 |
Day 4 – Evening
Start: 100km N. of Glendambo Currently: 5km S. of Port Wakefield Current standing: 3rd What a day of racing! After starting in 3rd and fighting our way back up to 2nd, it just wasn’t in the cards for us to make a Michigan record and finish in 2nd place. We currently hold 3rd position roughly 100km N. of Adelaide. Both Nuna 3 and Aurora have finished in 1st and 2nd places respectively. Shortly before getting to Port Augusta, the final stage stop, a piece of metal road debris was kicked up by a road train (semi with multiple trailers). This happened just as Momentum was passing by and the debris actually impacted the leading edge of Momentum. Not only did it hit Momentum, it actually sliced into and stuck in the leading edge. Luckily our strong composite body stopped it from entering the inside of the car and only cut a few inches into the body and did very minimal damage. The driver, while shaken, was not injured and we felt safe continuing on to the checkpoint without stopping (we could see Aurora in our rearview mirror!). Upon arriving at Port Augusta, right in front of Aurora, the WSC official running the checkpoint would at first not let us remove the debris. After realizing that the metal shard impeded us getting the upper surface off and thus driver out, we were allowed to remove it. (It’s a WSC regulation that no maintenance can be performed on the car while at a checkpoint. This is generally interpreted to only include maintenance that involves tools – we pulled the shard out with our hands). Then as we went to exit the checkpoint after our mandatory 30 minutes, Aurora, who had pulled in after us, was allowed by the checkpoint official to leave in front of us. We were told that even though we pulled in ahead of Aurora, the official time said Aurora should leave first. Even still, the team kept its cool and continued down the track. Since we had left Port Augusta behind Aurora, we needed to pass them again to get back into 2nd place. This we did, and although it cost us a ton of energy we were back in second place! About 25km N. of Port Wakefield our strategy team noticed that the car was eating up more energy than expected. We kept pushing until it became too overwhelming and were forced to pull over. We quickly discovered that we had one tire with low pressure. After both the pass and running on a low tire, we had too little energy to continue. Aurora then passed us at about 70kph headed for Adelaide. We sat and charged for a bit as the 4th place team, Tiga, approached. Just before the mandatory stopping time of 5pm, the team decided to push on and we made another ~20km before stopping just south of Port Wakefield. We have about 30km on them and hope to push to the finish line in 3rd tomorrow morning. Even with all the stress and distractions from the day, the team remains in high spirits and is set on continuing to run the very best race we can. Stay tuned! GO BLUE!! Nuna 3 at Port Augusta preparing for the final run into Adelaide:  Momentum speared by road debris: 
Day 4 - Afternoon
Update from Michael Brackney: Start: 100km N. of Glendambo Currently: 300km N. of Adelaide Current standing: 2nd Momentum is stopped at the final stage stop of the race, about 300km from Adelaide. We are now back in 2nd place! We passed Aurora and are approximately 15 minutes ahead of them. It's 1:30 PM in Australia right now. So, there is a good chance, as long as the weather remains clear, that we can finish the race today! Nuna is about 100km from Adelaide and is close to finishing. GO BLUE!!
Day 4 – Morning
Start: 100km N. of Glendambo Currently: 100km S. of Glendambo Current standing: 3rd Reminiscent of the last days of ASC, today started off with some rather interesting weather as well. We had some very light drizzle over night but the clouds just parted for this morning’s charge. Even more to our advantage were the fierce winds as we moved south toward the coast. We’re currently in 3rd place about two hours behind Nuna 3 and just a few minutes behind Aurora. We expect to pass Aurora soon. If we’re able to keep up the same pace, we should be able to make the finish line yet today. Stay tuned. GO BLUE!!
