Race officials have been working with us to ensure that all Team members are safe after the accident and there has been a lot of immediate support from both race officials and locals. Coming out of this impact, our lead vehicle actually shows more sign of damage than Continuum itself. The rear hatch has been forced in to the point where it is non-functional. Thanks to proper race caravaning, the crash was less severe than it could have been considering the vehicles were forced to break from 70 km/hr.
Fortunately, in crashing Continuum performed exactly as designed. The crush space protected the driver entirely and components failed as predicted, a tribute to the amazing designs. Meanwhile, Spencer Bailey, the driver of Continuum, has walked away with only a single scratch and a bruise from the seat belt. During the collision his head didn’t even hit the roll bar.
The Continuum Race Crew has moved to a garage at the Hidden Valley Raceway in Darwin and within a matter of hours has begun work on Continuum. Damaged modules have been removed, composites are being reinforced, components are being replaced with spares, and preparations for the new array are underway. There is a flurry of activity around the lower surface since it is the most complex and structural part of Continuum. Parts are being repaired, making them even stronger than before the accident without much added weight. The pace of work is quick and the final time for completion will be largely limited by the curing time for resins and epoxies rather than the energy of students working on Continuum. Ultimately, everything looks like it can be repaired.
Even after all of this we are all confident that at 8am tomorrow morning Continuum will be back on the road and operating the way it was designed. We started this race as a world class team and we plan to finish this race as a world class team.
