Big thanks to Base-X for providing the Team with such amazing shelters! Now is a great time to have that kind of serious hardware.

Based on the early stop and the relatively short day (knock on wood) planned for tomorrow, I'm assuming you guys ran it almost dead today - must be nice having all of those stage stops... ;)

Good luck staying dry and dodging the storms. Keep it up, and keep adding to the lead (no such thing as a cushion in solar car). Also, remember that the batteries are good till at least -2 watt hours.

Godspeed, Continuum.

Great job wolverines! I had to stay up for the post. Keep them coming. Go blue! (Principia's performance is amazing. How does a school that small do it?)

-Engineering 1994

Great to hear! Go Blue!

Yo Shawn, long time! How goes the battle? Send me your email address at fn (at) altgate (dot) com.

Hi to you all again from Australia.
I read in an earlier blog that you have recieved no penaltys, that means you are not driving fast enough!!!!!
Bye the way, does Brooke have the 'P' plate on the car and does Spencer have his 'L' plate on the car.
Also for my personal info, can someone tell me who is on the team this year. Keep up the good work, regards from Steve Cook steve@cityplastics.com.au

Great job, Michigan!

I love this blog, it's so exciting to follow your team. I check this page obsessively and did the same during Australia... it was so good to come back to it and see all the familiar stuff I've come to love reading about. Even in the comments, I feel like this team and its alumni and supporters have so much character--numbers from TC Lambert, Brian Ignaut still being motivational, etc. I first started following the team as a family member but solar car--as a sport and a community and a pretty sweet engineering/science project--has sucked me in completely. Great job guys, you're inspiring. :D

Go Blue!

Go Blue!

Hi to everyone from Singapore!

I wish I was there with you guys. It's really weird reading this blog and not actually being on the rayce.

It's great to see that the team is doing so well. The energy, professionalism, and spirit you guys bring to the scene is what makes me proud to be even remotely associated with all of you - if not personally, then through the sleepless nights, carbon fiber cuts, yellow tape, and all the forecasts, checks and rechecks that you do, knowing that it's cutting out of your sleep time - all in order to gain those precious few minutes and seconds.

Make sure you keep all the speed logs, and I agree with Joe - Go fast, Go smooth, Go Blue!

PS - watch out for the wet roads!

I can't stay up that late, you guys! Okay, app. 7 hrs. 10 min. to drive from Neosho to Omaha. Was the new 15 miles added before or after the checkpoint? If before, we get an average of 57.6 mph for the second stage (so far). If after, only 55.5 mph. Overall, about 49 mph after 748 miles. 1571 to go.

Does anyone still have the breakdown of the times Momentum posted for similar stages 3 years ago? Continuum, with a plumper cross section and 25% smaller array, looks to be kicking Momentum's butt.

We're about 1/3 of the way. At this rate, Minnesota will need about 8 more MPPT's. Seriously, I hope they figure out what's been breaking them. I hate to see such a strong competitor sidelined by a little glitch.

Kudos to Base-x for the shelters, and to Michigan for extending their lead over the lit majors from Principia. I still can't get over how well they're doing. Principia has to be the smallest school in the race. Amazing.

As much of a pain as I'm sure it was to get a last minute route change, it's good to get away from those bloody hills. Pretty much the third worst thing for solar cars, after clouds and bad rubbernecking drivers.

Great to see the old girl still has the speed, despite the bald spot and the busted nose. Keep it up guys, still a long way to go but looks like you've had a heck of a start.

How's the corn?

The tougher the conditions the better Michigan does (relatively)! Either way, Go Blue!

Okay, I'm going to stand up for those that can't defend themselves. Yes, hills.

Hills are great, a welcome reprieve from flat lands (ever do a solar car race across Florida?). As long as you get to enjoy your new found potential energy as kinetic energy on the way down... The losses aren't so bad. Even better when you've got so much KE that you can use regen. Solar cars can traverse amazing distances on under cloudy skies and a malfunctioning array across hills.