Day 3
Start: 20km S. of Alice Springs Finish: 100km N. of Glendambo Current standing: 3rd With just 800 km of racing left to go, over two years of hard work is nearing completion. We started this morning in 2nd with Aurora behind us in a close 3rd. By midday Aurora decided to speed things up and we swapped places with them. Aurora is now 2nd and we are about 10 kilometers behind them in 3rd. I’ve heard a lot of worrisome talk about Wednesday’s weather from other teams at the checkpoints, which may have pushed them to make risky decisions. Clouds had already moved in as we pulled off the road for the night, but they fortunately look like they are blowing south. The sun has just peeked out from behind the last of the clouds giving us some decent charge before sundown. Tomorrow’s run toward Adelaide will test the limits of both the teams’ cars and strategy. Many teams are within minutes of each other and any mistake could cost them their standings. The team remains upbeat and confident about tomorrow’s run and we look forward to seeing the welcome signs of Adelaide. GO BLUE!! Momentum pulling into a checkpoint:  Event Director, Chris Selwood:  Line on road to tell Blue where to pull off:  Setting sun:  Solar array charging from on top the semi: 
Day 2
Start: 30km S. of Elliot Finish: S. of Alice Springs Current standing: 2nd Another day of racing and we have come closer to making Michigan’s best finish in the world’s premier solar car race. We started this morning in 2nd place only behind Nuna, the Dutch team, and we have finished south of Alice Springs – still in 2nd place! While we’ve kept the other teams behind us from catching up, Nuna has spread their lead on us even further. We’re now roughly an hour behind Nuna, instead of the ½ hour we started behind this morning. Although they have gained some ground on us, we believe that the forthcoming route and weather will play to our advantage and we’ll be able to close the gap. In just a few hundred kilometers we’ll be reaching the South Australia border where the maximum speed we’ll be able to travel is 110 kph (~67mph). Here in the Northern Territory there is no speed limit, so that will be an interesting change in everyone’s race strategy (don’t worry parents, we haven’t been going too fast). Just after I arrived in Australia, I was presented with an opportunity to very effectively have our racing efforts documented on film. I’m happy to say that the camera crew has been doing a wonderful job and you can look forward to footage later this fall! Tomorrow we hope to be within one day of the finish line. Keep cheering, we know we have a lot of supporters back home and truly appreciate all of it. GO BLUE! Momentum passing a semi:  'Lead, Blue and Chase':  Aurora and Momentum side by side: 
Day 1 - Start
Update from Michael Brackney: Team Momentum is off to great start in the World Solar Challenge. After a day of racing in which we broke the single-day distance record for our solar car, traveling over 450 miles, we are in second place, about 20 minutes behind the leader, Nuna. Momentum started the race third, but we passed several teams and were the first team into the first checkpoint in Catherine. We then had to make two quick stops to deal with tire issues, which allowed several teams to pass us. We were able to make up most of the distance, and, even though we are behind Nuna, we are easily keeping pace with them. Tomorrow promises to be another great day of racing, so stay tuned! Momentum at the start line in Darwin:  Momentum on the road: 
Michigan Qualifies for 2005 WSC!
This past Thursday (21st) the team passed through static scrutineering in just 2 hours. The team and car were very well prepared and it paid off! And just today (Sat) we had our final qualification as we did two laps at Hidden Valley Raceway; we had the 3rd best lap time, which puts us starting in 3rd position on Sunday - not bad for a car that wasn't designed for the track. We will be posting many pictures and stories from the road during our progress toward Michigan's first ever World Championship. The competition will be very tough, with several professional teams entering cars this year. We have been drilling hard for the past several weeks preparing ourselves to compete against the best racing teams in the world, and we are excited and ready to roll! And we have only one set of rules by which we'll race: Go fast, go smooth, GO BLUE! Keep up to date on all the events of the race through our website and through WSC's satellite tracking system. Michigan flag flying high at Hidden Valley Raceway:  Momentum on the track: 
Team Arrives in Darwin
The team has made it north to Darwin, the city chosen to be the start of the world’s most competitive and historic solar car race. Along the way, we stopped at several historic spots in the outback and got a taste for what remote Australian life is like. Its much hotter here than it was in Melbourne, we had a heat index of nearly 110 F today! Many of the teams have arrived at the track and are all preparing for this week’s scrutineering, which starts Thursday. Stay tuned! GO BLUE!! Team at Ayers Rock: 
Momentum Arrives in Australia!
