It’s a new race year and so we’ve moved to a new blog.
All of our old posts are up there, too. This blog will stay here but it won’t be updated, so to continue following the team’s progress you’ll need to bookmark our new one.

With the start of the Global Green Challenge just a few days away, this morning marked Endeavour’s first test: scrutineering. Race officials checked over every minute detail of the car, to check that we had complied with all the regulations. Endeavour passed with (mostly) flying colours – great work by the technical team, all those hours pouring over the rule book paid off!

There was excitement during the driver ingress/egress tests. Each of our four drivers had to demonstrate that they could get in and out of the car unassisted in under 15 seconds. Unfortunately, Mike’s bleeding shins were rather obvious proof that the front edge of the cockpit needed some sharp edges removing, but once this had been fixed Endeavour met all the organisers’ requirements. There was some disappointment too, however, when we found out that we were not going to be able to run using Dunlop’s specialised Solarmax tyres. Tests over the last few days have shown us the potential huge improvement in performance that these tyres could give, but it appears that our wheel rims are slightly too large.

It was great to see some of the other cars at the showground today. The Umicore car is looking impressive, as are the Principia and Sakarya University cars. Also fantastic to see Bochum’s BoCruiser and Leeming High School’s two-seater – makes a nice change from the Nuna-esque designs!

Chris finally meets his match: a giant Cathedral Termite mound in Litchfield National Park

Hi all! Time for another non-work-related blog post from me.  This one is about the “adventure days” that CUER have had whilst in Darwin.  I personally have had three great days off, though not all in a row, don’t worry.

DAY 1

Firstly, the whole team took a trip to Litchfield National Park, thanks to Nathan (the production manager at BOC) who showed us around.  We started this day with a trip to Florence Falls, which Nathan told us was his favourite of the places we would visit.  I think at the end of the day most of the team thought the same.  Here we went swimming in the pool at the base of two falls.  It was very beautiful, and we spent around two hours here swimming.  For me it was great, there were some fish, the water was very clear, and it was my first time swimming under a waterfall. Very cool.

After that we moved on to the Buley Rockholes, where stones in the falls have whirlwinded around in the water making neat round holes, that are deep too, and perfect for jumping in to (see the Yu Chao belly-flop for further details).  And finally we went to Wangi falls, a pair of absolutely stunning falls, with a spa just up the rock face that some team members climbed up – this was not recommended though, as the rocks are sacred to the Aboriginals.  It should be noted that none of the electrical team climbed the rocks, so if everything on the car but the electrics fails then we know why!

Wangi falls

DAY 2

Chomper the croc has his lunch

The second exciting thing that I did on my next day off was to visit “Crocosaurus Cove”. It is right next to our hostel, and we in fact have a lizard (Morphius) in our reception on loan from the Cove.  The Cove is home to some massive (and old) Saltwater crocs – the dangerous ones!  One of the highlights here for me was to see “Burt” who is an 80 year old croc, but, more importantly, is the croc that appeared in the movie “Crocodile Dundee” and is thus responsible for a large portion of my opinion of Australia.

Lucy makes a new friend

There was loads of other cool things to do here as well: we held a baby croc, fed the juveniles, and there was also a reptile house and an aquarium.  This meant that, as well as seeing the big crocs get fed, we also saw the reptiles get fed, and managed to handle some of them too!

DAY 3

The third exciting trip was to the Northern Territory Wildlife Park.  This is a short ride out of Darwin, and situated near Litchfield National Park.  It is largely just areas of natural land, that has had paths put through, in the hope that you can see the wildlife in its natural habitat.  There are also a selection of housed animals - just to make sure that you can spot something!  For instance, there is an aviary and a nocturnal house.

Rufus Owl

Our trip here started with a visit to the Flight Deck to see the raptors (as in ‘birds of prey’ – not dinosaurs).  This was probably the highlight of my day.  There were many other brilliant things though.  At the watering hole there was a huge selection of birds, and I think I spotted an osprey, though I have to check my photos more thoroughly, and against an Australian bird book.

