Today was a great day. We ran for over 9 hours with only 4 minutes on the side of the road for a required driver swap. Because the distance between Sioux Falls and Fargo was too great to complete in under 6 hours and our drivers are only allowed to drive for a max of 6 hrs a day, we swapped drivers at a safe location outside of town. Paula drove this afternoon and completed the day at 6:03pm just north of Grand Forks. With pasta on the stove, work completed on the vehicle, and the tent already set up, tonight hopefully we will get a decent amount of sleep and be ready to race tomorrow.

We are arriving in Fargo!  Quite a few people and media are here to greet us.

The official times have been released and as it stands we are leaving Sioux Falls in first place. Unfortunatly most of our lead has been lost due to penalties. With 1.5 hours of penalties we have reduced our lead to close to 14 minutes. The majority of the penalty time was caused by the actions of the team in the last 15 minutes of racing two days ago. After a few team meetings and discussions the team does believe that we acted safely and followed the protocols our team has set up. However we do see the other side of the coin and will not be protesting this penalty. Rather we will submit an explanation to the officials that allows our voice to be heard and gives them the chance to understand the mindset of the team and the procedures we have set up and have been running with for over 5000 miles.

The day has started pretty well. We are running for over 20 miles. We are currently in Minnesota heading north to Fargo!

One final set of images leading up until today. I will post more about the evening and a stage update tomorrow. We will be starting in the lead tomorrow morning at 9am!

Here Michigan is on the road making the final turn before we enter the Omaha checkpoint.

Continuum enters Iowa!

Traveling through Sioux Falls just before we enter the park for the stage stop. Just past the next intersection a police escort joined the caravan and led us into the stop.

Continuum enters the stage stop on a road lined with flags. NASC and American flags lined the entrance into Sioux Park (with British, German, and Canadian flags at the end for the international teams).

Lead and Chase line up at Sioux Falls just after we arrive.

We serve 30 minutes after arriving at Sioux Falls and point the array at the sun to help gain a charge before impounding our batteries.

A police escort lead in each caravan. Here they are leading Principia into the stage stop.

Principia enters the stage stop just over an hour after Michigan.

Here is a set of images spanning from the start line to the Neosho Stage Stop.

From my viewpoint in Chase, Continuum rolling down the highway towards Neosho.

Continuum pulls into the Neosho stage stop.

Richard flags in Principia as they enter the stage stop behind us.

A nice picture of the University of Kentucky solar car as it arrives in Neosho.

Iowa State University pulls into Neosho and qualifies! Congrats!

After finding a puddle, we set up to charge at night hoping to fill the pack.

Charing at night while two team membres, Dan Eberle, and Garrett, our observer stand near the array.

The sun sets in Neosho, Mo.

The Missouri National Guard at Camp Crowder

The Missouri Army National Guard provides us with Barracks to spend the nights in Neosho at Camp Crowder

Two team members work to help the Minnesota team.

Crowder College offers us cold water, Coke, and Mountain Dew.

Steve moves over to Minnesota after inspecting our battery pack.

The last morning of the stage stop, we get a little extra charge before moving the car to the start line.

Lead and Chase vehicles for each team line up down the road in order ready to leave the Neosho Stage Stop.

Again continuing in the series of adding photos, here is a set of photos from the start of the race in Plano, Texas.

The official start line.

The solar car lane leading away from the start lined with NASC 2008 flags.

Robert Vogt, head strategist for both the 2003 and 2005 Michigan teams, and Brian Gilchrist, our faculty adviser, join us at the start of the race. Brian stayed with the team until we reached Sioux Falls.

Continuum and the team pose while waiting for the official all team photo to be taken.

Our lead and chase vehicles sit and wait for the start of the race. We were given American and Canadian flags to put on both vehicles. The start of this race was well organized. While the solar cars lined up at the start line, the lead and chase vehicles for each team were put in another line just after the start. When the solar car passed the starting line, the lead vehicle was already in front of the car ready to go. Chase quickly followed behind and we were off down the road.

Continuum sits in position 1 at the start line. Minnisota and Missouri S&T can be seen in the background.

The two Jeffs on the team stand in front of Continuum shortly before the race start.

The team is treated to dinner by the Dallas Alumni Club on Friday before the race begins.

Now that we are stationed in Sioux Falls we have access to high speed internet which means pictures can finally be posted. Enjoy this set from Scrutineering in Cresson, Tx.

Steve practices egress and works to ensure he can get out of the vehicle in under 10 seconds.

Our car at the Mechanical Scrutineering Station being inspected by Dick and Greg.

Continuum completes the figure eight test with Brooke driving.

Our support vehicles and safety procedures are even inspected during Scrutineering. Jim, the safety officer for the event, speaks with everyone in the lead vehicle before we simulate an emergency situation.

Continuum flies past one of the corner workers while on the track.

Continuum qualifies! Steve completed 60 laps in a row, making us the first team to qualify for the race.

Another great picture of Continuum on the track. This was taken just after we completed the 60 laps required to qualify.

Chito and Jeff Rogers sit in our pit awaiting a driver swap on the first day of qualifying.

John stands with Continuum as we prepare to enter the track.

Red River College provided a wonderful dinner for all the teams.

Minnisota and Michigan line up at the start line to begin the second day of qualifying.

Jeff Ferman and Alex Dowling chat while watching Continuum on the track.

Doug speaks with the Brooke as she drives Continuum around the track. Gerald stands in the background watching Continuum fly around the track.

Minnesota and Durham leave the track at the end of the second day of Qualifying.

Dean Wisniewski and his mother, Rita – both buy-a-cell sponsors join Chito and the team to watch qualifying. Dean heads our relationship with one of our gold sponsors, Visteon, where he works.

Our Base-X tents set up just before a storm hit. The tent on the left was used as mess hall and as a vehicle tent for work. The second tent on the right was set up for sleeping.

The night sky at the track immediately after the storm passed over.

After a night and early morning full of rain, we left Omaha for Sioux Falls at 7:45 AM this morning. Driving at the speed limit or close to it, we pushed into South Dakota, arriving by police escort in Sioux Falls at 12:35 PM. As is the rule for stage stops, we charged for 30 minutes, then impounded our batteries, They will be released for an evening charge tonight from 6:00-8:30 PM, and then for morning and evening charges tomorrow. On Friday, we will have one last morning charge before heading out for Fargo, North Dakota and the Canadian Border.

Our nearest competition, Principia, arrived at 1:40 PM. Therefore, we added 1 hour and 4 minutes on Principia for the stage, giving us a total lead of 1 hour and 40 minutes for the first two stages (before second stage penalties, if applicable). More updates to follow. Hopefully, our connection here should be able to handle some picture uploads as well!

Update (8:00 PM): Although I do not have times on me at the moment, Bochum arrived at around 3:15 (give or take 10 minutes either way).  Waterloo arrived around 40 minutes later.  Calgary arrived somewhere after 5 PM, followed by Missouri S&T.

Hi all,

We are through Sioux City. With quite a few turns and low speed limits we had to decrease our avg speed for the day. But we are now out under the sun and running smoothly – working to increase the daily average speed .

Under 100 miles to Sioux Falls…

Go Fast, Go Smooth, Go BLUE!

Well last night was fun. After arriving for our nightly stop we could tell a storm was brewing in the distance and Brad let us know it was on its way. Quite a bit of water was dumped on us but the Base-X tent survived and kept people dry, well dry-ish given we some of us made trips outside to get lunch ready, to get our other motor ready, and to get vehicles refueled.

After deciding not to switch motors in the morning, we got running a few minutes late and we are now just over 50 minutes into the day.