We’ve fallen into a productive routine here in Darwin: Tom stays home to work on the BMS while David, Peter, and I spend the whole day at the shop. Joe and Steve motor around town running errands and taking care of the logistics, and John floats between the BMS and the shop, helping out wherever he’s needed.
So far in the shop, we’ve made significant progress on sealing the gaps between the fairings and the lower body of the car, aligning the brake calipers, and putting the finishing touches on our adjustable array stand. The Battery Protection System, a key portion of the whole Battery Management System, has been assembled and tested. To complete the BMS, Tom will need parts and expertise that Matthew Piatt will bring with him when he arrives in Australia tomorrow afternoon.
Matthew’s arrival will trigger a change in our routine, and by Monday evening we will have the whole team here in Darwin and the car fully assembled (we hope!) – bringing together all of the individual projects we’ve been working on this week.
But our time here isn’t all work and no play. On Thursday night, we chose to dine at a street festival in Mindil Beach, where we found kangaroo and emu sausages at the Road Kill Café, barbecued octopus, and mango smoothies. Mindil Beach also offered us live music, a fire dance, and booth after booth of Australian souvenirs from Aboriginal art to crocodile-foot back scratchers.
Tonight, the Hidden Valley Motor Sports Complex, our current shop-away-from-home and the host of the WSC qualifier, kicks off its mud racing season, and the team plans to take the evening off to attend. (More than a few of us are disappointed we won’t be able to participate!)
We’ve also been taking time out from the work to talk with visitors to the track and other teams who have set up shop near us at Hidden Valley. So far, we’ve chatted with solar racers from Japan, France, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, and Australia. More teams should arrive at the beginning of next week to prepare for scrutineering on Wednesday. Check out the Competitors page for a complete list. We also met the third-fastest adolescent motorcyclist in Australia when he came with his dad to practice on the track! We certainly haven’t been bored.
Perhaps the most striking impression I’ve gotten from talking with the other teams is how fortunate we were to have made it through customs and quarantine so quickly. Thanks to our connections in the shipping industry, we were able to retrieve the crate from Adelaide and proceed to Darwin (and to real shop work) on schedule. Many of the other racers we’ve talked with are still waiting for their cars to clear quarantine for one strange reason or another. One team reports their car is being held for further inspection because of dust in their tool boxes! This perspective helps me to recognize what a blessing it was only to have to clean up a little mold. We have our car with us, in one piece, and we have enough time to prepare it for the race.
In the same vein, we recently received an email from our friends at the Missouri University of Science and Technology (MUST, formerly Rolla) saying they had stopped participating in WSC because of the cost and dangers of shipping their car, among other reasons. That email ended with a supportive message: “We no longer participate in this race. … So, guess who we are cheering for in the upcoming World Solar Challenge. Go Principia!”
One final important announcement before I sign off: the time for our radio broadcasts during the race has changed. Instead of 2:30 p.m., the live show on Principia Internet Radio will occur at 3:30 p.m. Central Time. The dates are still the same, Tuesday, October 20 through Thursday, October 29, and you can still download the podcasts after the fact if you miss the show, but if you’re interested in listening live and calling in, mark it on your calendars: 3:30 p.m. Central Time!
English
Hello, Solar Friends!
We’ve fallen into a productive routine here in Darwin: Tom stays home to work on the BMS while David, Peter, and I spend the whole day at the shop. Joe and Steve motor around town running errands and taking care of the logistics, and John floats between the BMS and the shop, helping out wherever he’s needed.
So far in the shop, we’ve made significant progress on sealing the gaps between the fairings and the lower body of the car, aligning the brake calipers, and putting the finishing touches on our adjustable array stand. The Battery Protection System, a key portion of the whole Battery Management System, has been assembled and tested. To complete the BMS, Tom will need parts and expertise that Matthew Piatt will bring with him when he arrives in Australia tomorrow afternoon.
Matthew’s arrival will trigger a change in our routine, and by Monday evening we will have the whole team here in Darwin and the car fully assembled (we hope!) – bringing together all of the individual projects we’ve been working on this week.
But our time here isn’t all work and no play. On Thursday night, we chose to dine at a street festival in Mindil Beach, where we found kangaroo and emu sausages at the Road Kill Café, barbecued octopus, and mango smoothies. Mindil Beach also offered us live music, a fire dance, and booth after booth of Australian souvenirs from Aboriginal art to crocodile-foot back scratchers.
Tonight, the Hidden Valley Motor Sports Complex, our current shop-away-from-home and the host of the WSC qualifier, kicks off its mud racing season, and the team plans to take the evening off to attend. (More than a few of us are disappointed we won’t be able to participate!)
We’ve also been taking time out from the work to talk with visitors to the track and other teams who have set up shop near us at Hidden Valley. So far, we’ve chatted with solar racers from Japan, France, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, and Australia. More teams should arrive at the beginning of next week to prepare for scrutineering on Wednesday. Check out the Competitors page for a complete list. We also met the third-fastest adolescent motorcyclist in Australia when he came with his dad to practice on the track! We certainly haven’t been bored.
Perhaps the most striking impression I’ve gotten from talking with the other teams is how fortunate we were to have made it through customs and quarantine so quickly. Thanks to our connections in the shipping industry, we were able to retrieve the crate from Adelaide and proceed to Darwin (and to real shop work) on schedule. Many of the other racers we’ve talked with are still waiting for their cars to clear quarantine for one strange reason or another. One team reports their car is being held for further inspection because of dust in their tool boxes! This perspective helps me to recognize what a blessing it was only to have to clean up a little mold. We have our car with us, in one piece, and we have enough time to prepare it for the race.
In the same vein, we recently received an email from our friends at the Missouri University of Science and Technology (MUST, formerly Rolla) saying they had stopped participating in WSC because of the cost and dangers of shipping their car, among other reasons. That email ended with a supportive message: “We no longer participate in this race. … So, guess who we are cheering for in the upcoming World Solar Challenge. Go Principia!”
One final important announcement before I sign off: the time for our radio broadcasts during the race has changed. Instead of 2:30 p.m., the live show on Principia Internet Radio will occur at 3:30 p.m. Central Time. The dates are still the same, Tuesday, October 20 through Thursday, October 29, and you can still download the podcasts after the fact if you miss the show, but if you’re interested in listening live and calling in, mark it on your calendars: 3:30 p.m. Central Time!
Cheers,
Karen