See below for pictures from the World Solar Challenge. Included are pictures of the repairs done to Continuum.
Dear Friends, Family and Fans of the Michigan Solar Car Team,
I am Bob Culver, one of the faculty advisors of the team and I have just returned from Australia and would like to share some perspectives with you.
I often say that the Solar Car experience is a self-awareness or awakening of sorts, allowing students to find their own limits – what they can do and what they cannot do. Well, I was half right. This team was tested often. It started with a structural failure in the bulkhead just a few days before they were scheduled to leave for Australia. The team quickly analyzed and fixed the problem such that the resulting structure was stronger than ever. Then came the dust devil in Australia that almost destroyed the array that you have read about in the blog. And then, of course, was the accident. After a short period of shock and a few tears, the team began the arduous task of rebuilding the front end of Continuum. No one needed any inspirational speeches as everyone was working with determination and purpose as soon as the car was back to the Darwin racetrack. It was truly amazing and inspiring to see the car rebuilt and ready for racing in about 10 hours. This team responded to everything and anything that was thrown at them. So, pardon the double negative, the Continuum team never found out what they couldn’t do!
During the qualifying week, the Continuum team continued the Michigan tradition of helping other teams. The team let the Venezuela team borrow a motor when many of their parts got stuck in customs. And the team, with Chito’s help, built a new wheel hub for the Malaysian team after an accident during a qualifying run destroyed their only hub. What goes around, comes around. At the accident scene, a local Darwin gentleman happened by to see the damage. When he saw the damage, he said he had a friend who was an expert in carbon fiber composites. We called the expert, Mr. Mike Butler, and he joined us back at the racetrack pits. Mike brought with him some fast curing resin which turned out the be critical to getting the repairs done quickly.
A special thanks to all the sponsors of this team. You have enabled an experience of a lifetime for a very special group of kids. They may not have finished first, but this team is definitely a group of winners.
Continuum completed the last 280.7 km of the race in 2 hours and 55 minutes with an average speed of 96.7 kilometers. Yesterday we ended with a negative battery pack and today we finished with more than half of a pack remaining. For the Alice Springs to Adelaide half of the race we averaged 89.8 km/hr and finished that section of the race only 16 minutes behind Nuon's time. We started this part of the race with well less than half of a battery pack, while they were given time to fully charge their batteries in Alice Springs. Continuum barely didn't catch up with 3 of the Teams directly in front of us and we should end up in 7th place in Challenge Class. Overall we passed over 25 Teams on our climb up after the accident. Continuum was the 4th Team to cross the finish line.
We've always been looking for a different finish than what we ended up with, but we are ultimately very happy with how Continuum performed. To us, the first half of the race demonstrates that we are the best Team in the world while the second half demonstrates that we have the best car in the world. A first place victory almost comes as an empty victory because it doesn't demonstrate how good the Team really is. Having rallied around the crash we were able to show the world how well we face adversity and how well prepared the Team was. As we crossed the finish line there were 25 friends and family members that had made the trip to Australia to watch the race and cheer us on. We were all happy that we could make them proud by completing this race the way that we did.
The World Solar Challenge has left everyone with a desire to continue racing Continuum. We all look forward to participating in the North American Solar Challenge, where we will have the opportunity to show the world what Continuum is truly capable of. None of this would have been possible without the tremendous support of our sponsors including our Platinum sponsors: The University of Michigan, The University of Michigan College of Engineering, BHP Billiton, Ford, and General Motors. We would like to thank all of them and we hope that we have made you proud to be a part of the University of Michigan Solar Car Team!
Go Fast, Go Smooth, Go Blue!
Continuum has now reached Adelaide and has successfully completed the 2007 World Solar Challenge! We completed the race in 46 hours and 3 minutes with an average speed of 65.09 km/hr. This puts us at 36 hours and 2 minutes not including the time lost from the accident with an average speed of 83.83 km/hr! Stay tuned for results as the Teams behind us finish the race! As soon as we hear from the race crew in Australia I'll get a more detailed update as well!
GO BLUE!