Now mountains, on the other hand, are plain evil. The ASC '01 and '03 races climbed up to Flagstaff, AZ at 7.8k ft from Chicago at 0.6k ft.

So, I don't want to hear any more about the hills around Omaha... ;-)

Good they changed the route, but it would have been interesting to see Continuum vs the other solar cars on that hill!

Heck Russ forget Floriday, the drive through western Kansas and easter Colorado was enough to put me to sleep. There were times on that route that I thought the weather satellite dish was the tallest object for miles.

Hah Russ,

These hills were so bad they would have to put the NGM motor on to make it up. Not exactly something you want to do mid-rayce...

-Robert Vogt

I've got nothing against hills in general, in fact I rather enjoy them (Flagstaff is quite a nice place, really). I just don't like driving solar cars up them.

But Continuum does surprisingly well on hills - we almost had to stop on the steepest hill on the Stuart highway, but only because the road train in front of us couldn't handle it.

Enjoy the hills while you can. From Fargo on, it's almost as boring as the Outback.

Missouri-Rolla (aka S&T) reports this order reaching Topeka: Michigan, Principia, Waterloo, FH Bochum, Minnesota, Calgary, Missouri S&T, and Iowa State. Waterloo moved up quite a bit. Calgary and Iowa State moved up, also. Minnesota and Missouri dropped back a little.

Missouri said they were driving 45 and guessed Michigan was going somewhat faster. Check out video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FRs34V-V-I to see Michigan going 60.

The National Weather Service has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for an area just north of Omaha. Hope you guys are under cover.

Garrick, yeah, going UP a hill is quite a bit less fun than going down.

I take it you're talking about Hayes Creek Hill in the NT? Stopping on that hill... Ugh.

Missouri S&T reports bad news from Topeka:

"HOLD ON!!! Just as we wrote this Minnesota was getting ready to lower their array when two fire-cracker-like reports from inside their car echoed all the way across the parking lot, and two of their crew jumped away from the car. No way that can be good!!"

I hate to hear something like this.

It was indeed Hayes Creek Hill. We were zipping along at about 95 kph, but came up behind a 4 trailer gas hauler who slowed to 15 kph - unfortunately there was no place for him to pull over, and no visibility to pass. We were worried about getting up that hill with the CSIRO, but ended up using full regen on a good chunk of it.

I second Garricks first comment. It's great to see the car doing so well after so many unfortunate events. You guys in Michigan sure know how to make strong cars.

Keep up the good work.

I wish you clear skies and clear roads.

Go Blue!!

Awesome job guys, keep it up and cross the finish line first. I'm glad to hear Continuum is running exactly how we designed her to.

Go Blue!

I have some photos from the stage stop at Neosho. Where is the best place to upload them?
Go Blue!
Where else can I find blogs and comments on the progress of the race?
Jay LSA '72

Anon, you can post on http://www.flickr.com/ and then share the link.

@Jay LSA '72: Many of the team blogs and Flickr feeds are being aggregated at http://friendfeed.com/rooms/nasc-2008

Any word on exactly what happened to Minnesota's car at Topeka?

Missouri S&T's latest blog update mentions passing Minnesota again AFTER Topeka, so it sounds like they got the car going again.

Wish you gays have a great trip !!

Awesome! That's great to hear!

While in Topeka where there any signs from our contenders?

That would say a lot since I think the stage start this morning was at 1 minute intervals again, so unless Principia pulled in a minute after us we extended our lead on them.

241 miles from Neosho to Topeka in about 5 hours means an average speed around 48 mph. Definitely faster than day 1.

Excellent job!

Go fast, go smooth, GO BLUE!

The Principia trailer showed up, but no sign of their solar car, so we've extended our lead by at least 29 minutes!

Excellent! Great job Blue!

241 miles from Neosho to Topeka in about 5 hours means an average speed around 48 mph. Definitely faster than day 1.

