The Huntsville Center for Technology Competes in The Great Moonbuggy Race

The 18th Annual Great Moonbuggy Race will be held April 1 - 2, 2011 in Huntsville, Alabama, at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. Students are required to design a vehicle that addresses a series of engineering problems that are similar to problems faced by the original Moonbuggy team.

At the Huntsville Center for Technology, students are involved in many different programs. One of the most exciting is the Great Moonbuggy Race, sponsored by NASA.  We became involved in this program in 2001 and raced for the first time in the spring of 2002 at the 9th annual race.  Our first vehicle didn’t have any suspension and looked very much like Fred Flinstone’s car.  It failed miserably and had to be dragged across the finish line.  It wasn’t what we had hoped for, but we were newcomers, competing against teams with years of experience.


Photo Courtesy of NASA

In 2003, we took to the track with a completely re-designed buggy.  Once again, it failed miserably when the front suspension ripped out of the frame. However, all was not lost; we won the Best Engineering Design competition. In 2004 we designed and built an all-steel buggy that was virtually indestructible.  Unfortunately, it weighed 280 pounds and was too heavy to be competitive in the race. We did not win the race, but won the “Most Unique” award.  Continuing to learn from our mistakes, we improved each year.

Finally, after four long years of hard work and disappointment, we would no longer be denied.   2006 would be the year that Huntsville Center for Technology would take home the first-place trophy as well as the Best Engineering Design Award.  The win could be compared to watching your favorite team win the national championship title to the 10th power.  The following year was even better:  We swept both first and second place.  In 2008 we took second and third.  In 2009 we placed first and third.  In 2010, we finished in third place, three seconds behind the Germans, and two seconds behind the team from Puerto Rico.

The Moonbuggy Race has been very good for the entire school, especially the Precision Machining program.  Students   from all classes work together as a team to complete the project.  We are also able to work with our business and industry partners who sponsor our teams.

Tim White, Precision Machining Teacher and Moonbuggy Sponsor

 

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