Today’s drive took us through the flat dry plains of South Australia past Coober Pedy into Glendambo a good 609 km drive. We averaged a steady 80km/hr and had two control stops, the first was at Cadney where we briefly met two of the Canadian teams, Calgary ahead of us and Blue Sky from Toronto behind us. The second control stop, Glendambo, we reached at 4:45 and camped once again nearby. After a rather uneventful day we finished off the afternoon with two separate tyre changes on the side of the road that took eight and seven minutes respectively. Anthony and I spent over fourty minutes trying to change tyres in the back seat of the Rodeo on the road and were feeling rather pleased with ourselves until we were told the teams previous tyre changer took only ten minutes.
Despite the fact that Yael noticed both flat tyres early by the time we got the car off the road we had an impressive looking tyre to put on the wall shredded all the way around. Once the rim had had a quick sand it was as good as new and we are ready to go for what should be our last day on the road with the solar car. If all things go well we will make it to the final Adelaide control stop by four thirty and come through North Adelaide down King William Rd to be in Victoria Square by 5:30. If you are around Adelaide come down and look at all the cars that will be displayed in Victoria Square for the weekend.
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| Clara and Anthony with a Successful Tyre Change |
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| Yael and Dan with the Flat Tyre |
Apologies for the sporadic nature of the web updates, it corresponds predominantly to limited phone coverage along with your regular updater abandoning her post to get her hands dirty and assist with wheel and tire changes. As we come nearer to Adelaide and reception improves we shall endeavour to keep you informed more regularly.
As today’s departure was not until 1:30 we had a leisurely morning woken by Nuna’s support vehicle playing the ‘Skippy” theme song and “Land Down Under” from the speaker mounted on its roof. The weather was beautiful and sunny enabling the battery to be fully charged by midday while the team stocked up on food, fuel and showering and attended to the odd electrical issues.
With a full battery pack, Smithy drove a cracking pace in Sunswift which maintained our place and we arrived at five o’clock without any incident to camp in a little rise in sight of the South Australian border. Setting up the tilter to catch the last light of the day has become routine and was followed by Anthony’s nightly tire changes. The mood of the evening was light and cheerful and Ken took out his bagpipes that proved entertaining for all.
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| Sunswift on the Road |
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| Array at Sunset |
Nuna4 has crossed the finish line first in the 2007 Panasonic World Solar Challenge. At 16:54:00 Nuna4 crossed the time finish line, crossing the Australian continent in 4 days at an average speed around 91 km/hr.
After a partial rest day in Alice Springs, Nuna experienced a hard 3rd day of racing. After wearing 4 left tires, the team decided to completely rebuild the left suspension at the end of the racing day.
It obviously paid off, as the clear skies of our camp south of Coober Pedy in the naked and truly barren outback contributed to spectacularly clear skies. A extremely chilly night apparently did not deter the sun, as static charging during sunset and sunrise were more than 1.5 times better than expected. This contributed to Nuna's spectacular finishing day, consistently driving at or near the 110 km/hr speed limit, and finishing off the day in Nuna style. Hard crosswinds did cause another flat tire, but the results do not lie, as we finished far ahead of our nearest rivals.
The team is extremely happy with our result, and this blog is being written as we are anxious to get out on the Adelaide nightlife to celebrate our latest victory!!!
Abfahrt vom Road House um 8:30 Uhr. Gut 10 Minuten später laufen Twente, Phönix und Tiga im Minutenabstand ein. Um 8:32 Uhr erscheint Michigan auf der Bildfläche. Große Spachtelflächen zeugen von den umfangreichen Reparaturarbeiten an dem Fahrzeug aus den USA. Die Crew steht offensichtlich unter Hochspannung. Gerüchte aus den anderen Teams erzählen, dass Michigan versucht, sich die Reparturzeit vom Sonntag von der Wettbewerbszeit abziehen zu lassen. Wenn das vom Veranstalter akzeptiert wird, kann das Bochumer Team den 4. Platz abschreiben!
