Principia Solar Car

G’day!

Sunday was our last complete day in Adelaide and what a fulfilling day it was!  The team attended a Sunday service at 1st Church of Christ, Scientist, Adelaide. The members were so welcoming!  Following the service, they graciously invited us to join them in a reception. We were able to meet and share our WSC experience with everyone.  They have a lovely church and we are so grateful we were able to visit them!

Soon after, a few headed back to Victoria Square to talk with others and hang out near Ra 7s while the rest of us went to Cleland Wildlife Park to feed and pet some Aussie animals!  Being an animal lover myself, I had the greatest time rubbing kangaroo and wallaby bellies while feeding them to their heart’s content.  Others were thrilled to pet the koalas and imitate the emus!

By 5pm, the team was back together near the square and safely loaded Ra 7s into the crate to prepare her for a safe ride back to the US.  Afterward, we walked over to the Adelaide Convention Center to attend the WSC Awards Ceremony.  A unique aboriginal cultural presentation opened the ceremony followed by a video of this years’ WSC experience created by the WSC media crew!  We got to see some awesome shots of the solar cars driving on the Stuart Highway.  One shot that stood out was the scene of Team Nuon driving next to flames on the side of the road!  Teams encountered some extreme conditions this year and have made many memories along the way.

Following the awards ceremony, we had a pizza feast back at our villas with a debrief meeting and sharing session of our WSC experience.  We assembled feedback to give to WSC officials as well as thoughts expressing how we felt we performed as a team.  Without a doubt, we accomplished what we strove toward throughout the entire race.  We asked one another if we felt we achieved our two goals, to glorify God and to do our best, and unanimously agreed that we had.  Many examples were shared about how we did this and how others perceived our team.  We look forward to continuing our team mission and spreading experiences learned from WSC this year.

Thank you again for all of your support along the way!  We have given a lot to this experience and have learned much from it as well.  We will each cherish the grand experience we have had here in Australia and look forward to sharing our next race with you too!

For one last time from Australia, cheers mate!

Lacey

G’day!

We have crossed the finish line in Adelaide!  Yesterday morning, we made our way to the parade grounds near Victoria Square where we unloaded our car and prepared to drive the last few kilometers to the finish.  Justin hopped into the car while the rest of the team loaded into a shuttle bus WSC provides for all teams coming into the finish.  The shuttle rode behind Ra 7s, and as we approached, we got out and joyously went with her across the finish line!  Other teams were there to cheer us on and many photos were taken.  Justin even got interviewed by Channel 10!  Soon after, we celebrated in the fountain together by making sure we got as wet as possible!  Jumping in the fountain is a tradition many teams follow once they declare victory in Victoria Square.

It was definitely a day to remember!  We stayed around Victoria Square for a while trading soggy team shirts and mingling with the other teams.  Sten and I stayed with Ra 7s for a few more hours and met those interested in our car whle the rest of our team went back to our villas to pack our crate.  Later in the afternoon, we donated many of our items (such as a BBQ and sleeping bags) to Salvos (the equivalent of Salvation Army in the United States), enjoyed a little bit of free time on the giant jumping bubble near our villas, and ended the day with a special dinner with Sidd, a previous Prin grad, and Pete who was the head safety officer for the World Solar Challenge.  At dinner, many enjoyed trying the kangaroo, emu, crocodile, and barramundi which are all unique culinary items to this area.  Scrumptious!

Sunday evening we will attend the WSC awards ceremony and will say farewell to Adelaide as we get ready to fly out early Monday morning.

Cheers,

Lacey

G’day fellow supporters!

The last two days have been very wonderful out here in the Outback. Today was our second day of trailering from Coober Pedy all the way to Adelaide via Port Augusta. We have covered several more hundred kilometers and continue to see other teams along the drive. The atmostphere has been very moist as we’ve been in rain since we started trailering. Other teams have been trailering as well mostly due to the poor weather conditions for driving on solar energy. Nevertheless, our team remains in good spirits. Yesterday, a couple of us swaped seats in the lead and chase vans to switch things up a bit. This meant I ended up spending many entertained and exciting kilometers in the passenger seat of the lead van next to Steve! What a day. Steve has a knack for making us laugh and ensuring we get the most from our experience here. We had a quick pit stop in Alice Springs and he gave specific instructions for each of us to follow once we entered the grocery store in town. My job was to head straight to the candy isle and pick out some tasty treats for the rest of the drive. As we all followed Steve’s instructions to the T, we had quite the snacking bash once back on the open highway. Musk candy (febreeze sticks), honey soy chicken chips (toe jam), and the lemon lime bitters drink were among the most entertaining snack items tried by all.

