Unfortunately, the team was unable to finish the race yesterday stopping 10km north of Port Wakefield. Through out the entire day the team battled Nuon for second place which including at least 6 lead changes. The team was able to pull into the Port Augusta checkpoint 5 seconds ahead of Nuna 5. Shorty after leaving the check point Nuna 5 over took Infinium, but a couple minutes later Infinium moved back into second place. Nuna 5 matched Infinium’s speed and then eventually passed and put some distance between the two cars.

As time in the race day was coming to an end, it looked like Infinium would finish the day four minutes behind Nuna 5.  Unfortunately, the team ran out of momentum trying to make it up a hill, and was forced to push Infinium to the top and take a 10 minute penalty. This penalty combined with the lead Nuon has created, will almost certainly mean a third place finish for Michigan.

Our hats go of from the team from Tokai University who ran an incredible race with their amazing car. We would also like to congratulate Nuon on their successful recovery and race. They certainly made the last leg very exciting for us back at home.

Lastly, I would like to congradute our team in Australia on running an amazing race. Everyone in the States is so proud of how well the race crew performed. The team should be crossing the finish line this evening. I encourage everyone to follow Infinium into Adelaide using the GPS tracker.

Solar Enthusiasts,

I would like to thank everyone for the tremendous amount of support the team has received. In a couple of hours Infinium will start its fourth and hopefully final day of the race. The team is attempting to finish second in the World Solar Challenge, something that has never been accomplished in the team’s 20 year history. To finish second, the team will have to pass the four-time defending champions, Nuon, a task which will not be easy by any means.

To follow Infinium on the last day please take this link. Infinium’s position will be updated approximately every ten minutes. I hope everyone will track Infinium until it crosses the finish line in Adelaide. As soon as I hear from the team, I will post the final results.

Go Fast, Go Smooth, Go Blue!

Steve Durbin
Interim Project Manager

After an intense day of competition, the team sits neck and neck with Nuon for second place. We are currently camped out approximately 2 kilometers behind Nuon, though they ended the day shortly after 5:00 PM while we ended at exactly 5:00 PM. When we pulled off at our campsite, our lead vehicle was directly behind their chase vehicle. Tokai University remains in the lead, already having passed Glendambo. Barring any great misfortune, they will emerge as winners of the race. Our team is excited to be in direct competition with Nuon for second place, who have finished first in all of their four previous races. Never before has Michigan finished higher than third in the World Solar Challenge/Global Green Challenge.

The day started with both us and Nuon just north of Alice Springs. We arrived there shortly after 8:30 with Nuon close behind. A cable was left unplugged at the end of the control stop, which forced us to lose some time at the exit of the control stop. Shortly after leaving Alice Springs, one of our MPPTs malfunctioned and tripped the vehicle’s circuit breakers. While we were on the side of the road, Nuon passed us to take second place.

We spent the remainder of the morning pushing on towards Kulgera, and ran across many entries from the Eco Challenge class of the Global Green Challenge. These vehicles were seeking to maximize their fuel economy while competing across the outback, and were running slower than we were! While navigating through the pack of Eco Cars, we even had a chance to run alongside Ford Australia once again. In the midst of weaving through the Eco Cars, we pulled into Kulgera about 10 minutes behind Nuon.

After passing the border for South Australia, we began to make up ground on Nuon as they slowed their pace. As we approached both Nuon and Coober Pedy, we received word of an overturned semi just 30 km north of the town. Traffic was restricted to a fraction of one lane–in the shuffling surrounding this, we caught up directly behind Nuon, and were prepared to pass them. However, debris from the accident punctured one of our tires and forced us to pull over. Thanks to an amazing tire change in less than two minutes, we pulled into Coober Pedy three minutes after Nuon.

Leaving Coober Pedy, we continued to close the gap with Nuon. Had the race day not ended when it did, our pace at the time would have allowed us to pass Nuon. Instead, we are camped out tonight with 808 km left to go until the end of timing, and a great end to the challenge head-to-head versus Nuon.

After starting the day just North of Alice Springs, Infinium was able to reach the checkpoint 5 minutes ahead of Nuna 5. Shortly after leaving the checkpoint Michigan was overtaken by Nuon and fell into 3rd place by 20 minutes. Throughout the rest of the morning the team was able to decrease Nuon’s lead to 12 min by the next checkpoint, Kulgera.