Weite Abraumhalden der Opalschürfer von Coober Pedy gleißen im Sonnenlicht. Schilder warnen vor leichtsinnigen Wanderungen abseits des Highways. Tatsächlich sind immer wieder ungesichterte Löcher im Boden zu sehen, die verlassene Grabungen markieren. SolarWorld No.1 passiert diese Mondlandschaft mit 83 km/h. Der Himmel strahlt blau, weit am südlichen Horizont erscheint es diesig. Hinter Coober Pedy eine endlose Steppe soweit das Auge reicht. Kein Baum, vereinzelt ein Strauch und ein paar Büsche. Noch 150 km bis Glendambo. Der nächste Kontrollstopp ist die letzte Station im Outback bei Streckenkilometer 2.403.
Transporter 1 meldet ein Emu, 100 m von der Straße entfernt - ein lebendes wohlgemerkt. Die Anzahl von toten Tieren ("road-killed"), die das Team während der Reise sieht, übersteigt die Zahl der lebenden bei weitem! Abgesehen von Krähen und Adlern, die die überfahrenen Kängeruhs langsam aber sicher von der Straße holen.
13:08 Uhr: Kontrollstopp Glendambo wird erreicht. 13:25 Uhr: Michigan kommt an. Bis 13:50 Uhr zur Abfahrt von "Need for speed", dem Allzweckfahrzeug des SolarWorld No.1-Teams, erscheint kein weiterer Sonnenwagen. Der Abstand zu Phoenix und Twente hat sich also vergrößert. "Need for speed" - benannt nach seinem Fahrer, Thomas Nied-Menninger - wechselt ständig die Positionen im Tross und fängt die Bilder und Geschichten ein, die Sie hier lesen können. Zusammen mit allen anderen Begleitfahrzeugen wird so vor und nach SolarWorld No.1 ein Beobachtungsfenster von über 80 km überwacht. Eine Funkkette meldet entgegen kommende Roadtrains und gewährleistet sichere Überholmanöver.
Große Salzseen auf beiden Seiten des Stuart-Highways lockern das Landschaftsbild auf. Noch 140 km bis Port Augusta, es geht auf halb 4 zu. Die ersten Späher von Michigan tauchen auf und hängen sich an das Trio von SolarCar und zwei Begleitfahrzeugen. Von hinten wird eine Geschwindigkeit von 95 km/h für das amerikanische Sonnenauto gemeldet! Unsere Zielplanung heute: Port Augusta, der letzte Kontrollstopp vor dem Ziel, soll heute noch erreicht werden. Daher Reisegeschwindigkeit hoch auf 85 km/h. Nachdem die erste Etappe Matthias Wilm absolviert hat, sitzt jetzt Christian Wulfert am Steuer. Wegen böiger Seitenwinde hat der Fahrer gut zu tun, um SolarWorld No.1 in der Spur zu halten. Der Dauerfahrrekord wird von Christoph Bönneken gehalten, der gestern fast sieben Stunden am Steuer saß und über 500 km gefahren hat.
16:15 Uhr: Michigan schließt zum SolarCar auf. 16:23 Uhr: ein Reifenwechsel macht alle Pläne zu nichte, Michigan zieht vorbei. Tausch des vorderen Pneus in rekordverdächtigen 5 Minuten. Zurück auf die Straße. In Windeseile berechnet das Strategieteam das neue Tagesziel bei Streckenkilometer 2.699. Wenn alles gut geht und die Sonne morgen wieder scheint, wird SW No.1 ab 13 Uhr auf dem Victoria Square in Adelaide erwartet. Der Wetterbericht redet allerdings von Wolken...
Today we started 1,977km into the race, 45 km north of Cadney Homestead. We had an astonishingly quick day through the Cadney and Glendambo Control Stops. We cruised at between 91 km/hr and over 100 km/hr, which is marvelous considering that we ended Wednesday with an empty battery pack. Continuum covered 720 km and reached Port Augusta with an average speed of 92 km/hr for the day. We had our first flat tire and were able to change that tire in less than 8 minutes! Continuum has made up nearly 2 hours on Twente, at least another hour on the Southern Taiwan Solar Car Team, and about one hour on Solar World. At this point we are in, at worst, 13th place overall in the race. With 280km left, we will be starting the day at the Port Augusta control stop, where we arrived at 5:08pm today. Nuon arrived at the end of timing but they have not gone through the finish, and to our knowledge no other teams have reached the end of timing. It was another great day of racing and we’re excited to have made up nearly 8 hours on our closest competitors. The Team coming out of this race is so very different from the one that started it. Spirits are unbelievably high and everyone is greatly excited about how Continuum has performed in the first 2700km of the World Solar Challenge.