Forest kingfisher

In the billabong there was a freshwater croc, and some pelicans.  In the forests we saw Blue Winged Kookaburas, Rainbow Pipins, Black Cockatoos, various Finches…the list goes on.  The aquarium had a good selection of swimmers, including a load of turtles, some crocs, prawns and even a few reef fish.

We also saw forest kingfishers, whiprays, dingoes and wallabies (both wild and tame).  Check out the mass of photos!

Mike goes for a softer, fluffier and altogether less lethal friend

This was a great day out, and with a student card was only 14 dollars - a very good deal in my opinion and worth every cent of it

- Mike

Ed: watch out for news and photos from the rest of the team about their Darwin adventures – coming soon!

"A hairdryer, you say?..."

On Thursday, CUER invited the press of the Northern Territory to come along and see the car testing along the Channel Island Road. This was very exciting - for CUER it was our first time testing the car on the road in Australia with the shell on. There was much to learn, for instance; does the aerodynamic shell actually reduce the power consumption? Is the driver too hot? Does the chassis interfere with the shell when running at full speed, and, for example, over cattle grids? We managed to answer a lot of these questions – but this is not the purpose of this post (I will keep you on tenterhooks about that!)

The media arrived and Anthony was interviewed repeatedly. The rest of the team is getting tired of the “same power as a hair-dryer” analogy. As catchy as it is, we have heard it rather a lot! Kento was also man of the moment, as driver of the car.

As Endeavour breaks down in front of the cameras, Charlie is told to 'act natural'

CUER appeared in the NT News (Friday the 16th) and was also filmed by “Around Palmerston”, look out for us on Sunday. “The Sun” also came along to check us out, so keep your eye out for us in them too. CUER is grateful to all the local media, and is pleased to see the community taking an interest in the race.

- Mike

My Dear Friends,
 
It is good to read how you are doing in Darwin right now.
 
 We the Welsh Solar car team would like to wish you the very best as you take the British dreams on your shoulders.
 
Good luck & make us Proud! (and we look forward to buying you a beer on your return)

We’d just like to say a big thank you to the Welsh for their support, and wish them the best of luck next year, when they hope to be competing in NASC 2010.

This must have been a difficult decision for the UCL team to make, given that they’ve clearly put a lot of work into the design of SolarFox 3. SolarFox2 came an impressive 11th place in the last WSC, and we were looking forward to meeting the British race veterans.

The withdrawal of UCL means that CUER is now the sole British entry in the 2009 race. Endeavour will be prominently displaying the Union Flag on both rear fairings, and we recently acquired a hard copy to wave about in a patriotic way.

Keep an eye out for it!

There had been concerns that our shipment would be quarantined for containing organic matter but our scrupulous cleaning ensured that we passed quarantine inspection in under 10 minutes, the fastest of any team so far. At least we’ve won at something!

Now that the whole car has arrived everyone is working hard to reattach the shell to the chassis ready for final on-road testing later next week.

- Chris

They make a very good point, which we want to reiterate to our supporters as well: that the World Solar Challenge has not yet descended into petty rivalry. The spirit of the competition is flourishing, and teams are able to maintain a friendly relationship (look out for Jonathan’s post about some epic Nuon-CUER nights out – coming soon!) while still competing with each other.

The response to the Nuna5 crash is a great demonstration of this. Resources, manpower and materials are freely offered and shared – a common acknowledgement of the immense amount of time and effort it takes to build and race a solar car. An accident of this severity so close to the race strikes a chord with everyone, and empathy is inevitable. It could easily have happened (and might still happen) to any of us. The fact that it happened to the reigning champion just serves to illustrate that no team is above suffering from such a catastrophic failure. In part, perhaps, the willingness of the other teams to help with Nuna5′s recovery is a reflection of the very certain knowledge that, in the next couple of weeks, it could be one of us in that position.