On our way into Coober Pedy (opal capital of the world and home to the driest golf course!) we drove to a lookout point at the breakaways! We had the most amazing view of the landscape and explored the land for a little while. I sprinted off into the distance and made my way up a peak where I saw two beautiful owls fly off! Some others were at another peak and we had fun hearing our voices echo across the way. After making it back to the vans, Steve took a few of us to see the dog fence which is the longest fence in the world at 5,614km! This fence helps keep dingos out of the south east part of the continent. To complete a fun-filled day, we treaded around in mud observing gypsum scattered about, explored an underground Catholic church, and then all met up at a restaurant for a delicious dinner.

Instead of camping out for the night, we camped in! Coober Pedy has a unique underground campground where we settled overnight. This morning, we left the old mining opal town for the long shot to Adelaide. As it was another stormy day, we trailered all the way in past the final control stop in Port Augusta. All teams must make it to the finish line by 11am tomorrow morning, Saturday, to declare victory in Victoria Square! Our plan is to pull Ra 7s out of her crate tomorrow morning and drive across the finish line on solar energy! Everyone is excited to meet back up with the other teams to exchange race shirts and celebrate with one another in the fountain nearby.

It’s hard to believe we’re reaching the end of WSC 2011!

Cheers,

Lacey

G’day,

Day 4 in the Outback ended up being a bit more challenging than the last couple of days. We left Tennant Creek in due time at our 8:22am start and blasted out of town. As we had a lot of built up energy due to our extra charging time in the sunlight from the afternoon before, we needed to burn some of it up quickly so as to not continue getting over voltage in the battery pack. Of course, this is not the most efficient strategy to have over time and we had to dramatically slow our speed down in the late afternoon.

We made it into Ti Tree for the Control Stop by 4:40pm and stayed there for the night. After some thoughtful consideration and listening, the team decided that we need to trailer 878km into Coober Pedy tomorrow. This will be our first time trailering on the race. We sincerely wanted to make it all the way to Adelaide on solar energy, but unfortunately due to some of our challenges with our battery pack and the restricted regulations of this race, trailering is a must if we wish to be in Adelaide on time. We will be the 15th team to trailer so far and are currently in 22nd place.

In the midst of this major decision, I feel each individual on this team has been an incredible support for one another. Trailering does not mean we have failed in any way. In fact, I have witnessed so many beautiful unfoldments that have come out of this race. I would not trade any challenge or moment for a higher ranking in the race as I feel we have learned and benefited from everything we have experienced. It’s very special to be out here in the Outback with a group focused on a greater purpose.

With only a few more days left on this race, I’m looking forward to the continuation of our team achieving our top two goals: to glorify God and to do our best!

Cheers,

Lacey

G’day!

After a pleasant overnight stop just south of Elliot with Team Bochum, we pulled out of our campsite just after 8am.  This morning, the electrical team switched out 2 of our 26 modules from our battery pack in an effort to balance the pack out a bit more.  By the end of today, the electrical team determined that we did maintain a more balanced pack due to the module change.

It turned out being a much shorter race day as the majority of the teams were stopped at the Control Point in Tennant Creek an extra 3 hours and 52 minutes from the time they arrived.  This added time was due to 3 hours and 52 minutes of road closure yesterday from a few wildfires along the Stuart Highway south of Tennant Creek.  Therefore, this was not a time penalty put forth by WSC race officials but by the Northern Territory Emergency Services.

We rolled into the Control Stop at 1pm and therefore stayed in town for the night.  Many teams had to stay over as well so we are certainly not alone!  With that added time and our 30 minutes of the Control Stop, we cannot leave Tennant Creek until 8:22am tomorrow morning.

