Hello Solar Friends!
After a long summer of finishing touches, organizing tools, and packing bin after bin, the team is finally able to take a breather: the crate has been shipped! You can see a great slideshow of the crate building process by clicking here.
In fact, Ra 7 is currently aboard the freight ship the Cap Palmerston, floating just off the shore of Sydney, Australia. She began her journey with a truck ride from Elsah to St. Louis, then boarded a train on August 25th to travel to the West Coast. In Long Beach, California, our crate was loaded onto the Cap Palmerston, which then set sail on September 3rd and is scheduled to dock in Adelaide on September 29th.
The battery box and its 25kg pack of Lithium-polymer batteries are also en route to Adelaide. It took some finagling to get this shipment of hazardous material onto a plane and out of the country on schedule, but our shipping contact, Leroy Pettyjohn, made it happen. The batteries have now made it all the way to Sydney, and once they make it through customs, they will travel to Adelaide via truck for the team to retrieve in early October.
Back on campus, team members are working ahead in their schoolwork in preparation for their own departure to Australia. The first group leaves in just two weeks to pick up the car, the batteries, and a rented truck to drive everything up to the starting line in Darwin.
But before any of us leave campus, we have the privilege of starring in the first edition of a new Principia Internet Radio program called Tech-Zone, hosted by Rick Dearborn on Thursday nights. Go to www.prin.edu/radio to listen in for technical details and explanations about Ra 7. You can even email or call in questions during our live broadcast (8:00-9:00 p.m. Central) at 618-374-4200 or talk.radio@principia.edu.
So join us tomorrow, Thursday, September 24, at 8:00 p.m. Central, for PIR’s newest live talk show, Tech-Zone. And send your love and prayers to the shores of Australia, where Ra 7 awaits!
Cheers,
Karen Davis
Media Relations
September 23rd, 2009 at 5:00 pm
Dear Principia Solar Car Team,
Just to let you know that I support you in every way with you endevour and efforts. The information on your web-site is VERY thorough and complete. It will be interesting to see how well Principia will compete versus the competition. Good luck to all of you !!!
/. Bill …..aka…….WB