This level of solidarity is very rarely seen in other forms of motorsport. Winning becomes paramount, and a competitor’s crash is seen as a lucky break for the rest of the field. Pessimistically, it might be suggested that this attitude is merely the result of working with an ultimately doomed technology. When fossil fuels run out, it won’t matter how efficient the F1 engines or aerodynamics are – they won’t be going anywhere.  The race to improve performance becomes just a race to cross the finish line first, and the ensuing tunnel vision makes it so very difficult to see the bigger picture. So ruthless attitudes and dirty tricks become the norm, because all that matters to the sponsors, the spectators and the teams is winning.

In contrast, the World Solar Challenge is not just a race to the finish line. It is a push towards an entirely different technology. It is a race to prove that such technology works. In that respect, we are all on the same team, and built into everyone is an awareness that, for every car that doesn’t make it to Adelaide, there will be another question mark hovering over the reliability and suitability of renewable transport. For every technological paradigm shift that takes place - each attempt to change the familiar for the better – there will be thousands of doubting voices, skeptics and naysayers who will look for any reason to hold these changes back. Every failure out on the Stuart Highway next fortnight can be used as such. 

For this reason, if no other, we are all bound to help each other, and every WSC event presents a Spirit Award in recognition of that unique attitude. In 2007 it went to the Aurora Solar Team for providing a spare motor to a stranded competitor.

Supporters, sponsors: be mindful of this – there is more than one prize to contest! Nuna5 may well cross the finish line before Endeavour, but neither of us will have made it there alone. We help each other, and will continue to do so, because, ultimately, none of us can cross the finish line until we all do.

6^th October 2009 was an important day for one reason.  If you hadn’t guessed already, it was the first time Endeavour ran on public roads.  More specifically - a 15km stretch just south of Darwin.

Our intrepid driver, Mike, draws 40,000,000 amps (according to telemetry data) as he attempts some burnouts on Channel Island Road.

Ok, admittedly the car was missing the outer shell (still languishing in port), but it was still hugely exciting and slightly nerve-racking.  It was the first time we’ve done any running in a hot climate, and the fact that the shell wasn’t there meant that most of the electrical and mechanical components were exposed to the unrelenting sun and stifling humidity.  Fingers were crossed all round.

We attempted to use the convoy formation planned for the race, although we didn’t have a truck at the time.  Mike was the brave/stupid driver that day, even though he got thoroughly burnt three days ago swimming in Litchfield.  The day’s programme was, well, basically drive as far as possible.

Things didn’t get off to a great start, as the car lost power after about 100m (not to mention the usual Eco-faff).  After a quick reset though, we were off and running for good.  The first run was at a gentle pace – a 40-50kph affair, mainly to test the telemetry and radio comms.  Results were fair, although some data did seem a little off (e.g. 40,000,000 amps from the battery).  Still, the car drove 10k+ without issues, and Mike survived.

A quick turnaround, and we were off again.  At this point, the sun was at its highest, and there wasn’t a cloud in sight.  Great for the race, but pretty annoying at the time, given there was no shade to be provided for Mike, and, more importantly, for the electronics.  The battery’s glass fibre shell was acting as a greenhouse for the cells, so it was no surprise when the BMS (battery management system) started to read temperatures of up to 58 Celsius.  Motor temperatures also got precariously high (~120C), and it was lucky that nothing melted (I hope…).  Nevertheless, the car got to about 80-90kph, and was still in one piece by the end of the third run.

No expense spared when it comes to driver comfort.

By the end of the day, Endeavour had travelled around 45km.  Some issues remain, though.  Firstly, power outages were quite frequent during the second and third runs, probably due to battery issues (oops, sorry!).  Secondly, radio and telemetry suffered a bit from noise and range limitations.  Some suspension- and brakes-related issues were also discovered, and the car was drawing too much power in general.  Oh well, nothing works perfectly the first time.  A great success nevertheless.

- Chao

http://www.nuonsolarteam.nl/2009/10/nuna5-beschadigd-na-ongeval-bij-testen/

We’ve got to know the Nuon team quite well since arriving in Darwin – they’re a really great bunch, and we wish them all the best of luck with getting Nuna 5 back on the road in time for the race.

Get well soon!

Love from CUER