Much faster, actually. They started at 9 and arrived a little after 1, just over 4 hours, so the average speed was about 60 mph.

Looks like they're already somewhere around 50 miles North of Topeka heading at 64 miles per hour. Go Blue!

2005's average speed was 46.2 mph from Austin to Calgary. Continuum with 2 square meters less in solar array is on a pace to beat Momentum's pace. Truly outstanding.

Charles, thanks for correcting my numbers. I like doing the arithmetic, even based on guesstimates. But I like the accurate numbers even better. 60 mph! I couldn't average that in a Buick. Of course, I'd have to stop for gas, and a restroom or two. Which raises the question . . . No. Never mind. That would be too much info.

Here's video proof of Michigan cruising at 60mph (watch for the shot of the speedo)...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FRs34V-V-I

Great job so far guys! I hope the rest of the race goes just as smoothly!

Maybe an empty Gatorade bottle? That's what my friend, Tom, does when he's delivering mail.

So . . . they may reach Omaha just about half an hour before quittin' time? Very convenient if they get to overnight in Omaha. Or will they have time to push on past and sleep in an alfalfa field?

My wife says make sure to mark the bottle so no one tries to drink from the wrong one.

Wait, now I'm confused. Charles said they reached Topeka shortly after 1:00. Brian, at 3:49, said they were 50 miles north of Topeka. They should have left the checkpoint around 1:30. By 3:49, they should have been something like 130 miles north of Topeka, and reach Omaha around 4:00. That's an hour ago! Car number 2, where are you? (Did that just prove how old I am?)

The times on this blog are in eastern time. The times I gave were in central time. The car is approaching Omaha now. Sorry for the confusion.

Argh, the firewall won't let me post from work! Been following the blog all day though (don't tell my boss). Watch out for those alfalfa fields, they house some crazy bugs, but the small town Nebraska ERs are happy to open up early for you if you get bit! Looks like sunny skies ahead, keep it up!
- Maggie

Frackin' time Zones! EDT vs. CDT, and in Canada it looks like CST, and MDT, as well.

Awesome, keep it up. Keep those yellow hats on.

Great job guys! It's always a great feeling to extend the lead and give yourself a little bit of breathing room. But it's amazing how quickly that can evaporate under the wrong conditions! I'm cheering you on from here.

Been following the blog for a few days now, glad to hear that you're in the lead! GO BLUE!

Principia's website lists 19 students as solar car team members. Sounds small, but it's like 3.5% of their entire student body. Michigan would have to have over a thousand team members to match that level of participation.

Great job guys! Keep it up.

Having no penalties for the whole day is outstanding.

Love your tagline - Go fast, go smooth, go BLUE!

Just as a quick update, it looks like the team is crusing at the speed limit about 180 miles out of Neosho. I think they've been running at the speed limit all morning but I'm not sure.

Just as a quick update, it looks like the team is crusing at the speed limit about 180 miles out of Neosho. I think they've been running at the speed limit all morning but I'm not sure.

Close, I saw a 63.8 and a 64.5 in the logs. They should be arriving at the next checkpoint very soon.

Wait what logs? Did the NASC folks decide to release the GPS data finally?

Wait what logs? Did the NASC folks decide to release the GPS data finally?

Team chat logs. I've been following them from Ann Arbor.

Oh I see, thats great that they are using chat to keep in touch. Makes our communications in 97/99 look like carrier pigeons and semaphore flags. :)

Love the speed though, keep it going!

Thanks for letting MN borrow the tools. This will hopefully make for a very close race, as it was in 05.
Love getting your updates to find out how the whole field is doing.
Good luck to you and all the other teams as well.

Doug you better add the sign to the steering wheel of lead. I think you will know the one I'm talking about. Keep it up!
Go Fast, Go Smooth, Go Blue!!!

Soooo excited for you guys, you're doing great! Hope you're all enjoying the sunshine on your break today! Good luck tomorrow!