GO BLUE!!
Continuum has just passed through the Glendambo Control Stop around 1:30pm Australia time. Based on the GPS data we seem to have made it there without any stops and we should be able to make it most of the way to Port Augusta before the end of the day!
We recently learned that the Stanford Solar Car Team was involved in a race-ending accident. Our Team is very sorry to hear this as we have had a very good relationship with their Team since the beginning of this project. We are very thankful to hear that no one was injured in the Stanford accident and hope that they are able to repair their car for the upcoming North American Solar Challenge!
Genieten van het avontuur in de outback. Tja het zou heel gemakkelijk moeten gaan, maar we zijn met zoveel andere dingen bezig, dat het er vaak bij in schiet.
Zo kregen we vanmiddag het bericht over de portofoon van Martin dat Twan lag te snurken in de Decision Making Unit. Je zou denken dat hij zoveel adrenaline zou hebben dat hij gefocust is op zijn taak, maar wij weten wel beter. Dit geldt trouwens niet alleen voor Twan, maar hij is een mooi voorbeeld. Nachten en nachten zitten er in, dus geen wonder dat je dan even in slaap valt op een wat rustiger moment. En zo is het met iedereen binnen het team. Zag het voortraject eruit als een periode van keihard werken met maximaal vier uur slaap per nacht, zo is het tijdens de race niet anders.
Daarbij slapen we tijdens de race niet op onze dikke luchtbedden in de warme slaapzaal van Alawa Scout Hall, maar in tenten. Wel gezellig, we hebben drie tenten waarin we met ongeveer dertig man slapen. We proberen elkaar de afgelopen nachten warm te houden maar toch is het erg koud in de Australische woestenij. Het is behelpen in de outback, maar toch is dit deel van het avontuur dat we niet zouden willen missen. Dit is wat het zo uniek maakt en een once in a lifetime opportunity.
Maar nu over de race, want daar gaat het immers om. Na gisteren dachten we dat het niet meer mis kon gaan. Inmiddels hebben we alle pech wel gehad, van electrisch, tot onze innovatieve lenzen en nu mechanisch. We hebben alles kunnen oplossen en hiermee niet overdreven veel tijd verloren. Toch stonden we aan het begin van de ochtend weer aan de kant door iets wat waarschijnlijk gisteren al veroorzaakt was bij het losraken van de connectie tussen voorwielophanging en chassis.
Dit heeft ervoor gezorgd dat we wat tijd verloren zijn, maar gelukkig hadden we maar 50 minuten nodig om alles weer op te knappen. Ook al dacht menigeen van ons na het zien van de auto en het spoor op de weg dat dit einde verhaal zou zijn.
Het was vandaag ook de dag van de ‘cattle grids’. Nadat we in de ochtend stil hadden gestaan voorbij één van de grids met het mankement werd besloten om heel consequent alle grids te beoordelen. Service 1 werd er op uitgestuurd om te zeggen wanneer er een grid aankomt (ook al konden we dit wel voorspellen met de route notities) en vooral met welke snelheid die grid te nemen was. Gelukkig was de communicatie de dag zo goed dat dit werkte als een geöliede machine. Als service 1 uiten bereik was wist onze scout de communicatie door te geven en zo werd iedereen als een treintje op de hoogte gebracht van wat er aan stond te komen. DMU gaf vervolgens aan de coureur aan welke snelheid en escort deed de alarmlichten aan en nam dezelfde snelheid aan over de grid. Wat een teamwerk!
We hebben onszelf na vanochtend weer opgepakt en er wordt ontzettend als team gewerkt en iedereen ondersteunt elkaar enorm. Ondanks de vele pech die we hebben staan we wel op die vijfde plek en horen we wat dat betreft bij de top. Nu is het zaak dat het morgen voor de wind gaat en dat we die vijfde plek behouden. De strategie is voor morgen bepaald. We gaan ervoor!
