Monday, July 23, 2012

Final Results:

Team # and Name	Stage 1 Time	Stage 2 Time	Stage 3 Time	Stage 4 Time	Stage 5 Time	Total Elapsed Time	Miles Credited
2 – Michigan	04:13:29	10:32:55	12:26:15	11:59:47	05:23:55	44:36:21	1652.80
9 – Iowa State	04:22:34	16:03:25	14:02:33	15:36:49	04:49:42	54:55:03	1652.80
32 – Principia	05:26:59	14:22:48	17:12:00	14:18:31	04:29:11	55:49:29	1652.80
254 – CalSol	05:34:35	15:32:19	16:04:08	15:33:46	04:37:17	57:22:05	1652.80
35 – Minnesota	04:32:09	13:25:16	22:01:03	17:00:52	03:53:57	60:53:17	1572.45
256 – Oregon State	5:56:04	17:07:27	16:30:44	31:11:09	06:18:35	77:03:59	1390.05
5 – Illinois State	06:12:05	23:57:36	29:33:27	29:54:57	12:48:54	102:26:59	911.80
20 – Western Michigan	05:10:14	35:54:12	24:18:45	32:07:57	5:31:52	103:03:00	886.80
55 – Montreal	07:21:18	32:25:12	28:46:39	28:58:57	11:38:15	109:10:21	829.35
28 – New Paltz	08:54:39	30:48:12	28:03:03	35:25:57	13:27:42	116:39:33	727.70
4 – MIT	05:27:05	47:10:06	39:49:33	16:00:52	14:08:48	122:36:24	854.65

As published by the Innovators Educational Foundation

Saturday, July 21, 2012

We made it to St Paul, Minnesota, and the 2012 North American Solar Challenge has come to an end. Despite today's weather forecast of clear and sunny skies though, we were unfortunate to spend a large part of this morning pushing through heavy cloud cover and rain. Worried about making it to the finish under our own power, we stayed considerably below marked speed limits until after noon when we finally hit the sun we were promised. As we picked up speed and headed into the twin cities, it became apparent that there was considerably more power in our battery pack than we had expected to finish with. The caravan's speed was more than doubled by the time we were within the last hour of the race, and under the suns rays, were able to maintain the battery pack voltage that we thought would have been nearly depleted by this portion of the race. The team pulled up to the finish line in front of the Minnesota capital with almost half of our pack's energy left which was unfortunate, but after the unpredictable weather we've seen over the past few days, we feel it was worth playing it safe during this last leg of the race to be sure we made it under our own power.

It was good to see those of you who stopped by the display outside the capital following the race. We also own another large thank you to the folks at 3M for a wonderful picnic dinner. Great job this year to all the teams and facilitators of the 2012 North American Solar Challenge!

Friday, July 20, 2012

It seems the 2012 North American Solar Challenge is quickly drawing to a close. We are here in La Crosse, Wisconsin, with the ten other teams still competing on the evening before the last stage of the Rayce. Due to minimal sunshine during the first day of the fourth stage, and consequently a lack of charge in our batteries, we were forced to trailer the car here, but have spent the day today recharging and preparing for the sprint to the finish. In less than 24 hours the race will end in St. Paul, Minnesota, and we hope to see you there with us.