Momentum has arrived and successfully passed through customs in Melbourne, Australia! Several team members went ahead of the main group to meet the solar car and see it through customs. Bax Global was a big help in air freighting our solar car half way around the globe. The same team members were also sent ahead to secure support vehicles. We received a very warm welcoming from both GM Holden and Ford of Australia. GM Holden was able to provide several utes and wagons and Ford provided us with an Explorer to act as our ‘Chase’ vehicle. The team members were also prepping for the arrival of our semi-racing trailer, which was ocean freighted via Wallenius Willhelmsen. The semi only took about a day to clear through customs and was then trucked off to a Ford facility in Broadmeadows where they helped us load the solar car from the airfreight container into our semi. On Friday, we were given the opportunity to visit BHP Billiton’s world headquarters where we gave a presentation and had the car on display in their building’s public square. Leaving Melbourne, we caravanned northwest to Adelaide. Prince Alfred College was kind enough to allow us to stay at their school and prepare our support vehicles and solar car. After all the vehicles were set, we headed north along the Stuart Highway to Darwin where the World Solar Challenge starts. Look to the next post for pictures taken along the way through the outback! GO BLUE!! Momentum air freight container clearing customs in Melbourne.  Momentum air freight container delivered to BHPB HQ in downtown Melbourne.  Momentum on display at BHPB's HQ in Melbourne.  Semi at Prince Alfred College.  Our Communications car at Prince Alfred College. 
Day 11 - FINISH - WE WON!
Start: Medicine Hat, Alberta Finish: Calgary, Alberta (2494 of 2494mi completed) Current standing: 1st place (official) WE WON! The University of Michigan Solar Car Team crossed the finish line in Calgary in first place today. This is our fourth National Championship - double that of any other school. These last 200 miles were some of the hardest we have run this race. This morning was the most nerve wracking of the whole race, starting out with a last minute scare. We first hit a major pothole while rolling up to the start line; this tore off one of the car's fairings (Wheel covers) and we had to make a last minute decision whether to try and repair it and risk being bumped to the back of the start line or to run without the fairing. We decided to go ahead with out the fairing and leave it off. Then we also had some problems in the startup sequence on the car, the car kept freezing our onboard micro system. We quickly fixed that problem with only a few minutes to spare until 8:00am and got the car lined up with driver inside. Once we got rolling, Minnesota quickly came up on our tail as we got outside of Medicine Hat. For the next 160+ miles, our teams were never more than 500 fteet apart. At one point Minnesota was able to pass us and take the lead, but we then regained our lead a short while later as they had a momentary loss in power. We stayed neck and neck the whole way into Calgary; we ended up beating Minnesota by just 11 minutes on the overall race! Over 2500 miles, 11 minutes is extremely close. Congratulations to MN and all the other teams for running a great racee Thursday is the awards ceremony; several awards and prizes will be given, including the presentation of the Wilson Cup to our team. We're all extremely excited and proud for how far we have come over the past two years. While we are an entirely student run team, we would like to thank the College, University, and all our sponsors and supporters for helping to make this possible. Next stop: World Solar Challenge, Australia. GO BLUE Momentum crossing the finish line.  Photo courtesy of North American Solar Challenge. Media interviewing the team after we crossed the finish line.  Photo courtesy of North American Solar Challenge. Team hoisting the Wilson Cup after winning the North American Solar Challenge!  Photo courtesy of North American Solar Challenge.
Day 10 – Rest Day
Start: Medicine Hat, Alberta (stage stop until Wed July 27th) Finish: --- Current standing: 1st place (official) This afternoon was a very tense 10 hours. Today at around noon we learned that the officials had penalized us another 40 minutes. These instances were for where the officials thought we were speeding for a very short period of time (during speed zone changes). Immediately the team sprung to action and compiled a 55-page! appeal. This included maps, charts and summary along with raw data from the car proving that at no time was the solar car ever speeding. After submission at 7pm, an anxious 3 hours later we received word that all but 4 minutes of penalties had been repealed! That puts us in a 1st place starting position tomorrow with an 11 minute 49 second lead over Minnesota. 11 minutes over 2500 miles is an extremely close race and could go either way. We are staying focused and running our race the very best we can; how well we do will be sorted out by noon tomorrow. Stay tuned. GO BLUE!
