Musings on Race, Great Ocean Road
The race has now been over for a while, but I wanted to do a follow-up post on the experience and some of the cool things we learned.
As you know, we were able to cross a continent on solar power. Sure, you say, you guys have already done that. However, we crossed the continent in a solar car that in my opinion is as safe as a normal car and much more practical than most solar cars. In terms of durability, the only thing that broke on the mechanical side was one hard point tab. We only even had one flat tire, which was caused by driving fast over bumpy gravel at a control stop that really should have been set up differently. Not only did our solar car have an upright seating position, it also had a parking brake, really good mechanical brakes, conventional controls (steering wheel, brake and gas pedals). Apogee is by no means a BoCruiser, but it is surprisingly similar to the Aptera 2e, which has been in the news a bit recently, and is deemed a car!
Likewise, we really came together as a team. Sure, we made fun of Sam a bit, picked on the girls, and didn't always understand everything Sasha said about electrical stuff, but we seemed to work together well, and our radio communication was surprisingly professional, even including warnings about fictional animals that may or may not have threatened our solar car such as drop bears, eagles, hoopsnakes, and jellysheep. By the end of the race, everyone was finding ways to contribute to the team, and things went very smoothly after our rocky first days. We even managed to get along with our observer by the end of the race! After the race, we have had lots of ideation, including musings about changing the aero body, suspension, array, motor controller, and lasers on our next car. Hopefully we can continue this momentum and build an even better solar car next time.
At the conclusion of the race, we were the last team to cross the finish line, literally. However, only 10 of the 38 teams who started the challenge crossed the continent. The initial results were a bit inaccurate, but after we urged the organizers to examine observer logs, we ended up in 10th place, between the two Bochum cars and just ahead of the Nanyang Venture. This places us in 4th place of 32 silicon array, challenge class teams. This is really quite good for a car that made much less solar power than we expected. Not to dwell on our MPPT problems, but we also learned a bit about completely finishing a car and getting test miles (and solar rays) on it before the start of the race.
There was a great awards ceremony after the end of the race, and each of the eco challenge cars got awards like "best front-engine petrol V8 ute". The solar car awards were fewer and further between, and Tokai definitely deserved first place, although we were all in awe of their array. It would seem that many of the team members didn't realize that their car had what would appear to be 35.8% efficient Sharp research triple junction cells on it, and it is really hard to compete with that much power. Although none of us managed to score a Tokai driver's jumpsuit, we did trade shirts with most of the teams, even Kormilda College and Michigan, teams with which we didn't always get along with. Speaking of Michigan, we had a chance to talk to them about how in hindsight, they probably shouldn't have pushed their car up the hill. Our favorite teams from this race include Cambridge, who we shared a hostel in Darwin with, Aurora, who we camped with one night, Sunswift and MIT, who we spent a lot of time with at Hidden Valley Speedway, and Umicore (The Belgians), who made an amazing car, interviewed us at the Coober Pedy control stop, repeatedly promised to party with us, and had the coolest exhibit at Victoria Square.
Fortunately, we don't have that problem. Also, we don't have cells so fragile that you can break them by pointing at them. In fact, as we were packing up our shipping container on Wednesday, Nathan discovered that you can in fact sit on parts of our array and it will remain intact. Speaking of shipping, we packed up our car with the help of a very excited logistics guy from a shipping company who had never seen a solar car before. In fact, we packed up the van, drove it into the container, and secured it down. However, we were unable to find an IHOP, and it wasn't 7am when we finished, so we concluded that we had packed much more efficiently this time. Also, we wer6 e amazed by the talent of the driver who delivered our container, who managed to drift a 270 degree turn in a large side-loader container truck. Apparently, they neglected to inform him that he was not driving a rally car, and he was able to miss our stack of tires by a mere 6 inches.
Nathan Sitting on Apogee to Show the Strength of our Panels
Speaking of large vehicles that should not be driven at high speeds with precious cargo on windy roads, we drove back to Melbourne from Adelaide with our three large vehicles, and decided to take the scenic route. Because of a logistics problem, we stayed in Port Fairy rather than Portland. The views along the road were spectacular, and we stopped to see some of the rock formations along the cliffs. We saw a neat arch and the "twelve apostles", 8 or so freestanding sandstone pillars rising hundreds of feet above the crashing waves of the Tasman Sea. Nathan' (Nathan Prime) drove the chase van for part of the distance, and Sasha's inner ear was unable to take in both Zelda and the supple suspension of a Ford E-350 van. He was transferred to another seat where he could better avoid motion sickness and focus on rescuing a princess. Lucas skillfully piloted the trailer truck, and managed to pass an M3. To be fair, the entire caravan was passed on a hairpin turn by a Kamakazi motorcylist.
Twelve Apostles: Freestanding Sandstone Columns Along the Great Ocean Road
November 8th, 2009 - 09:56
Amazing post. Congratulations again, team.