Vanochtend was het lastig opstaan. We wisten dat het de laatste dag zou zijn voor ons tijdens de World Solar Challenge. De één had er erg veel zin in, de ander zag er erg tegenop. Straks staan we aan de finish en is het helemaal afgelopen. Finishen in een wedstrijd wat al zolang je doel is, en daarnaast jammer dat iets waar we al anderhalf jaar aan werken dan ineens klaar is. We hadden het idee dat dit onze geluksdag zou worden en dat we rond 13:45 zouden aankomen bij de tijdfinish in Adelaide.
Maar de laatste dag is geen geluksdag geworden en er was bijna meer pech dan ooit. De ochtend ging lekker, maar door de vele cattlegrids (veeroosters) in South Australia hebben we voor de derde keer mechanische problemen gehad. We hebben een record gevestigd door binnen 23 minuten een rod-end in de voorwielophanging te vervangen, de pushrod er opnieuw op te zetten en weer te gaan!
Erg triest en het was een enorme klap, maar toen we weer onderweg waren wisten we zeker, we gaan het vandaag halen! Al zoveel pech en elke keer kunnen we het oplossen dus het lukt gewoon! Toen er achtereenvolgens kuren waren met de motorcontroller, die elke 10 minuten gereset moest worden, een gecontroleerde controlestop waar niet iedereen het mee eens was om de motorcontroller te checken en daarnaast een gaspedaal waarvan de veer het niet meer zou houden en oververhitte remmen door het glooiende landschap. Vervolgens het niet meer regeneratief kunnen remmen, toen konden we het bevestigen; het geluk is vandaag niet aan onze zijde.
We hebben vandaag ook veel positieve punten gehad. De spirit was hoog zo op de laatste dag. Zo hadden we vanochtend alles klaar en ingepakt binnen anderhalf uur, een record! We hebben topsnelheden gereden van 115 kilometer per uur. We hebben gereden met meer verkeer dan we tot nu toe gezien hebben en alle is goed gegaan. En als toppunt: we zijn gefinisht. Het was een enorme ontlading en alle spanning viel van iedereen af bij de tijdfinish. Op Victoria Square konden we het nog een keer overdoen en sprongen we natuurlijk met z’n allen de fontein in! Het was het waard! Wat een chaos, maar vooral ook wat een vreugde. We hebben Adelaide bereikt.
Vanwege de herstart in Alice Springs was het nog een tijdlang onduidelijk op de hoeveelste plaats we nou precies gefinisht zijn. Onze berekeningen zeggen de zesde plaats, helemaal niet verkeerd! Zondagavond is de prijsuitreiking, dat zal een mooi feestje worden met alle teams.
Nu is het avontuur afgelopen! De volgende acties zijn het inpakken van de transportbox en zorgen dat de Twente One weer naar de Nederlandse bodem vervoerd wordt. Vanaf 1 november mag iedereen zijn of haar eigen weg gaan. Heel raar, we zijn bijna elkaars familie en ik weet zeker dat het raar is om niet iedereen meer om je heen te hebben. Persoonlijk niet iets waar ik naar uit kijk. Maar misschien denk ik er straks anders over tijdens de welverdiende vakantie. Wat te doen als we thuis zijn? Ook dat komt wel goed, Solar Team Twente 2007 afronden en een begin maken met Solar Team Twente 2009. Heel benieuwd hoe zij het straks allemaal zullen aanpakken…
Today was the best day so far. The car had a total of 11 minutes off the road, which was for a driver change and wheel check. For what had to be done, 11 minutes is quite good, so we were pretty happy.
We had cloud cover for most of the day, from when we left Tennant Creek, until two hours before Alice. We kept a constant 60km/h, and passed a few teams along the way.
The drive into Alice was absolutely stunning, our car building up speed down the hills, and handling like an absolute dream. It has definitely the best driving of the trip so far.
On arrival into Alice we set up the array to charge, and went to find the time boards.
