Hot laps at the race track
Today was dynamic qualification. Basically this means thrashing the car around the track as fast as possible. We've been preparing for this stage of the competition for the past two years days- tweaking the car for more torque at the expense of efficiency, ignoring the solar array, doing laps, generally driving fast. Anyway, we woke up super early today and headed over to the track.
Typically, the first appointment was a safety briefing. This was exhilarating. Finally, after a brief skirmish with the (currently broken) driver display and driver selection (rock paper scissors against Nathan), I hit the track.
So at this point the car was configured to be horrendously overpowered in terms of torque, but with a top speed of about 60mph. I had a radio, but I couldn't hear it because the motor was making the sounds of a dying planet. We thought we had conquered the display, but it was merely biding its time and gave up about 3 meters into the lap. So I was in the car, with no idea what the battery level was or how fast I was going.
It was fun. I went very fast. It was pretty clear that we'd forgotten to build a solar car and had accidentally built a sports car instead. Apparently they announced over the intercom that I was drifting slightly in the hairpin... great success.
solarcar!
After the hot lap I was shunted onto the drag strip where they wanted to do some proper scrutineering. Basically this involved driving a slalom at 35kph and then doing a brake test. Of course I had no idea what my speed was, so I went as fast as I could. I think I took the slalom at about 60kph... at the brake test they told me I'd gone far too fast and had to do it again. I wasn't exactly sure why they thought my brakes would be worse if I was going slower... needless to say, Apogee passed without a problem.
Later they announced the lap times- we came fifth with a lap time of 2 minutes 8 seconds, after Aurora, Nuon, Tokai and an Audi TT. This makes us the first american team to start, one place ahead of Michigan. In 2007 we started one place ahead of Michigan. In 2007 we were involved in an accident where the Michigan solarcar hit their lead vehicle (so I'm told). I am hoping this does not happen tomorrow.
Audi TT
We were actually approached by a member of the Michigan team (I think she was doing interviews of the different teams... this is far more organised than we will ever be) who said she'd sacrifice herself to save their car, in the event of a repeat of last year. Brave girl. I think I speak for Marvin! and myself when I say that anyone on the Stanford team would happily sacrifice Apogee for a decent steak.
Marvin! weakened by spider 
More photos in the gallery
P.S. My lap time was 2:08. The lap is around 3km, so apparently I averaged a shade over 50mph. The car is limited in this configuration to 60mph. I am very proud of this.
October 25th, 2009 - 03:43
Hahaha. Uhm. Hope you get the driver display completely fixed. And figure out a way to hear the chase and lead over the radio. Marvin looks like he’s limping.
You should go buy him a steak. 
October 27th, 2009 - 15:08
You would be the one to somehow drift the solar car around a turn. I wonder how this car would handle driving on ice, could be a fun experiment if Australia suddenly becomes around 90 degree’s cooler than it is, and by that point I think you’ve got other problems…