Day 9 – Finish
Start: Just east of Parkbeg, Saskatchewan – 7:53am Finish: Medicine Hat, Alberta – 11:30am (2250 of 2450mi completed) Current standing: 1st place (unofficially) Our strong start out of Winnipeg yesterday was capped off with an even stronger finish into Medicine Hat, Alberta today. When we left Winnipeg (start of stage 3) we were in 2nd place and 27 ½ minutes behind the leader, University of Minnesota. We were the first car to pull into the Medicine Hat stage stop today and did not see another car (MN) for 38 ½ minutes. This means we are now in first place with an approximately 11 minute lead on MN. Our car performed near flawlessly just as we expected and our race strategy has paid off. The team has really pulled together and has shown that we are not about to stop pushing. Our first place is still unofficial as exact timing and penalties may play a factor in this. Official standings will be announced Tuesday evening. Wednesday morning at 8am teams will depart from Medicine Hat for another 188 miles into Calgary for the finish. While we think we hold the first place position, the team is still very focused at getting the job done. We still have another grueling 188 miles to go and no one on this team thinks it will be easy. I want to thank all those who are pulling for us and all the Michigan Solar Car Alumni who have been so amazingly supportive and helpful – THANKS! GO BLUE!
Day 8 – Finish
Start: Winnipeg, MB – 9:01am Finish: Just east of Parkbeg, Saskatchewan (2075 of 2450mi completed) Current standing: 1st or 2nd place (too close to call) Today was an amazing day of racing. We had another strong stage start out of Winnipeg. We started in 2nd place just 27 minutes behind MN. Today was extremely sunny but was also very windy as we headed out of the city. We saw headwinds of 25mph+ with gusts exceeding 35mph+. These strong winds proved to be a challenge for all teams, making it difficult to maintain speed and sometimes stay on the road! With our sleek aero body we were able to maintain speed through them and proved to be extremely stable under such high wind conditions. This allowed us to pass MN early on (took nearly 4 minutes for our caravan to pass theirs!) and take the lead car spot! With no one out in front, we were able to proceed unhindered and gained some serious ground on both MN and MIT. We were the first team to arrive at the first checkpoint – Brandon, but with MN and MIT just minutes behind. Over the next leg we were able to put even more distance over MN, we pulled into the Regina checkpoint roughly 20 minutes in front of MN and with MIT close behind them. We’re now roughly 20-25 miles out in front of MN and MIT, very nearly having made up the 27-minute difference we started with this morning. We broke our own team record today for the most miles covered in one day, (previous record was 422mi last week) and have a new record of 440 miles in less than 8 hours of driving for today! With timing and penalties, its far too close to call who is actually in first place but tomorrow will prove to be a very exciting day as all teams race toward the final stage stop – Medicine Hat. GO BLUE! Campsite for the evening. .jpg) Canadian sunset .jpg) The road west to Calgary .jpg)
Day 7 – Rest Day
Start: Winnipeg, MB (stage stop until Sunday, July 24th) Finish: --- Current standing: 2nd place Today was another day of rest for the team. Having arrived Thursday afternoon, we had both Friday and Saturday to rest up before the next stage begins tomorrow morning. We spent most of the day on display at Red River College. This morning there was a press conference with public officials from Winnipeg and the Manitoba province where they handed out to each team an official license plate that read “NASC 05”. Later this afternoon ASC and Red River College hosted a barbecue on the front lawn. There was also an unofficial street hockey tournament between all the teams. Calgary was friendly enough to set up the tournament and we’re glad to say we made it to the semi-finals before being beaten by Auburn University. Minnesota won the tournament after several hours of play. Tomorrow we’ll be heading out from the legislative building in downtown Winnipeg, leaving at 9am to start the 3rd leg of the race. With about 700 miles to go to Medicine Hat (final stage stop); we have 3 days to make it there. We’ll be starting out in 2nd place behind MN only by 27 minutes. GO BLUE!
