Welcome to Peter Hubbe's Jr. Solar Sprint Web Site!

Follow the development of my solar sprint vehicle from prototype to finished product. Each photo can be enlarged for a better viewing. Additional descriptions are included in these views.

My Web sites links will help you get started on your own vehicle.

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Click on the "proto" photo

Where to start? What is important?

If this is your first time building a solar sprint vehicle, you quickly learn there are a lot of things to consider.

I wanted a sturdy vehicle that wouldn't bounce apart as it traveled. Getting the solar panel to be aimed toward the sun seemed like a good idea too.


After playing around with the foam, I decided cardboard was my material of choice. It's light and easy to glue together.

I looked around the house and discovered that the "Huggies" boxes had the right thickness, but were a little shorter than I wanted. So... I looked right under my nose! The box that the Solar Sprint parts were shipped in was just the right length.

After forming the vehicle body, I took many trips to the basement to find the rest of what I needed.

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Click on the "parts" photo


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Click on the "drive" photo

Here's the bottom side of the finished vehicle.

You can see the bottom of the solar panel, the inverted triangular body, the wheels and axels, as well as the electric motor and gears.

I glued some thin strips of wood to the body to support each of the wheel bearings. A larger piece of wood was glued to the inside of the body that is used to hold the electric motor.


Ok, we are ready to go! Now where is the sun??

As you can see, if the sun is slanting in from the side the vehicle should do pretty well.

The wheelbase is nice and long, which should help keep the vehicle running straight.

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Click on the "vehicle" photo


Jr. Solar Sprint Links - Jr. Solar Sprint Links - Jr. Solar Sprint Links

National Renewable Energy Lab

Northeast Sustainable Energy Association

Boston Area Solar Energy Association

Solar World (kits)

HTML Tutorials by John C. Gilson

Peter Hubbe's e-mail



For Teachers: Technology Learning Activity


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