March Progress Report for Advanced A59 car

This month we are working on getting the car put back together. We have focused on building our new steering system and installing it. Right now we are working out the details with spacing in the steering box. The steering box has now been welded and bolted into the car.
We have also started putting our new canopy together. We have created the outer frame work for it and also the hinge it will swing on. The main problem there will be attaching a gas shock that we can pull to open the canopy. With this new design the driver will be able to enter and exit the car easier and faster.
We also have started installing our new break pedal. Instead of running the cable for the brakes on the outside of the car we have moved them to the inside. this will create better air flow by removing the cable from just hanging out and making the siding of the car bulge outward.
The body design and paint scheme are also coming along well. last years crew won the best paint and body design award. this year we hope to win it again. We stripped the entire car for the new design this year which will resemble the car Elenore from the movie "Gone in 60 Seconds". The hardest part is creating the nose of the car. To make its complex design we made an extruded poly styrene mold. Then we applied plaster on the outside of the mold and after it dried we sanded it smooth. This process was repeated over the whole mold four times and several times to just fill in cracks. We then heated a poly styrene sheet and vacuumed it over the plaster design and hardened it. This will now be painted and attached to the car.
All of the Changes are coming along nicely so far and will be completed for our first rally.