In the afternoon Infinium continued to catch up to Nuna 5 pulling into Cobber Pedy only 5 minutes behind. Tomorrow should be an intense day of racing; if weather holds out the top 3 teams will be crossing at end of timing tomorrow afternoon.

At the end of the second race day, Infinium is currently in second place, positioned 30 km north of Alice Springs. Tokai University, currently in first place, arrived in Alice Springs at 4:06 PM today, so we are essentially 90 minutes behind the race leader. We are 20 km ahead of four-time champions Nuon, although they have gained on us over the course of the day. Once again today, Infinium ran with great reliability, and we spent no time on the side of the road.

Today was marked by dust from a dust storm blanketing the sky for nearly all of our race route. Roughly 80 km into our day we reached the system, which continued all the way to Alice Springs. The dust in the sky limited the amount of power we were able to get from the solar array, forcing us to reduce our speed from the previous day’s pace. We anticipate that the dust should clear up tomorrow as we head towards the South Australian border. Once in South Australia, the speed limit will decrease from 130 to 110 kph, making it harder to catch any team ahead of us. However, if we keep a lead over Nuon, we will be in for some great racing for the next half of the race!

Infinium has just left Tennant creek, 30 minutes behind Tokai and at least 30 minutes ahead of Nuon. The team is currently in the middle of a large dust storm, which is affecting the amount of energy the cells can generate. With every team affected by this storm, Infinium’s large battery pack should help the team close the gap on Tokai!

After one day of racing, the team as traveled 746 kilometers. They are currently located 10 Kilos south of Elliot, 240Kilos from Tennant Creek and 747 Kilos from Alice Springs. Following the Umicore crash, Infinium remains in 2nd place, still about 30-40K behind Tokai and 50Km ahead of Nuon.

The team successfully made it Katherine. They are currently in 3rd place, trailing Tokai and Umicore by 5 minutes. After a roadside pit stop, Nuon is in 4th place trailing by 10 minutes. Weather is sunny so all top teams are hitting speeds between 100KPH and 110KPH.

At 8am it is hot and sunny at the start of the race. The cars are all lined up in qualifying order. Infinium is the 6th car in line and will start at 8:35am with Sudeep at the wheel.

The scene is energetic. A band plays in the background as people pass by and look at the many different car designs. The croud is a mix of media, curious Darwin locals, parents, and fans of the teams. The parking lot is full of excited chatter in many different languages.

It is hard to believe that it has been two years since Continuum’s race in the 2007 World Solar Challenge. The Infinium team members have spent countless hours and made so many sacrifices. All for this day.

Thank you to all of our sponsors, parents, friends, fans, and all the Infinium team members in Ann Arbor. It takes a huge amount of support to arrive at the start line. We are looking forward to making you proud.

Thank you also to the fans that made the trip all the way to Darwin to follow the team during the race. Your enthusiastic spirit has been with us all week. Singing Hail to the Victors yesterday wouldn’t have been Big House worthy without our 24-strong cheering squad!

Go Fast. Go Smooth. GO BLUE!

Infinium has completed its hot-lap with a time of 2:09.95. We were delayed in our running due to a number of on-track incidents before us, including a broken wishbone suffered by Umicore. Umicore has already completed their repairs, and it sounds like there should be no lasting damage. They will be able to complete another hot-lap, but we’re not sure whether it will count for starting position. With Umicore and Nuna both repaired, it should be exciting to face these and other top teams at full-strength.

In the challenge class, we believe we will be starting sixth. The teams ahead of us are, as we know it:
Aurora
Nuon
Bochum – BoCruiser
Tokai
Stanford

If Umicore starts based on their next lap time, we expect them to be in the top 3. We are excited that Infinium qualified so well, since our high-efficiency motor and large battery pack are ill-suited for track driving. With a 3000 km race ahead, we should have plenty of time to pass the teams in front of us.

Official starting position will be announced at 3:00 PM Darwin time today (1:30 PM Eastern Time–Darwin is 13.5 hours ahead of US Eastern time).