Day 6 – Rest Day
Start: Winnipeg, MB (stage stop until Sunday, July 24th) Finish: --- Current standing: 2nd place After a full night’s rest, the team was up early this morning to clean out the car and prepare it for the next stage of the race. We have until Sunday morning at 9am to get ready. There are just a few things we have to do and the rest is all obsessing about how we can improve our car and race operations. We only have to make up a little less than ½ hr on Minnesota over the next 1000 miles and we believe we can do it. Saturday, 23rd, will be another display day like in Austin. There will be free food and PR activities all day, both of which the team is looking forward to. GO BLUE! Our array, shown here with our gold tinted canopy, setup at the Winnipeg stage stop. .jpg)
Day 5 – Finish
Start: Near Ortonville, MN – 8:04am Finish: Winnipeg, MB – 4:39pm (1600 of 2450mi completed) Current standing: 2nd place We just pulled into Red River College at the Winnipeg, MB Stage stop. After 8 ½ hours of racing today we were just 28 minutes behind the leader, having gained a few minutes on them since today’s start. We caught up to MIT about an hour before the border. Unfortunately once we caught up both teams were maintaining the speed limit so we could not pass. The border went very smoothly, our caravan stopped for less than five minutes. That was just enough for MIT to pull ahead out of sight for the remainder of the stage. Today’s racing went very well; the car continues to run extremely well with little to no problems. We’ll be packing the car up early tonight so that the team can get a good meal and rest. Tomorrow we’ll be up bright and early working on the car as we rest here in Winnipeg until Sunday when the next stage officially begins at 9am. GO BLUE! Below is MIT's car, Tesseract. After several hundred miles we finally caught up to them about an hour before the border. Unfortunately we couldn't quite get past them. Best of luck to MIT! .jpg) Below is a picture from our Chase van of Momentum being videotaped by College Sports Television Network. They are doing a documentary on the whole race and have gotten some amazing footage of our car. We're looking forward to the finished product! .jpg)
Day 5 – Start
Start: Near Ortonville, MN – 8:04am Finish: TBD Current standing: 2nd place We started out this morning with a great charge from the lake we camped near last night. We’ve been within a few miles of MIT and MN all day. We arrived in Fargo at 10:46AM and both MN and MIT were still there. Waterloo arrived about 15-20 minutes after us. It’s still quite a close race between the top 4 contenders. We’re now on our way to the border. Unfortunately, the Officials have changed the original rules to having the border crossing not on the clock. So for those teams who aren’t as prepared, their time spent at the border won’t go against their total elapsed time. Its our expectation that we’ll be able to go right through with no problems. The call just came in on the radio that we have MIT in sight! Stay tuned for our arrival in Winnipeg. GO BLUE!
Day 4 - Finish
Start: Nebraska City, NE – 8:00am Finish: Near Ortonville, MN – 6:00pm (1200 completed of 2450mi) Current standing: 2nd place After leaving Sioux Falls, SD the top three teams sprinted north toward Minnesota at or near the speed limit. After a few hours we were within a few miles of MIT who had to stop at one point on the side of the road, presumably for maintenance. We have stopped near Ortonville, MN with an excellent charging location. Unfortunately, since its Minnesota, there are a ton of bugs out here! Good thing we brought the bug zapper. We’re in such a remote location that this part of Minnesota doesn’t even have cell coverage. Thanks Motorola - the satellites still work! We’re looking forward to tomorrow’s journey to Fargo, ND and then the run up to Winnipeg. We’re also within about 10 miles of where the frontrunners are camped out at. I'm also proud to report that so far, we are the only team out of the top 4 to have not received *any* penalties. Racing fairly and safely is very important to us and it also proves that one can be competitive while also being fair. We hope this trend continues. We were also very happy to see Dean Wisniewski of Visteon, who was on a business trip in the Midwest and traveled up to see us at the Sioux Falls checkpoint. Visteon has been very helpful in helping us get electrical testing equipment. Thanks Dean and Visteon! GO BLUE! Our campsite near Ortonville, MN .jpg) Our only connection to the outside world! .jpg)
Day 4 - Midday
Start: Nebraska City, NE – 8:00am Finish: TBD Current standing: 3rd place We arrived in Omaha, NE early this morning. After a minute delay leaving Omaha we were well on our way North. We were behind MIT, Minnesota, and Waterloo along the route. The car is running well and we’re maintaining the speed limit as the skies clear. We have just left the Sioux Falls, SD checkpoint. We’ve gained some serious ground on the leaders today. We passed Waterloo shortly before the checkpoint and arrived just in time to see Minnesota pull out. MIT was still in the checkpoint and left only minutes before we did. Our strategy has paid off, keeping us in clear skies all day whereas some of the leaders who sprinted ahead were caught in serious weather. We’re looking forward to our trip to Fargo, ND and then the run to the border tomorrow. We expect the crossing to go very smoothly, even with a solar car. GO BLUE!