Way to go! Keep it up. I really would like to be more personal here, but, well, sorry. I'm never good with the pep talk.

Oops. I thought they had to stop for the day at 5:00 pm.

Recalculating . . . Okay, 335 miles for the first stage in 8 hours, 10 minutes, and 28 seconds. (You have to subtract 30 minutes for stop at McAlester checkpoint.) That gives average speed of about 41 mph. Not bad for day 1.

Principia must have passed Minnesota and Missouri S&T. Wow.

Only 1,969 miles to go.

Great job, team!

Nice move by Principia, curious to see if it was a strategy play (take advantage of the extra charging day in Neosho) or if they are just pure speed out there.

The rate at which data moves from the race caravan to those of us following is mind boggling compared to the way it was 'back in the day.'

Excellent work on getting to the stop with plenty of time to ensure a good full charge. Unfortunately, if the going forecast verifies tomorrow everyone else will also have a good charge.

Well done Michigan, when you get to the finish line just keep on driving southwest and i will see you all back here in Australia.
Regards Steve Cook, owner of the worlds fastest solar chase car.

The Principia team is twittering at http://www.twitter.com/prinsolar

Glad to see my two favorite teams doing so well!

Steady and Smart wins the race.Now go us that 5th National Championship.
Go Fast Go Smooth Go Blue!!!
--
Momentum Alum
Seun Noibi

For some reason I thought Principia College was Canadian. Turns out they're a small liberal arts college of app. 550 students from Illinois, WITH NO ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT. They've been building soar cars since 1991. They didn't race in 2007's World Solar Challenge. Their previous car finished 7th in the 2005 NASC. Their 2003 car finished 4th in the ASC, and 6th in WSC.

Their current car, RA 7, looks really good, very sleek curves, with feelers fore and aft to hold their turn signal lights far enough apart to satisfy regs.

Theses guys are for real.

Minnesota is apparently in third, camping for the night outside Neosho. Missouri S&T is in 4th, 70 miles outside of Neosho. Red River thinks they are in 7th about 100 miles out. Calgary is about 110 miles out.

Did I mention Principia has NO ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT?

Fantastic work, glad to hear you guys are putting some space between you and your competitors. It's also great to see Steve Cook commenting on the blog. Wish you could be here, Steve. We cannot thank you enough for everything you did for us in Australia.

For reference to everyone else, Steve Cook is an Adelaidian (sp?) who helped us finish and repair the concentrators' clear window and also repaired the Semi's water tank on short notice before our Australian Mock race.

To the Team, great job keeping up the posts this afternoon. This information is greatly appreciated!

A short explanation of start/finish times:

Stage stop days (including the race start) begin at 9:00 AM and last until 6:00 PM. All other days go from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM.

Each day, a team may stop up to 15 minutes early or 30 minutes late without penalty. Therefore, the stage stop was actually open until 6:30 PM.

For non staged starts, teams starting times will be adjusted based on their finish time from the day before (i.e. a team finishing at 6:05 PM begins the next day at 8:05 AM while a team finishing at 5:55 PM begins the next day at 7:55 AM).

Great, great, great! Back in first. I love it.

50 mi. from Neosho means 133 miles in about 4 hours, 19 minutes. Just about 31 mph. Day one average of about 38 mph for 285 miles. In 2005, Michigan's Momentum averaged 46.2 mph for the entire race. This race should speed up in the next few days.

An easy run to Neosho tomorrow, then a stage stop, rest, recharge, wait for the other teams, then restart in first place Tuesday morning.

I've got to share a story with you from FH Bochum's blog. They went to Arlington, Texas to practice caravan procedures on real roads. Nice, quiet town, Arlington, with good paved roads and very little traffic. Things went well for a while. Then the police showed up. The Germans were a little worried, but it turned out the officer just wanted his picture taken with their car. Pretty soon, the rest of Arlington's police force showed up with their cameras, and finally, the mayor. Is that cool, or what?