The picture says it all really,
We are coming 4th in Adventure class, and 10th overall! The team was absolutely over the moon. We are two and a quarter hours behind the next car in our class, so it’s unlikely that we’ll make 3rd, but we’ll be chasing as hard as we can anyway. Due to the stopover in Alice, we’ll be leaving half an hour behind them, so we might pass them on the road, but they’ll still have a major time advantage.
The atmosphere in Alice Springs is great – all the teams are here, and camped together overnight, the Dutch team Nuna, who are currently coming first, had a swimming pool set up, and there are showers!
Tomorrow morning the Challenge class will leave, starting with Nuna, at 8am, followed by the Belgian team, Umicore, at 9.22. The Adventure class will start to leave at midday, at intervals of half an hour. The team that was coming first overall, the Japanese car TIGA, will leave first in our class. They also have a chance of catching up the first Challenge class vehicles, and both Nuna and Umicore have had some minor troubles that have cost them some time, so it should make for an interesting finish.
We needed our sleeping bags for the first time tonight, as it’s started getting a little chilly.
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| Our Placing At Alice Springs |
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| Our Descent into Alice Springs |
Last night Michigan camped a little over 200 km north of Alice Springs and Continuum never had to pull over once. This was the first night since the accident that everyone could get a good night of sleep. It took Continuum just under 3 hours to reach Alice Springs this morning, which was treated as a normal control stop. This unfortunately means that we were not able to recharge our batteries like the Teams that arrived the day before. We should cross into South Australia this afternoon and will hopefully approach the Cadney Homestead Control Stop by the end of the day. At the border of the Northern Territory the speed limit drops to 110 kph, limiting the speed that Teams can cruise at. Because of the control stop everyone is only about 3 hours ahead of us on the road(more for total elapsed time). Consequently all other Challenge Class Teams should be dealing with the same weather so we should be able to catch up with a fair number of the Teams.
Weather is 60 or 70km ahead of the rest of the Team. We started off the race as prepared as we could be. The forcasting went really well. The only issue was with the Intermet hardware, but after speaking with Intermet to troubleshoot hardware problems this was fixed. We have had several successful weather balloon launches so far and launch them 4 times per day – at 7am, 11am, 3pm, and 7pm. The UAV has yet to be launched yet, but once we reach Southern Australia we will begin launching it. There was a 250 km wall of clouds that slowed us down quite a bit before Alice Springs. Right now we’re getting about 25 or 30 mph headwinds that are slowing Continuum. After seeing the control stop leader board in Alice Springs we realized that they aren’t doing all that badly especially considering the one day that we lost in Darwin. Everyone is excited at how well Continuum is performing after the accident and we hope to continue passing other teams in South Australia!
The Team is currently 45 km outside of Cadney Homestead. Today Continuum traveled a total of 700 km with an average speed of 82 km/hr. At Alice Springs, Continuum was in 7th place among Challenge Class vehicles and 16th overall. We were 11 hours and 24 minutes behind Nuon, 10 hours and 2 minutes behind Umicore, 9 hours and 40 minutes behind Aurora, 5 hours and 20 minutes behind Bochum, 4 hours and 26 minutes behind Twente, and 3 hours and 58 minutes behind Soutern Taiwan. Today we have gained 30 minutes on Bochum , 1 hour on Twente, and 50 minutes on Soutern Taiwan. Please keep in mind that we have had 10 hours and 2 minutes of down time from repairs during the first 2 days of the race. Also keep in mind that even if we go through the control stop before a Team they may still be ahead of us due to the way the Alice Springs Control Stop was structured.
The format for the Alice Springs Control Stop was not known by officials or the Teams until 5:30 on Tuesday evening. The way it worked is that when we arrived at 11am on Wednesday morning the first 6 challenge class teams had at least 2 hours of charge time (and as much as 10 hours of charge time) while Teams that arrived after only got 30 minutes of charging. The first 3 Challenge Class teams were spaced out the distance they arrived and then each car after that was spaced out in 10 minute intervals. Challenge Class Teams arriving after that treated it as a normal control stop. Basically the slowest cars were allowed the least charge time and the fastest cars were given the most charge time.