Day 3 - Finish
Start: N of Neodesha, KS - 6:00pm Finish: Nebraska City, NE (864.5 completed of 2450mi) Current standing: 4th place Day 3 of racing is now over. We're situated between the Nebraska border and the Omaha checkpoint. We've caught back some of the distance the leaders gained on us and have found an excellent charging location. Its difficult to tell exact standing right now because we are so far into the stage but the top 4 teams are within an hour of each other. The standings posted on ASC only reflect reported times at checkpoints and also do not reflect any penalties. We have not incurred any penalties so far, but we do know some of the other leaders have, giving us an advantage. We'll be getting into Omaha, NE early tomorrow morning and then making our way North toward Iowa and Minnesota. Late this afternoon we were able to overtake Missouri - Columbia and Principia College. Both teams have been great competitors and show a very high level of professionalism. Upon passing they both were extremely accommodating and pulled over very far allowing us to pass expeditiously. We were very impressed with how they handled the situation. When getting passed, often teams are tempted to delay or hamper the passing team's progress by not pulling over or speeding up. We're glad that we can compete alongside such professional teams like Principia and Missouri - Columbia. Thanks Prin and Mizzou, Goodluck!
Day 3 - Midday
Start: N of Neodesha, KS - 8:05am Finish: TBD Current standing: 4th place The team has just left the Topeka checkpoint. After a soggy morning of rain, we're finally back out on the road at a decent speed. We started in 1st place this morning with about a 20 minute lead over the teams in 2nd and 3rd place. We quickly ran into some poor weather where the sun wasn't exactly shining. We chose to stop in one of few sunny spots and charge. While charging, several teams creeped up and passed us. Fortunately everyone this morning was going at a snails pace. We're still in a position to catch back up with the lead car, however because of the time advantage we started with, we still maintain a top position in the race. We're now on our way to Nebraska and are enjoying the sunny Kansas skies. The team remains in high spirits - this is a long race thats not even half over. We're confident that over the distance our car and team will prove to be the best. GO BLUE!! Please note, there was a discrepency on the ASC website this morning that had us listed as being in 3rd place. This was a mistake and has been corrected.
Day 2 - Finish
Start: Weatherford, TX - 9:00am Finish: N of Neodesha, KS - 6:05pm (~650mi completed of 2450mi) Current standing: 1st place Day 2 of the 2005 North American Solar Challenge is now over. We have calmly maintained our 1st place position and have actually extended our lead over the teams behind us. Minnesota and Missouri Rolla both sit roughly 20 miles back, both of which left only minutes after us this morning. Today was a great day of racing. We saw both sunshine and torrential downpour -both of which we raced through quite well. The rain was bad enough that other teams even had to pull under overpasses to escape - but we kept on racing! Many congrats to our excellent drivers - Max Ross, Joe Belter, and Michael Adams, who have really proven to be quite professional drivers (thank you Ford!). The first leg of the trip proved to be a masterful piece of strategy. Each driver can, by regulations, only drive for a maximum of 6 hours. Weatherford, TX to Broken Arrow, OK was ~306mi. We left Weatherford at 9:00am sharp and arrived at 2:56pm in Broken Arrow - minutes before our first driver, Joe Belter, would have had to swap out. Because of that, we were able to save precious minutes not having to do a driver swap on the side of the road. No other team was able to make it to Broken Arrow in under 6 hours - therefore, they must have pulled off somewhere along the road. Our traffic light timing and remaining strategy really proved itself today, allowing us to gain a leg up on teams that were getting a little too close. Tomorrow looks to be another promising day and we hope to extend our lead even further. Thanks to all those who have contributed to this project both large and small. GO BLUE! As a note, I'll be updating the website while in route a few times a day, but because of our connection while mobile, I'll wait until evening to upload pictures via our amazing satellite uplink that even rivals land based lines - thanks Motorola! Momentum racing at highway speeds: .jpg) Momentum coming through town: .jpg)
Day 2 - Start
Start: Weatherford, TX - 9:00am (212.10 completed of 2450mi) Finish: TBD (Still racing) Current standing: 1st place We started this morning from Weatherford, TX in 1st place! We're now near the Oklahoma border and have maintained our 1st place position. Minnesota has been nipping at our heels all morning but we've managed to put some distance between us while maintaining a very strong car. Over the past two days, the Michigan Solar Car Team has received some great press and I hope you get a chance to see us in one of your news media outlets. While each race is very exciting and rewarding for teams, there are some sad times. Last night we had to say good-bye to our friends from Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville. They had started their project only a few months ago and did an amazing job putting together a great team and a very commendable car. Unfortunately they were unable to complete the checkpoint in time and decided to withdraw from the race. We hope to see them back in 2007 and would like to congratulate them on coming so far; it was a very commendable effort.
