DAY 3: Scrutineering #3


The majority of our scrutineering inspections were scheduled for Tuesday, but since we were not entirely prepared, we went for them on Wednesday. Having worked on the car for 2 straight days, it was interesting to see where we stood. Many items were green for the mechanical station! Our car's chassis has been admired by many for its robustness, but one of the scrutineers was so impressed with the design that he claimed if he had to pick any car to crash in, he'd choose ours. 

However, the scrutineers did find many other items that our car needed to improve upon. We returned from a morning of scrutineering feeling more than a little overwhelmed. Could we get it all done in a day, with only 3 people?

Since this is not a fairy tale, the answer is no. We did not live out the underdog story and pull through in our toughest times on our own. We did pull through, but we had an immense amount of help too. It's amazing how generous the teams here are! Everyone is willing to help anyone. Whether it's tools, advice, or work, no one is selfish. We'd like to extend our biggest thanks to the Oregon State University and University of Calgary teams for all of their much appreciated help.

By the end of the day, we'd completed every outstanding scrutineering item but one.

DAY 4: RACE DAY #1

At 10:00am there were overcast skies and 8 cars on the starting line, ready to begin racing in the Formula Sun Grand Prix. Everyone, even those still working on their cars, stopped what they were doing to watch. The air was charged with so much excitement I swear our car started moving in the garage. The cars sitting on the track looked like a herd of sleek space ships, waiting for take off. Waiting, waiting, still waiting...eventually we started to hear snippets of conversation from surrounding organizers' radios: "The dog is still on the track..." Once the canine racer finished his laps, the solar racers finally began.

Remember that hill? Here are some solar cars for scale...



Cheers went up from the crowd as 7 out of 8 cars made it up that monstrosity. 

The other 12 teams took the day to fix any outstanding scrutineering items. We received the rest of our cavalry, so by midday our team had 6 people. We worked the entire day to iron out our battery protection issues.

Unfortunately for those racing, the sun was not being entirely cooperative. Some cars had to crawl most of the track, and some had charging issues. The FSGP is the qualifying event for the cross country American Solar Challenge, so each driver needs to be able to do 15 laps in a day to qualify. So far only one team, University of Michigan, has qualified. Everyone is hoping for more sunlight tomorrow, but rain is in the forecast.

Maybe next post I'll have good news for everyone!

-Ayeda