Today we are just outside of Cadney Homestead and teams like Nuon got here at 1:54pm, while Umicore arrived at 3:20 in the afternoon. Continuum arrived later than them, but we had to drive another 220km this morning just to reach Alice Springs. It took us 5 hours and 43 minutes to get to our stopping point from Alice Springs, meaning that we should arrive in Cadney Homestead in 6 hours and 15 minutes. Despite setbacks and only running on half of a battery pack's charge, Continuum is keeping pace with even the lead cars. In general, the crew is focused on regaining ground and is extremely proud to see Continuum making so much progress in such a short amount of time. It’s one thing to build a fast Team, but to have a Team who can take on a challenge this great, clear it, and still be so fast is incredible to be a part of. It’s almost impossible to prepare for what happened on Day 1 despite thousands of miles of testing in light and heavy traffic. To have rebuilt Continuum overnight is fascinating to see. We look to arrive in Adelaide at midday on Friday and we are eager to see how Continuum will perform over the next 2 days.
Go Fast, Go Smooth, Go Blue!
Fortunately, the good weather returned as the team set their sights on the significant target of Alice Springs - not just because it represented the halfway mark of the race but also because the Dean of Engineering at UCL had carelessly promised a bottle of whiskey to the team should they reach Alice Springs. 
The fine weather helped make up for lost ground the day before and despite a steep and twisting section of the Stuart Highway, the team made their target by the end of the day's racing, once again holding onto their 10th placing in the Challenge Class.
The Nuna experienced its most exciting day in true solar car racing fashion yesterday. After having cruised solidly for over 2 hours to the Tennant Creek control stop, it appeared that the Umicar Infinity experienced significant mechanical problems with their steering system, having apparently worn their rack and pinion and making the car nearly impossible to steer. Nuna arrived at the control stop shortly after the Belgians, and left it earlier as the Umicar underwent repairs directly after the mandatory control stop.
The Nuna gained a firm foothold on the lead in the following hours. Having made emergency stops to replace our carbon shock absorbers on the rough roads, the Nuna was also not entirely spared of problems. The lead appeared to narrow significantly after Devil’s Marbles, narrowing to 4 minutes, in an incredible attempt to get past Nuna by the Belgian team.
In true solar racing form, the only variable to exacerbate the situation was a storm system with complete and dark cloud coverage, gail winds reaching 80 km/h, and the threat of heavy rain. At around 4 p.m., Nuna entered just that, and in a true feat of our excellent strategy team, Nuna took a significant lead. The gails took their toll however, making the car yaw so much that our left tire burst, having worn through even its canvas. Nuna didn’t meet its goal of reaching Alice Springs by 5 p.m., but did increase the lead to over 60 km just that night. It appears that this lead only increased, as we rolled into Alice this morning within 17 minutes. The Belgians arrived 82 minutes after us. As a testament to true solar car racing form, it is an example of the numerous factors that are involved that make a team sucessful.
Start für SW No.1 heute um 10 Uhr. Der Veranstalter sortiert das Feld neu, die Adventure Class darf erst ab 12 Uhr losfahren, die Challenge Class-Fahrzeuge starten ab 8 Uhr. Nuna zuerst, dann Umicore um 9:22 Uhr, gefolgt von Aurora um 9:44 Uhr. Diese Zeiten entsprechen auch den Ankunftszeiten vom Vortag. Um das Feld enger zu staffeln, darf SW No.1 schon um zehn über die Startlinie, danach Twente und Phoenix mit jeweils 10 Minuten Abstand. Das gibt natürlich nicht die jeweiligen Ankunftszeiten wieder. Bochum war um 14:15 Uhr in Alice, Twente um 15:21 Uhr und Phoenix um15:49 Uhr. Wer genauer über die Zeiten aller Teams informiert sein möchte, dem sei die Webseite der PWSC empfohlen.
Gestern gab es noch hohen Besuch der Royal Flying Doctors beim Bochumer Team. Die Leitung der Basis Alice Springs kam zu Besuch. Der Base Manager Darren Schiller und Grant Wham, Manager des Visitor Centers nahmen ein Spende entgegen, die der Teamarzt Dr. Henschel mit seinem Verein für die Unterstützung der RFDS in Deutschland gesammelt hatte.