Thanks to UM Alumni Club of Dallas!
The team would like to thank the UM Alumni Club of Dallas who provided a catered dinner for the team while at our overnight stay. The food was delicious and the team really appreciated a good meal after an excellent day of racing. Thanks UM Alumni!!
End of Day 1
Today was a great day. We started in Austin in 5th and finished in 1st. We got stuck behind some rather large amounts of traffic and unfortunately could not pull ahead of Minnesota as we would have liked to, but nonetheless our total elapsed time was lower and gained us starting position for tomorrow! The team is in high spirits and we're very proud of how far we've come. Thanks again to everyone who helped make this possible!
And We're Off!
Today the North American Solar Challenge started at 9:00am. Originally we had been in the 5th starting position but moved up to spot #4 after Stanford had a few problems that set them back. Currently we're about 20 miles outside of our first stage stop - Weatherford, TX - and we've moved up to the 2nd car. We can actually see Minnesota - the pack leader - and have tried to pass several times. Conditions did not allow for us to pass but we hope to be starting the morning in first place! Max Ross being interviewed prior to the start: .jpg) Momentum crossing the start line in Austin: .jpg)
Final Scrutineering for NASC!
Today we passed all of the final scrutineering stations for the race. These were both static and dynamic test stations where the officials looked over our car to ensure that it was safe to go on the road. The only two stations we had left to complete today were the slalom course and the braking test. We finished both up around noon and spent the rest of the day making slight improvements to the car. This evening we'll arrive in College Station, TX at the Texas World Speedway to run laps Thursday and Friday. Momentum going through its final test, the slalom course: 
Arrived in Texas!
The team arrived today in Austin early this morning. After a nearly 20 hour drive, we finally made it! We ended up being the third team to have arrived and quickly staked out a very good pit area. Tomorrow we'll begin scrutineering the car for final qualification into the 2005 North American Solar Challenge. Check back periodically this week for updates and starting on Sunday 17th we'll be posting daily race updates. Starting out from Ann Arbor:  Almost there! 
ATR joins our Team!
America's Transportation Resources (ATR) has come on board the Michigan Solar Car Team by sponsoring us with a professional semi driver to operate our racing tractor / trailer. They're a Michigan based company out of Grand Rapids, MI who specialize in semi driver leasing. Having ATR on board has allowed us to focus our teammates on specific racing tasks and develop excellence in those areas. Thanks ATR for all your help!!! David Menke, owner of ATR, stands in front of our semi at our camp site for Day 4: 
Join us at the Start!
We would like to invite and encourage all of our sponsors, supporters, and friends of the Michigan Solar Car Team to join us for the start of the American Solar Challenge in Austin, TX. Beyond the starting line ceremonies held on the morning of Sunday, July 17th, we will be hosting a Pre-Race Kick-Off Reception held at the Doubletree Guest Suites Austin. This is tentatively scheduled for the afternoon of Saturday the 16th, but is dependent upon the final schedule provided by Race Officials. We have arranged with the Doubletree Guest Suites Austin to block off a range of rooms at a discounted rate for all those joining us at the start. If you are looking for accommodations in Austin, we strongly recommend you stay at the Doubletree Guest Suites Austin, one of our newest sponsors. Booking and race schedule information can be found below. If you do decide to join us for the start, please let us know at solarcar@umich.edu so that we can make the appropriate arrangements.