Friday, July 20, 2012

After leaving Illinois Thursday morning, the skies were clear and blue. Packed into the vans, we headed out on stage four of the race which begin along the famed Route 66. The pavement was flat and open, and it seemed like another great day to be on the road. As we moved on and into Wisconsin though, the race route became considerably more challenging. Traffic picked up, clouds blew over, and the long straight aways we became accustomed to in the morning gradually became hilly and increasingly congested. Despite our best efforts to maintain a steady battery voltage, we begin to drain the pack. Eventually when we met up with the highway where the route was taking us, a tough decision had to be made of whether to keep pushing forward, or stop and risk not making the checkpoint and stage stop. We pulled off the race route with hopes of building back some battery voltage before hitting the highway, but the weather quickly turned sour. What little sunshine there was near the entrance to the highway was gone almost instantly and so it was agreed that our best alternative was to trailer yet another leg of the race, to La Crosse, Wisconsin.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Today race route entailed finishing the second part of the third stage of the Rayce, crossing between Indiana and Illinois. We were very optimistic at the outset because weather was forecast to be sunny, and we ran the car well during the first piece of stage three. We left Goshen, Indiana, with the sun at our backs and kept what was thought to be a reasonably sustainable pace. Unfortunately we found ourselves on the side of the road several times diagnosing problems before noon which ate a decent portion of our available race time. To make matters worse, as the day wore on the skies became increasingly overcast, biting into the power available from the sun. Eventually we had to acknowledge that we would not make it to the stage stop in time for designated charging time at 6:00pm. This meant that trailering the car was going to be unavoidable and we were forced to make the decision to cut our losses. We agreed that it would be best to take advantage of the power we could get midday, before trailering to the stage finish. It seems this may have worked in our favor though because shortly before we packed up to head for Normal, Illinois, we were hit in Monticello, Indiana, with a thunderstorm. Despite the disappointment of having to trailer to the end of another stage, the hope is that some of the strategic decisions we made today will leave us better able to handle the the next stage which will be the longest on 2012 Rayce route. This next stage will begin where we left off in Normal, Illinois, make a checkpoint in Verona, Wisconsin, and then head on to the stage stop for the fourth leg of the race in La Crosse, Wisconsin. As usual, we have our fingers crossed for clear skies tomorrow.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Early this morning we started the fourth leg of the Rayce, spanning Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Normal, Illinois. Dividing this stage was a checkpoint in our own city of Kalamazoo where the race passed through the Western Michigan University: College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. It turned out to be a very solid day of racing and the sun backed our journey all the way into the state of Indiana. Now we've found a hotel in the city of Goshen, just beyond where we left off with the race for the day. Tomorrow we will continue on with hopes of reaching the stage stop at Normal, Illinois. From Ann Arbor to Kalamazoo was just over 150 miles, while the route from Kalamazoo to Normal is nearly 300 miles. The second half of this stage is the longest of this years race, and we will need to make good time to complete it without taking a penalty for trailering. Hopefully we will not run into any of the rain that is forecast, or that will cut our chances of finishing this stage under our own power even slimmer. Until tomorrow, Kenwood Hoben

Monday, July 16, 2012

The team spent today regrouping after the disappointing decision to trailer the car to the Ann Arbor stage stop. It was relatively uneventful in most respects. Time was spent making minor fixes and preparations for the stretch of the race, charging, and predominantly cleaning until the rendezvous with other teams at designated charge time. Many thanks to University of Michigan for the great dinner and hospitality we received here in their home city.

Tomorrow we have a checkpoint in our own hometown of Kalamazoo. The checkpoint is located at Western Michigan University's College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. It opens at 11:00am and closes at 3:15pm. The address is:

Western Michigan University: College of Engineering and Applied Sciences
College Circle
Kalamazoo, Michigan 49008

The time we will be arriving can't be determined with certainty but we hope to make it to the checkpoint around 2:00pm. We look forward to seeing anyone interested in the solar racing community from our local Kalamazoo area. After stopping briefly at Parkview campus, this leg of the race continues to the stage stop at Normal, Illinois. With a forecast for great weather during this part of the race, so we hope to see you tomorrow in a sunny Kalamazoo.

Monday, July 16, 2012

It's turning out to be a beautiful day in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and the team is stopped for a day of charging before moving forward to the Kalamazoo checkpoint. We plan to stay set up here most of the day in the Sears parking lot across the street and would love some company while we prepare, so if you would like to stop by and say hi, we are located at:

Holiday Inn Express and Suites
600 Briarwood Cir
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48103.

Midway through the morning, it was realized that the car wasn't receiving full power from the solar array, but after making some adjustments to a connector, power was restored and charging begin again.

Check out our Flickr photostream




View 600 Briarwood Cir in a larger map

Monday, July 16, 2012

Yesterday was somewhat of a washout and unfortunately we didn't make it to the Mansfield, Ohio checkpoint. We were stuck wading through scattered thunderstorms from the moment we left the Erie, Pennsylvania stage stop. At 9am we were lined up to leave for the second leg of the race when we were met simultaneously with sudden downpour and a situation with the vehicle where we were required to pop the top on the car for troubleshooting and an impromptu replacement of some electronics. This lead to several hours lost race time and left us with very unfavorable conditions to close any gap with other teams. By mid afternoon, the call was made to stop and charge in a brief pocket of sunshine before continuing on to the designated charge time at 6pm. From there we trailered to Ann Arbor where we're only just getting to sleep and prepared for the day tomorrow. To make matters worse we had yet another flat tire on our trailer. Hopefully we'll be able to regroup and make better headway in the next few days. Good luck teams of ASC.

Saturday, July 14, 2012

This afternoon we drove the leg of the Rayce from Rochester, New York, to Erie, Pennsylvania. It officially begin at 9am when the first team was ushered out of the parking lot at the Rochester Institute of Technology. The start times of each convoy are staggered in one minute intervals and so shortly after the official start, teams were sent on their way to the first stage stop.

