Testing and Travels

Posted Thu, 10/15/2009 - 8:08am by Steven Hechtman

On Tuesday evening, facing a new round of storms headed towards Adelaide, the team left its base in Adelaide for our final test day before heading up to Darwin. We trailered the car up to Port Augusta, which put us just north of the storms and wind in Adelaide, and readied ourselves to test on Wednesday morning. The goal for Wednesday was to run one more day at high speeds, since our mock race was plagued by such bad weather. Wednesday's route had us driving north to Glendambo and then south back to Port Augusta. We were lucky to finally receive some sunny weather, so our pace for the day was brisk--we spent most of the time at or near the South Australian speed limit of 110 km/hr.

We completed the Port Augusta-Glendambo-Port Augusta route in the early afternoon, before the typical end time of 5:00 PM. After packing up Infinium, the team and the trailer went their separate ways: while the team headed north for Darwin, Infinium was trailered back to Adelaide. Infinium will leave Adelaide on Saturday, and we will all meet on Monday in Darwin, where scrutineering and qualifying take place.

Today, Thursday, we arrived at Uluru (Ayer's Rock) in time for a gorgeous view of the setting sun. After taking many pictures, we enjoyed dinner and such unique meals as kangaroo and Aussie burgers (with beets and fried eggs). The next few days will take us to other scenic sites in the Northern Territory as we head towards Darwin. We'll be sure to post more pictures once we arrive!

Meet the Race Crew!

Posted Sun, 10/11/2009 - 6:34pm by Julia Hawley

We would like to invite you to MEET THE RACE CREW that will be racing Infinium in the World Solar Challenge. Follow this link to see pictures and read the biographies of the students that are currently in Australia preparing Infinium for the big race.

Go Blue!!!

Video of Solar Car

Posted Sat, 10/10/2009 - 8:01pm by Julia Hawley

Check out this video created by the College of Engineering News Service to see the car driving on the road!

Video - Sunny outlook

University of Michigan Solar Car Team showcase Infinium as they prepare for the World Solar Car Challenge in Australia.

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Thank you to the University News Service for making this video!

Mock Race Pictures

Posted Wed, 10/07/2009 - 6:25am by Steven Hechtman

Pictures from our Australian Mock Race are now up in the gallery! A sampling of pictures is below, but make sure you follow this link for more pictures!

Visit the gallery for more pictures!

The Semi Trailer

Posted Tue, 10/06/2009 - 6:51pm by Steven Durbin

The recent mock race would have been a lot less enjoyable without the semi trailer the team brought to Australia from Michigan. The trailer was packed with machines, extra raw materials, spare parts, and tools for every circumstance. The semi trailer traveled to Australia with the help of Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics who generously shipped the semi trailer across the ocean and Air Sea Forwarding who sponsored the freight forwarding.

Having the trailer was a valuable resource for the team providing much needed storage area and shelter from the unusual weather. The semi trailer served as a mobile machine shop allowing the team to make repairs immediately and protect the car when the strength of the storm increased.

Not only is the trailer invaluable to the team’s productivity, it also looks great thanks to a wrap provided by Fine Lines Graphics of Clinton Township in Michigan. The wrap was printed and installed flawlessly and will represent the team and the University well during the race through the Australian Outback!

 

Australian Mock Race - Day 5: A Sunny Drive to the Finish

Posted Sun, 10/04/2009 - 7:47am by Steven Hechtman

After spending the previous day performing tests at the Royal Flying Doctor Service's emergency landing airstrip, we set out this morning for Adelaide and the finish of our Mock Race. Our starting location was approximately 50 km north of Glendambo, leaving us around 670 km (418 mi) from the finish of timing outside Adelaide. We started at 8:00 AM with sunny skies at last--quite a relief after the weather of previous days.

Although we had only a small amount of energy left from the three cloudy days before, along with a threat of more clouds in the afternoon, we were able to cruise at over 90-95 km/hr (56-59 mph) in the morning. Thanks to the forecasts of our meteorologist, Chris McMeeking, we were able to track the clouds well ahead of Infinium. In the afternoon, when we were sure that we would not run into significant cloud cover, we started to cruise near the speed limit of 110 km/hr (69 mph). After three days of miserable weather, it was encouraging to be able to travel closer to race speeds.

