also today the television enrolls itself. A reporter interviews and films me. I get a microphone so that I can declare the moonbuggy and talk about our team, the journey and the SEI. Although this is not my first interview, I am a little nervous. And sometimes it is not very easy to get particularly the correct English words. And so I am happy when I can give him the microphone back!


German spokesperson Anne Geyer looks to her teammates for encouragement as
she’s interviewed by WAAY-TV, the Huntsville ABC affiliate. (Photo: R. Heckel)

The teams of HCT and Madison High School train already and want to compare their times with ours. Under competition conditions, we practice folding out the moonbuggy [for the timed assembly]. In this case we are, at 9 seconds, not far away from the best time of 6 seconds. However, we agreed to ourselves that with some more practice we can even be better.

Then the buggy goes onto the test track. Two rounds [matching the length and conditions] of the race are to be driven. However according to the first round we interrupt because it begins to rain. Unfortunately the times are not comparable because of this. Our best 3 minutes 54 seconds, which is in fact very fast. All buggies have gone back into the garages a second test run is scheduled for after lunch.

The test run showed one problem clearly. The rear-wheel brake is too heavy for Lisa to move. And so we begin to search for possible solutions. We decide on extending the brake arm for better leverage. It is our hope to find the suitable tools and materials here. When we explain the problem to Dmitri, the Russian driver of the HCT team, he says there should not be any problem. Christian and I also talk to Mr. White and the teacher for welding and they agree to help. After we find a suitable piece of aluminum and saw it, we weld.

In the spare time between, we talk us with Dmitri and the boys that work in the workshop. Jokes are done and we exchange interests. It is amazing already that we get on so well in spite of the differences.

After the welding and cooling down, we slur some corners and edges in order to avoid injuries. Then we test the result. The adjustment of the brakes requires a sensitiveness, so it takes a while until both back wheels stop again simultaneously. But nevertheless a test on the street is indispensable.

Christian and I accelerate the moonbuggy to full speed and try an emergency stop. We repeat the whole procedure a number of times — however, the result remains the same: The buggy moves to the left while braking. Back to the garage to change the attitudes correspondingly, then a further test, and everything is right.

 


Huntsville Center for Technology team members endure the rain to test their
2009 moonbuggies; they still make use of their 2008 models as well. (Photo: R. Heckel)

Back again in the garage we are called to go for lunch. Fortunately we have been invited for lunch with the local team. There is a tasty chili con carne and brownies. The secretary of the manager has cooked a giant pot of chili. The mood is loose. All are glad to sit on a dry place and to be able to relax a few minutes.

However, when the buggies are barely back on the course, it starts again to drizzle. Lisa and Thommy drive, and in the end both descend quite soaked and with bright red faces. However, their time was substantial — 4 minutes 9 seconds for two rounds. The best team reaches 4 minutes 1 second with a month of training. That’s not bad. Quite satisfied we decided to leave it at this attempt, also because of the hard rain. Lisa and Thommy put on dry clothes and have some time to recover.

Christian and I conclude to watch the other teams keep training. And when the rain stops we exchanged moonbuggies. We drive the buggy of the HCT and they get ours. The small round on the court suffices and clarifies the differences of the driving behavior. The guidance and steering are different and the higher sitting position leads to a completely different feeling while driving.

Now the load test approaches! Can our buggy move a two-ton truck? First, Ralf fixes the moonbuggy to the vehicle with a rope. I switch into the first gear. Feet on the pedals. Christian gives the signal. Three, two, one — and GO! The tires spin a little but then they grip. Slowly we move ourselves. No problems.

To sum it up: we do not need any breakdown service, we have a moonbuggy!


Fun with moonbuggies: German team members test their buggy’s load endurance
(and their own) by pulling a two-ton Chevy pickup around the parking lot
at Huntsville Center for Technology. (Photo: R. Heckel)

 
More fun with moonbuggies: Bug-of-war! The German team and their hosts from HCT
duke it out, GMBR-style. (Photo: R. Heckel)

 
German team member Lisa Hartenstein’s confidence is infectious. (Photo: R. Heckel)

Many thanks to Anne, Thommy, Ralf and the whole German team — see you race-side!

Team Germany in America: A Day in the Workshop

The energy and efficiency of the German Space Education Institute team never ceases to amaze us. For the last couple days, they’ve been scrambling to get their moonbuggy reassembled after its cross-Atlantic voyage, putting it through its paces to ensure they’re ready for the race this weekend, spending time with fellow racers from around the globe, talking with local media and seeing the sights — and STILL team member Anne Geyer finds time to post some thoughts on the experience for the Buggy Blog! Thanks, Anne!