Hektische Abfahrt mit randvollen Batterien. Die Strategie für den Tag lautet: Je nach Wind 80 km/h und nicht verrückt machen lassen von überholenden Teams. Neueste Infos zum Michigan-Team berichten von der Reparatur des Fahrzeuges und einer unglaublichen Aufholjagd. Obwohl die Öffnungszeiten von zwei Kontrollstopps verpasst wurden - eigentlich ein klares Kriterium für das Ausscheiden aus dem Wettbewerb - hat der "Clerk of the Course" das amerikanische Fahrzeug wieder zugelassen. Michigan fährt in der Challenge Class wie SW No.1. Wenn die angegebenen Zeiten nur annährend stimmen, muss dieses Team jetzt wieder zu den Konkurrenten gezählt werden.
13:50 Uhr: Die Grenze nach Süd-Australien wird passiert, 1786 Kilometer sind gefahren, Tempo 81 ist angesagt. Die heutige Etappe ist lang, bis zum nächsten Medienstopp sind es über 500 Kilometer. Kein Problem für den Sonnenwagen, aber die Brennstoffe der Begleitfahrzeuge könnten knapp werden. Insbesondere für die beiden Fahrzeuge, die vor und hinter dem Solarcar fahren, wäre ein Trockenfahren fatal, denn dann muss der ganze Tross anhalten und wertvolle Zeit gingen verloren.
Die weit vorfahrenden Support-Busse melden einen liegen gebliebenen Camper mit deutscher Besatzung am Straßenrand, der sich im tiefen Sand festgefahren hat. Die Film- und Fotocrew, die das deutsche Team mit einem Geländewagen ständig begleitet, nimmt sich der Gestrandeten an und schleppt den Camper frei. Die Geretteten bieten ein Bier zum Dank an, das dankend abgelehnt wird. Stattdessen wird eine Spende für die Royal Flying Doctors vorgeschlagen, was gerne akzeptiert wird.
16:15 Uhr: Der Kontrollstopp Cadney Homestad kommt näher, die Tanknadel des hinteren, "Tele" genannten Begleitfahrzeuges sinkt bedrohlich. Mit dem letzten Tropfen Sprit rollt das Team auf den Rastplatz, der auch das Nachtquartier sein wird. Platz 4 in der Challenge Class auch heute, aber Michigan hat sein Nachtlager nur 48 Kilometer entfernt aufgeschlagen.
De rustdag gisteren deed deugd. Niet alleen een goede douche, maar ook de tijd die we aan de wagen konden spenderen was zeer welkom. De Umicar Infinity ziet af onder de Australische omstandigheden van stof en steen.
Deze ochtend om 9u22 vertrok de Umicar Infinity met 1u22 achterstand op de Nuna4 en 22 minuten voorsprong op Aurora. We hadden vandaag één doel: achterstand goedmaken en de tweede plaats verzekeren. Het weer was goed, al was er een zeer sterke front- en zijwind. Gelukkig is de wagen zeer goed in dit soort wind. De Umicar Infinity deed het zeer goed vandaag. Tegen een zeer hoge snelheid reden we naar de mediastop in Cadney Homestead. Helaas hadden we een lekke band en wat technische problemen door de enorm zware omstandigheden, maar ondanks twee langere stops naast de weg kwamen we goed aan op de mediastop. Bij de mediastop bleek dat Nuna4 nog 9 minuten uitgelopen was op onze wagen.
Door het naast de weg staan bij de probleempjes waren de batterijen echter goed vol en hebben we het stuk na de mediastop op vol gas kunnen rijden. Daardoor blijkt aan het einde van de dag dat we wat tijd hebben goedgemaakt ten opzichte van de Nederlanders. We vermoeden dat de achterstand geslonken is tot 60 minuten. Ook onze voorsprong op Aurora is behoorlijk gegroeid, tot meer dan 30 minuten.
Vanavond overnachten we in niemandsland. Nergens is er beschutting, nergens zijn er planten. De zonsondergang was prachtig en de sterrenhemel is enorm!
De Umicar Infinity is er klaar voor om aan de laatste rechte lijn naar Adelaide te beginnen. We zullen er alles aan doen om het de concurrentie zo hard mogelijk te maken!