[Update October 19th, 09:00 UTC / October 19th 18:30 NT time]
University of Michigan working on Quantum in the outback
The University of Michigan team put up an update about racing day three. The piece gives an interesting picture of life in a solar team hurtling through the outback. Quoting from the article:
“We plunged deeper south into the Outback. The trees grew shorter and shorter with each passing mile until the caravan penetrating the Outback proper. The land is markedly harsher with each mile taken south toward Adelaide.”
“At this location we’re just a few dozen miles past the midway point of this brutal event. It has become clear to me that this is much more of an endurance race than I’d anticipated.”
“Another interesting difference in this 2011 race is the camaraderie and sharing amongst the teams. Each morning, blasting from their premium sound system, the Nuon team surprises us with some carefully selected anthem that celebrates America. This is a fun event and with the gorgeous Australian backdrop, this has to be one of the most unique competitions in the world.”
They’re also optimistic about the battle for first place:
“Even though the Tokai team has a substantial lead on Michigan – as well as the Nuon team hailing from the Netherlands) it is by no means an insurmountable lead. Anything can happen out here in this rugged land and from what I’ve seen, it probably will.”
Impulse charging statically on racing day 1
The Calsol team put up a somewhat downbeat update about their racing day three. They are suffering from technical problems with their MPPTs and solar panel. A faulty battery cell caused the car to shut down on racing day two, and the team had to break the battery seal to fix this. According to the provisional results they are at position 24, having to trailer their car a part of the way.
On their website they did write something that fills me with pride:
“…but for updates on all of the teams involved http://www.solarwebsite.nl/ is the best source. Leading up to the race they provided excellent coverage on all of the team’s build progress and they continue to update on the developments in the race (although with a slight preference for the leading teams from the Netherlands).”
It’s very gratifying to one’s hard work (how much it may be) rewarded by the very people I admire. Thank you!
Nice to hear that other teams found you’re website. Now the WSC HQ has to find it. In my opinion you’re also the best place to get information, before and even during the race with regular updates. Makes the race a whole lot interresting. You doing a great job, even better than in 2009. I have to say compliments to you & Diederik for putting in the work.
When are you gonna pitch to the WSC organisators in becoming their official news outlet…
Hahaha, I couldn’t agree more! You guys are doing a great job from which the officials could learn a bit.
Twente has their day 4 update online @ http://www.solarteam.nl
Let me tell you that your page really #1 source of information about WSC 2011.I’m reading first your staff ! … Great work ! I like the relevant information and even very interesting insides …You are TOP ! My huge compliments and thanks to maker of this page.
The official page WSC is very poor . It should promote the insteresting event and great work which all teams are doing. This is also hight tech competion and it is really pity that the web page of the WSC is just poor tech…!
Haha I stand by my statement. You guys are the definitive source, hope they contract you next time. Write a few more articles covering those of us in the back 60% and you’ll be 10x better than the official WSC news.
@Everyone: Thanks you for the compliments! It’s really motivating me to continue and improve this. I can tell you it’s not easy. There are some teams that have decent to great communication channels (website, social media, online video) but the majority of the teams are really hard to follow. There are even a few teams I doubted the existence of until they actually showed up for scrutineering.
During the race it’s even harder as 3G coverage is very bad in the outback and news makes it out slowly. Some of the ‘richer’ teams carry sat phones and modems. They can send messages to the home office which we can then pick up here on this site but again, many teams do not have such luxuries. These teams can only update their comm channels when they’re stopped near a village with an internet connection.
Still, it’s much fun to do and I’ve found the best partner imaginable in Diederik. I’m very proud that so many people consider this website the best source of WSC news and information. I’m glad I can provide the service to the world simply by doing what I would be doing anyway: closely following the WSC.
Jeroen. Closely following the WSC? Literally! There is a man sitting in this house with his nose literally 5 cm from his laptopscreen for about 23 hours a day… I think his name is Diederik. I’m not sure, because he doesn’t talk, sleep, eat or anything, but I guess it’s him. I think we were talking more when he was in Oz the previous races, he had more time there
. Anyway, I’m glad (and also a bit proud) everybody is so happy with the site, you two are doing a great job! Keep up the good work!