Race Schedule for July
July 10th Team Arrives in Austin
July 11th – 13th Scrutineering at Travis Country Expo Center (Austin, TX)
July 14th – 15th Final Qualifiers at Texas World Speedway (College Station, TX) July 16th 9:00AM – Display day for all teams at the Capital (Austin, TX)
July 16th 2:00- 3:30PM - Pre-Race Kick-Off Reception held at the Doubletree Guest Suites Austin. All of our sponsors, supporters and friends of the team are encouraged to attend. Light snacks will be served.
July 17th TIME TBD – Teams arrive at start line for photo shoot
July 17th TIME TBD – Opening Ceremonies begin
July 17th 9:00AM – Start of race from Bob Bullock State History Museum
July 17th – 18th Stage Stop: Weatherford, TX
July 18th – 19th Checkpoint: Broken Arrow, OK
July 19th – 20th Checkpoint: Topeka, KS
July 19th – 20th Checkpoint: Omaha, NE
July 20th – 21st Checkpoint: Sioux Falls, SD
July 20th – 22nd Checkpoint: Fargo, ND
July 21st – 24th Stage Stop: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
July 24th Checkpoint: Brandon, Manitoba, Canada
July 24th – 25th Checkpoint: Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
July 25th – 27th Stage Stop: Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada
July 27th Finish: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
*Checkpoint dates and times are tentative, as weather and traffic will largely influence when teams arrive. Dates given are the range race officials expect cars to be arriving in. Stage stop dates are firm, as all cars must arrive by the last day that the stage stop is open.
For further information on the race schedule, please visit the American Solar Challenge's website.
Booking information for those joining us in Austin
Booking information at the Doubletree Guest Suites Austin
- www.Austinsuites.doubletree.com
- Click on Group Dates under Check Availability.
- Click on GO.
- Go to Special Accounts
- Enter Group/Convention Code: SOL. Click Continue.
- Room Type and Rates will Display.
- Follow the Tabs to Complete ALL Information
- Fill in a Credit Card Number to Guarantee
- Click on Book Now / E-mail Confirmation
The credit card used to guarantee will not be charged unless the reservation is not cancelled by 4pm day of arrival and the guest is a no-show, then it will be charged for one night.
Any problems?
E mail: connie_steinberg@hilton.com
(sales manager) Or call 512-505-4066
E mail: carah_jackson@hilton.com
(reservations manager) Or call 512-505-4050
Hotel Phone 512-478-7000
Website: www.austinsuites.doubletree.com
Guests can also call 1-800-222-TREE to book into the Block. This line is answered 24/7.
Doubletree Guest Suites Austin (512) 478-7000 303 W 15th St Austin, TX 78701
May 16 - 20: Formula Sun Grand Prix
The Michigan Solar Car Team spent the week of May 16th in Topeka, Kansas competing in the 2005 Formula Sun Grand Prix. This 2.1 track race serves as a qualifier for the North American Solar Challenge later this July. Fortunately, Kansas had a little sunnier weather than Michigan as you could probably tell by all of our sunburns. We spent the first few days of the week going through scrutineering with the race officials to ensure our car met race standards. Then on Friday, Momentum hit the track. We completed 87 laps and received a 2 lap bonus for testing out a tentative slalom course the race officials plan to use for the final scrutineering for NASC. We tied Missouri Rolla for the fastest slalom time - 10.6 seconds! In just one day of racing, we were able to surpass Missouri Rolla for a 2nd place finish for open class cars! We look forward to seeing everyone at the North American Solar Challenge later this summer. The semi rolling out of our workspace mid-Saturday afternoon:  Momentum waiting to be scrutineered:  Momentum going through dynamic testing:  Momentum on the track!  Michigan vehicles lined up for a photo shoot: 
May 11: Sponsor Reception
On Wednesday, May 11th 2005, the Solar Car Team hosted a Sponsor Reception on the North Campus diag in front of the Duderstadt Center (formerly the Media Union). Well over 150 people were in attendance, representing sponsors, faculty, students, friends and even potential students visiting campus! We'd like to publicly thank all those who have contributed to our project and hope to continue to represent the College and all our sponsors with excellence as we compete this summer. Thanks!! Many thanks to Dwight Cendrowski for the photos below. Momentum rolls up:  Shots of the crowd:   2005 Momentum Race Crew:  
|