German Space Education Institute team member and blogger Anne Geyer.
(Photo: R. Heckel)

March 30, 2009

Today the alarm clock already rings 6:45 o’clock. A hard day approaches. Dress, breakfast and already it starts. 8 o’clock on time we drive onto the ground of the Huntsville Center for Technology. They are already waiting for us. First we greet the director, Mr. Turner, and then we take a short look into the school. We are received as we are used to — very friendly.

Tim White, the responsible teacher for the local moonbuggy team, shows us the workshop, which impresses us a lot. Lathes, upright drill presses and mills would be a dream for our garage in Leipzig. Many things might be finished considerably more quickly and in a simpler way, particularly for small changes to components a lot of work and of course time would be saved. Photos on the walls show their successes of the last years and their own test track.

The thoughts of going to race against a team that is so well prepared for the course worries me a little bit — there are already many advantages for the American teams: their own workshops, the support of the schools and the short journey, during which their moonbuggies do not have to be disassembled into pieces.

Next we get shown the moonbuggies. Yes it is not only one, there are FOUR. Two are still from the last year and two are driven for this year’s race by four teams. However, when we have a look at the moonbuggies more closely, my doubts are dispelled again. Our moonbuggy can keep up, definitively. It seems to be lighter and more flexible; however, [we won’t know for sure] until the race course itself, because we still lack experience.

We do not allow ourselves a lot of time for the comparing, because we want to begin at last. For tomorrow [Tuesday, March, 31] we are invited to a small test race at HCT and then the moonbuggy must go. However, before the assembly — the unpacking.


Team Germany starts assembling its buggy. (Photo: R. Heckel)

At last the chrome-plated parts lie cleanly and tidily on the workshop floor to be screwed together for our moonbuggy. Separately these parts seem insignificant, but in my head they get together to become a vehicle — one that is more than the sum of its components. All our hopes and dreams enter this work, and we are proud to have created it so far.

Christian and I work on the rear axle and attach the sub frame and the S-lead springs in order to mount the seat and the wheels. Lisa gets the seats with the new, freshly printed purchases. Fabian and Thommy work on the front-wheel suspension. The rear axle and the front axle are joined with each other. The basic thing is now created. Only still the front seat with the shock absorbers, some smaller precision adjustments, and the cable harness for the telemetry and the braking lines are missing. At the end, [we determine] whether all nuts are tightened. Then the moonbuggy is ready to start.

During the time we put that buggy together, a reporter and photographer of the Huntsville Times comes by. They take stock in our engineering. While declaring the construction, we notice how our enthusiasm is increasing more and more. Christian is explaining the most interesting parts, from the Schlumpf gears and the Rohloff transmission up to the differential, and with every point the astonishment became greater. Even the interior of the differential was examined with manifest astonishment.

But now it is done. After endless weekends of long work, and the 24-hour trip to Huntsville and an 5-hour uninterrupted assembling, we roll at last from the garage of the Center of Technology with our moonbuggy.

Lisa, our first pilot, describes her experiences as follows:

We turn our first round around the ground and all looks follow us. Curiously and skeptically the other teams look to us afterwards. I notice that the steering falls to me more easily today. And we are ready to go over the obstacle, a big gravel heap. The moonbuggy is put to test. At 20 kph, we direct to the obstacle, then everything works very quickly — a jump, a well subdued strike and already we are over the gravel heap. Slowly it starts to be fun, so we take another training round: jump over this and that obstacle, try us in sharp curves or test simply our high speed.


Lisa and Thommy brave the test track at the Huntsville Center for Technology.
HCT hosted the German team this year, and they’ve spent the week comparing notes
and helping each other practice. (Photo: R. Heckel)

Thommy, our other pilot, describes his first ride like this:

It is 1:30 p.m. when I drive the buggy for the first time on American ground. It is a special feeling. Lisa and I go into the sun and turn first just a small run around the building. This first test run proceeds very satisfactorily. No unexpected noises are heard and the mechanics function wonderfully. The gears work like a Swiss clockwork. We drive back to the garage and discuss the parts to be changed. Then we start onto the test course, which consists of several hills and obstacles. This training proceeds very well. We try out different situations. [We simulate getting stuck in gravel] to see whether we can fight with our gears out of this situation. Our moonbuggy masters this challenge with bravura. Indeed the wheels spin, but with united strengths, Lisa and I manage to drive it off the gravel. It is nice to know that we have a competitive buggy and that the work of the last weeks is quite exact and solid.

After long and hard practicing, we return our buggy to the garage at 5 o’clock and prepare it for the training tomorrow. We also visit with a team from India, who arrived today in Huntsville. They do not know yet how to get their buggy onto the wheels. It was transported as a whole and must be repaired now, they say.