Cloud cover was an unfortunate consistency throughout the race day but we tried to make the best of what power we could glean from the sun. It was however pleasing to have needed none of our tires changed while on the race route. We were able to keep pressing forward besides a stop that was made to swap out dieing radio batteries. All in all, I believe the team was pleased with our first day out on the open roads.

In the morning, we're headed on to Mansfield, Ohio. The team held brief meeting tonight covering aspects of stretch of the Rayce, and hopefully tomorrow morning we'll be able to function as more well oiled machine. Until tomorrow though, good night.

Posted by, Kenwood Hoben

Friday, July 13, 2012

We're here in Rochester, New York at the display day for the 2012 American Solar Challenge. We were momentarily delayed in getting here by a flat tire on our trailer but were able to replace it with a spare and hit the road again before too long. We'll be here until around 7pm so if you get a chance to stop by we'd love to see you here. Once again, the address is:

Rochester Institute of Technology
Lomb Memorial Dr
Rochester, New York 14623

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Today was the last day of the Formula Sun Grand Prix. We've left the Monticello Motor club and are back at the hotel. In the morning we'll be leaving for Rochester, New York where the Sunseeker 2012 car will be on display at the Rochester Institute of Technology. If you would like to stop by to say hi and check out the car that we'll be racing, we'd love to see you. The address where we'll be set up is:

Rochester Institute of Technology
Lomb Memorial Dr
Rochester, New York 14623

The following morning we'll see the first day of the Rayce, a road among solar car teams leading from the location of Friday's display to St. Paul Minnesota. The ASC 2012 schedule is as follows:

July 13: Display Day in Rochester, NY

July 14: Start in Rochester, NY
                Stage Stop in Erie, PA

July 15: Stage Start in Erie, PA
                Checkpoint in Mansfield, OH

July 16: Stage Stop in Ann Arbor, MI

July 17: Stage Start in Ann Arbor, MI
                Checkpoint in Kalamazoo, MI

July 18: Stage Stop in Normal, IL

July 19: Stage Start in Normal, IL
                Checkpoint in Verona, WI

July 20: Stage Stop in La Crosse, WI

July 21: Finish in St. Paul, MN

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Today was the second day of the Formula Sun Grand Prix event. We were up early this morning to head to the track and had another sunny day for racing. We've been lucky to have relatively few serious problems with the car but have unfortunately blown out several tires while on the track. This requires us to go out onto the track to support the car and driver. So we get several team members into a van and are driven out to the location where the car's become stranded, lift the solar array and get the car on boxes, and from there we do a track-side tire change. This is hectic and time-consuming, so many members work hard to monitor tire condition and to prevent this sort of event. I was responsible for damage to an equipment toolbox during one of these excursions, so that is testament to the importance of preemptive monitoring such as this. We've been able to keep the car on the track for a large majority of the past two days of racing though, and I for one am excited to participate in the upcoming road race. Back at the hotel now, we're resting and preparing for another day of racing.
Posted by, Kenwood Hoben

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Just under three hours ago Sunseeker and many other teams from around the US and Canada begin the Formula Sun Grand Prix (FSGP). The Weather here in New York is nothing short of gorgeous, and an ideal day for solar racing. Over the next few days teams with either blue or green approval ratings from scrutineering will participate in the FSGP -- a track race taking place at the Monticello Motor Club, which also serves as the qualifying event for the 2012 American Solar Challenge. Teams hoping to take part in the cross country event must complete a minimum of 105 laps in one day, or 160 laps over two days. For the time being though, we'll continue to enjoy the nearly cloudless sky for this initial race day.

Monday, July 9, 2012

We've finally seen some reprieve from the blistering temperatures we were met with here in Monticello, New York. After Saturday's intermittent showers and storming, Sunday was beautifully sunny, yet cool, and the pleasant conditions have followed us into this afternoon. Furthermore, the team is excited to have passed all but one stage of qualification.

Yesterday the car passed on Body and Sizing, and we put our drivers and the car up for dynamic testing. Dynamics consisted of a slalom course followed by a braking test where each driver must show they can come to a complete and controlled stop under wet driving conditions, and within a set amount of time. All three drivers passed the slalom course, but we only managed to pass two drivers in the braking test. This was just enough to qualify the Sunseeker car for dynamic scrutineering though, after which we were able to enjoy a dinner of hamburgers with the team from Michigan State University.