We hit our control points in Glendambo and Port Augusta, and finished at the end of timing outside Adelaide with time to spare before the end of the race day. Best of all, we had perfect reliability on the car, with no time on the side of the road! Each of the divisions on our Race Crew truly deserves praise for their part in today's success: Engineering, for ensuring the car was reliable enough to last through the grueling mock race; Strategy, for tracking such unpredictable weather and managing our batteries through the cloudy days; and Operations, for keeping our whole team going through five long days and four nights in the Outback's ever-changing conditions.

With exactly three weeks until the Global Green Challenge starts, we have readied Infinium and ourselves for the trials of the Outback and will now turn our focus to the final details of our race preparations.

-Steve Hechtman, Race Manager

Australian Mock Race Update: Day 3 - More Clouds

Posted Fri, 10/02/2009 - 9:59am by Steven Durbin
After camping overnight in Cadney Homestead, we finally woke up to the end of the rain that had drenched us the day before. Despite the drying weather, however, the sky was still blanketed by clouds. The continued cloudines meant that we would not get a good charge while driving for the third day in a row. Once again, we decided to alter our course so we could make the most out of our practice race. Today, rather than trying again for the border, we headed south for half a day, carefully managing the remaining charge in the battery pack. After passing our first control stop at Coober Pedy, we continued on towards a long, flat and straight portion of the Stuart Highway that doubles as an emergency landing strip for the Royal Flying Doctors Service. Ending our racing at noon, we took the remainder of the day to prepare for tomorrow's testing on the airstrip. Running on this section of the highway will give us a chance to do some valuable experiments that would not be possible on a typical oval race track or public highway. After tomorrow's testing, we will drive Infinium back to Adelaide on Sunday, our last day of the 5-day event. This will be a full-day run that we hope should mirror the weather and pace of the race in October. Despite the three constant days of clouds, as well as rainfall levels that happen only once every two decades, we have added a considerable amount of test mileage to Infinium. Equally important, we are now even more prepared for even the oddest of occurences in the outback, and have two more days to prepare for even more!

Mock Race Day 2

Posted Thu, 10/01/2009 - 12:25pm by Steven Durbin

Starting the day in Port Augusta, Infinium was tested through the rain for two hours. The jet stream had swept some moisture down from the tropics, bringing steady showers across the race route. In order to stay on schedule, at noon the team decided to pack up Infinium and trailer north to Cadney Homestead. Tomorrow morning, the team will continue north towards the Northern Territory border. According to the team’s meteorologist, the weather system should clear out overnight giving the team clear weather in the morning.

 

Josh drys off after being caught in the rain

Josh drys off after being caught in the rain

 

Infinium being loaded into the semi trailer

Australian Mock Race - Day 2: Morning Rain

Posted Wed, 09/30/2009 - 5:17pm by Steven Hechtman

With our race day starting in 30 minutes, there are still clouds in the sky, though rain that moved in overnight has let up for now. We don't expect too much rain today, but there should be clouds all the way to our next stop, Glendambo. The weather vehicle we are in is rolling out now, so this is all for our brief update!

Australian Mock Race - Day 1: Sandstorm

Posted Wed, 09/30/2009 - 6:58am by Steven Hechtman

The team's Australian Mock Race started today from the outskirts of Adelaide, South Australia. While the Global Green Challenge will start from Darwin in the Northern Territory and end in Adelaide, race regulations prevent us from traveling on the race route in the Northern Territory before the race. Therefore, our Mock Race is from Adelaide to the Northern Territory border and back, a distance of 2435 kilometers (over 1500 miles).

Today's race day started just after 11 AM--while the first day of the race starts at 9:00 AM, we were delayed in our car preparations due to our batteries not arriving from the US until Monday. Nevertheless, we started out from Adelaide and were instantly met with cloudy weather. Starting with a full battery pack, we were able to move at a reasonable pace; however, with no end to the clouds in sight, we had to move forward cautiously. It would be unfortunate to run out of energy in our batteries before we could get to the sun of the Australian outback to recharge.

This being our first running of the car in Australia, we did run into a number of minor electrical gremlins that put us on the side of the road three times, and had to bleed our brake system while pulled over as well. The likely cause of the electrical problems, a loose connection within our battery control modules, was diagnosed while examining the batteries at the end of the day, so we hope not to encounter this problem again tomorrow.