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.