This morning we headed back to the test track for dynamics again where our third driver had another chance at the braking qualifier. After another shot, he was qualified to drive for FSGP and the 2012 American Solar Challenge. This leaves approval of our support vehicles as the final barrier between Sunseeker 2012 and the upcoming road race, spanning from Rochester, New York to Saint Paul, Minnesota. We wish the rest of the teams here in Monticello luck as they also continue to prepare for the remaining events.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

The Sunseeker team was able to finish up today in overall high spirits. As it turned out the rain did not manage to hold off and teams were forced to head for cover several times, but we were able to hold up in the tent (while holding it down to the ground) until the weather cleared. Despite several minor setbacks with the mechanical and electrical systems, the car eventually made it to all three scrutineering sessions that were planned for the day. We're excited to have passed two of the three, but need to make some modifications to battery protection before it will pass inspection. The system was reengaging from a fault detection -- though under safe conditions -- without acknowledgement from the driver. This did not provide time for and encourage assessment of the error's source, and was deemed unacceptable for race conditions. Therefore the electrical crew is hard at work fixing the issue.

We're also happy to have successfully put out the first Sunseeker cooking fire with nobody hurt and nothing damaged. With a solid day under our belts though, we've made it back to the hotel to sleep and get ready for another day of scrutineering tomorrow.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Good morning! Today will be the second day for the team at the Monicello raceway. Yesterday afternoon we participated in the first of our scrutineering events and are happy to have passed with green marks for our array. The next evaluation scheduled will be for the battery protection system, followed by electrical and mechanical systems later this evening. Last minute preparations are being made with hopes that the fair weather will hold out for the remainder of the day.
Posted by Kenwood Hoben

Friday, July 6, 2012

The Sunseeker solar car team arrived in Monticello, NY about 10:15 last night. Most of the team went directly to bed at the Best Western - Monticello. A team meeting was scheduled for 10:00 am this morning in the hotel parking lot to get rolling with the needed activities. Posted by Abraham Poot, Advisor

Thursday, July 5

The WMU solar car team departed this morning about 8:30 for Monticello, New York. They have a long drive ahead of them (730 miles) on a very hot day. They will start scrutineering on July 7 and assuming they pass, will begin the track race portion of the event, the Formula Sun Grand Prix on July 10. We wish them luck and a safe drive. Posted by Abraham Poot, Advisor

Tuesday July 3, 2012

Welcome to all our readers! This blog is the beginning of the race blog for the American Solar Challenge 2012. The WMU solar car team this morning had a photo session for team and individual member pictures with the solar car. The local television channel WWMT was on hand to take some videos for the news later today. There were interviews of team members by Ursula Zerilli of MLIVE and the Kalamazoo Gazette and our team leader was interviewed on live radio by a Grand Rapids radio station. The team members are putting the final tweaks on the car before departing for Monticello, New York on Thursday July 5. The team will spend six days in Monticello, NY at the Monticello Raceway going through three days of scrutineering where the car is inspected by electrical and mechanical engineers for adherence to safety regulations and will go through dynamic testing before the car is allowed to enter the track. Scrutineering will be followed by three days of track racing, the Formula Sun Grand Prix portion of the event. On July 13 solar car teams will travel to Rochester, New York, display the cars for the remainder of the day and prepare for the start of the cross-country rally, The American Solar Challenge. On Saturday morning, July 14, solar car teams will leave on the start of the race at 9:00 am at one minute intervals. At the end of the first day, all teams need to reach the stage stop at Erie, Pennsylvania. Restarting on July 15, teams must reach the Mansfield, Ohio checkpoint before the end of the day. They are allowed to continue after the mandatory one hour stop and drive until 6:00 pm when they must find a place to stay overnight and resume racing the following morning at 9:00 am from the point at which they stopped driving the night before. At the end of the day all the teams should arrive in Ann Arbor, Michigan. From Ann Arbor, the route will take solar teams through Lansing on the way to the Kalamazoo checkpoint at the WMU College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. The checkpoint event is open to the public and provides the opportunity to view solar cars from all the teams and talk to team members. After the Kalamazoo checkpoint, the route heads toward Normal, Illinois. Teams must arrive at the Normal, Ill stage stop by the evening of July 18. On July 19 the race resumes and follows the route to a checkpoint in Verona, Wisconsin. The route continues from here to LaCrosse, Wisconsin for a stage stop that all teams much reach by the end of July 20. July 21 marks the last day of racing with a finish at the capitol building in St. Paul, Minnesota. Submitted by Abraham Poot, Advisor