All cleaned up at the end of the day, the team is ready to hit the town for
dinner — confident in a job well done. (Photo: R. Heckel)

It’s my idea to go to the Chinese restaurant where we ate very well three years ago. We all freshen up before we sit down in the car again and set off. Unfortunately it turns out that the restaurant is closed on Mondays! So Ralf decides we should go to the El Palacio restaurant in Huntsville to enjoy our dinner there. Presumably deserved, I think! It does not take a long time to be served. We eat our deliciousness from the Mexican kitchen. After that we sit down at our daily reports. I think that every evening should finish like this. We laugh a lot and we are totally happy that the day was successful.

School Pride the HCT Way

John Stingel, Huntsville Center for Technology computer electronics instructor, is back this week with some proud school history and a little race insight for newcomers. From the GMBR perspective, it’s terrific to see an entire school embrace its moonbuggy race team the way HCT does! Does yours? Spread the love! Talk to your advisor about getting a team spotlight into your school paper; try putting your buggy on display for a week outside your cafeteria or auditorium; or work with your school administration to launch “Moonbuggy Appreciation Day” for classmates and faculty to come out and watch you put the vehicle through its paces. We’re proud of your hard work and ingenuity; we know your school is too! Here’s Mr. Stingel:

Let me tell you a little about HCT. We are part of the Huntsville, Ala., city school system. Our school opened with the 1967-1968 school year. Presently we have 16 teachers teaching 14 different courses or skill areas. We love technology and get involved, as a school, in numerous projects like NASA’s Great Moonbuggy Race, the “HUNCH” project — High School Students United with NASA to Create Hardware — and our latest project, designing and building a hovercraft. 

As far as the moonbuggy team is concerned, the true “team honcho” is Mr. White, the Precision Machine Technology instructor. Mr. White takes students from all the other HCT classes, trains them and develops them into a racing team. The building of the moonbuggies is a school-wide project, but all aspects of the design and build come under Mr. White’s supervision. My students and I assist Mr. White with the blog and any computer-related tasks.

It is true that HCT has had several amazing racing teams and moonbuggies over the past several years. It is also true that we have worked very hard as a school to accomplish these wins. If Mr. White needs help, or a technical skill not found in the machine shop, he knows he can call on any class, instructor or individual within our school and he will get 100 percent effort.

If you’ve been around the Great Moonbuggy Race, you know the competition is getting more and more intense. The difference between placing and not placing is seconds. As a result, you must have your racing and design skills highly tuned.

I was talking to Mr. White just last week about our very first Great Moonbuggy Race entry. We knew we had designed a winner. We had a powerful team and a great buggy — we could not lose.  “We had first place in the bag,” Mr. White said, “right up until the start of the race.” 

That first moonbuggy lasted about three-fourths of the way through the first heat, if that. I must tell you, however — the team carried it to the finish line. We were so wrong about the design of the buggy… but right about the heart of the team.

So get your team and moonbuggy together and come and compete!

Mr. Stingel will be back next week with a spotlight on HCT’s moonbuggy team members and their thoughts on the race.


The very first winning team… with its losing moonbuggy! (Photo: HCT)

2009 Teams to Watch: Huntsville Center for Technology


Savvy racers know their competition, and few names fire up moonbuggy teams like the Huntsville Center for Technology. One of two HCT teams took first place in the high school division in 2006, the school took first AND second place in 2007, and last year they continued to eat up the top slots, coming in second and third behind new champs from Erie High School in Erie, Kan.

The Buggy Blog encourages all new racers to drop by HCT’s pit area, talk with the team — and then give them the race of their lives! Here’s team honcho John Stingel, man of few words, with some introductory thoughts:

The Huntsville Center for Technology is back for another year!

We’ve enjoyed being international Great Moonbuggy Race champions and would like to do it again. This year we will be entering two moonbuggies. Students have been training harder now that we have our new in-house moonbuggy track at the school.

We would like to Skype with a school that has a moonbuggy team or perhaps is thinking about entering. If you are interested, e-mail us.

Some photos:


Students training on our new in-house Moonbuggy track (Photo: HCT)


We have been hard at work redesigning elements of our moonbuggy. (Photo: HCT)


Some of the repairs we had to make were obvious… (Photo: HCT)


… and some not so easy and not so obvious! (Photo: HCT)


Last year’s winners in action: Huntsville Center for Technology Team II riders, left,
pedaled into second place at the 15th annual Great Moonbuggy Race, held April 4-5, 2008.
HCT Team I, right, took third place.  (Photos: NASA/MSFC/
David Higginbotham)

The school is gunning to retake the championship in 2009. Can your team keep that from happening?