Not Just for Kids

Make Your Own Future Car!

The Tour de Sol hitting Sandy Point State Park this week has 43 futuristic vehicles that run on alternative fuels. The engineers, students and enthusiasts who design and build these combine art and science to create possible replacements for today's vehicles.

How would you design a car of the future? Find out by experimenting with different designs and maybe even build your own working model.

How To:

• Draw your ideas out on paper. Get the look of your ultimate vehicle of the future all figured out.
• How would it run? What would the fuel be? Would it fly? Float? Write down your ideas for how it might work.
• Piece it together. If you have Legos, you can go the extra step and put together a working model of the car of your dreams. Or, if you want, you can sculpt it in clay like the pro designers do.
• Save your masterpiece. Your ideas might take to the streets someday, just like the cars of Tour de Sol.

Proud of your work? Send in either a picture or a photocopy of your creation along with anything you want us to know about it. Your creation will be displayed in an upcoming issue of NBT.

Hybrid Race cars make pit stop at Sandy Point State Park.

Do you like race cars, go-carts or dune buggies? I sure do. That's why I was excited to hear that the National U.S. Electric Vehicle Championship would be making a pit stop at Sandy Point State Park.

More than 40 futuristic electric and hybrid-electric vehicles are stopping over on this year's Tour de Sol road-rally run, chasing the national championship trophy from New York to the finish line in Washington.

These are no ordinary cars. Some are powered with electric motors. Electric cars are as old as gas cars, but technology has improved the speed and battery life so they are now beginning to compete. A few electric-powered bicycles, scooters and motorcycles will also be racing.

Other Tour de Sol cars run on fuels other than gasoline like diesel, propane or methanol. Many trucks, cars and vans powered by these fuels are already on the road.

Still other Tour de Sol cars are powered by a combination of electricity and alternative fuel. A few are powered by the sun.

These may sound like strange space cars, but you may be seeing - even driving - vehicles like this sooner than you think.

Helios the Heron was built by elementary students in Vermont, who began work late in 1996. In its second Tour de Sol, Helios was running in third place as it pulled into Annapolis this week.

***Kids' Camp Pick of the Week ***

Washington College Soccer Camps

• June 22-26 (9am-12pm)­Boys and girls ages 6 to 12 improve their skills at Soccer Day Camp and receive a T-shirt and soccer ball at Love Point Park, Kent Island.
• July 5-9­Boys ages 8 to 16 stay for a week and play soccer at Washington College, Chestertown. Campers receive T-shirt and soccer ball. Call to Register: 410/778-7240.

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VolumeVI Number 19
May 14-20, 1998
New Bay Times

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