Have a sunny day!

Lacey

G’day!

After a very quick stop in the morning to fix a minor problem, we cruised to our second Control Stop in Dunmarra by 1:45pm in the afternoon.

As I ride in the chase vehicle, I’m able to listen in to Joe’s (our chase van driver) and Steve’s (our lead van driver) excellent communication with Justin over the radio. In addition to keeping Justin and Ra 7s safe from traffic, they are able to check up with him on how he and the car feels. We do have a telemetry system set up so that Justin can keep track of his speed in the car and so that we can follow his progress as we go. There is a laptop set up on a table in the back of chase where John, Paul, and Brian R. work on strategy in accordance to the weather and how Ra 7s is performing.

Following the Control Stop, Brian R. hopped in the car for his first time on the Stuart Highway. He got a good 2.5 hours of driving in before we officially stopped for the night. While charging our array and setting up camp, Team Bochum from Germany pulled in behind us! We are sharing our campsite along side them and have bonded some more with their team. What fun!

Overall, we had a very smooth day and only needed to pause for our Control Stop! As we have been having a few complications with a couple modules in our battery pack, the decision has been made to switch out two modules in the pack for a 27.6 minute penalty tonight. We hope that this will allow us to maintain a greater amount of energy in our pack and permit a higher average speed for the rest of the race. This is a penalty we’re willing to take as it should be better for us in total.

A brand new day is ahead!

Cheers,

Lacey

G’day Mates!

Yesterday was our first official day on the 2011 World Solar Challenge! Starting in 26th place out of 37 teams, we had a very harmonious start heading out of the city of Darwin. Many supporters made it out for the event and we had fun waving to all of them as we passed by. The traffic was very busy as each team embarked about 1 minute apart from each other. We passed a few teams that were stopped on the side of the road along the way and safely made it into the Outback. Our first Control Stop was in Katherine 316 Km down the road where each team must stop for 30 minutes. These spots are great places to fill our support vehicles up on petrol (gasoline), charge the array, give the driver a rest, and take a dunny (toilet) break.

During the day, the terrain was rather hilly and the weather partly cloudy. As we did not have full sun throughout the day, we needed to stop and charge a couple of times to gain some energy. By 5:15pm, we stopped 15 minutes early for the night on the side of the road so that we could get a little more time charging the array with the declining sun. We set up camp nearby our car and had a nice 1st night in the Outback!

Along the whole race, every team has an Observer with them in the car who keeps track of timing and makes sure that each team follows all the race rules. Currently we have Micah, a first time observer from Sydney. He has been teaching us a lot about the terrain and has pointed out some neat wildlife. This morning, he introduced us to Vegemite potato chips!

Today, we have started off in 21st place and have continued on our way down the Stuart Highway.

Cheers,
Lacey

P.S.- We encountered our first dingo running across the road outside of Darwin yesterday morning. Wild!

G’day!

I’m pleased to report that the entire team has now rendezvoused in Darwin! My name is Sten and I’ll be helping Lacey out with the team updates. I was stoked to be a spontaneous addition to the race team in 2009 and incredibly blessed to be a part of it again. This time, Julie and I will be in the scout vehicle for the race. Paul and I flew in this arvo (afternoon) and headed to the track to feast our eyes upon our gorgeous Ra 7s and catch up with the team.

The team was busy working on the Battery Management System (BMS) today. Due to regulations, the size of our battery pack needed to be reduced and the BMS tweaked to compensate for fewer battery cells. Specifically the protection limits needed modifications for under and over voltage and current, over discharge and temperature. There was time for a couple of drivers to clock up some more kilometers on the track training before the track closed at 6pm. She’s quite the sight!

After a quick dip in the pool, we feasted on tacos and Tim Tams (Australian chocolate biscuits that are rather delicious), then had a Friday Evening Testimony Meeting. We felt a strong sense of protection as we listened to Katherine’s readings. We heard some beaut testimonies and helpful ideas to keep our thought safe and focused on reality. We’ve been working on the idea of “stability” too. I’m surely relishing being a part of this team of spiritual thinkers again.

Thanks heaps for your ongoing support.

One more day of preparation and we’re off!

Have a ripper day,
Sten