UMSolar, WSC '15 - Qualifying, Days 1 & 2

The UM Solar Car Team and their car, Aurum, are currently competing in the World Solar Challenge in Australia. Day 3 will begin around dinner time for those of us in the East and Midwest. The start order was determined by qualifying at Hidden Valley Raceway outside of Darwin. If you're curious about what Hidden Valley looks like, from inside a race car, this is a nice video:

YT Video - In Car Camera

Aurum would end up qualifying fourth overall and second in the Challenger class (the highest class of the three).

At the end of Day 1, Aurum lead the field. However, Day 2 is usually where the elite show their speed and, perhaps, some of their strategy. Two teams from the Netherlands, Twente and Nuon, are always contenders for the overall win. Tokai University, with backing from Panasonic, is the reigning champ. As added incentive, Team Twente is running under the threat of having their funding pulled, from their university, if they don't win this race (how's that for pressure?). Both Twente and Nuon quickly passed Aurum while Tokai closed in. After finding themselves fourth overall, on the road, UM Solar was notified that Tokai would be assessed penalties for unsafe driving. That knocked Tokai back behind Aurum. At the end of Day 2, Aurum held third overall, 8 minutes back of 2nd (Nuon) and 14 minutes adrift of the lead (Twente). While it seems like alot, having four cars within 30 minutes of each other, at this point in the race, makes extremely close competition. Things will only get more tense as the cars continue south on the Stuart Highway towards Port Augusta. Stay tuned...

Chuck Hutchins (team benefactor) stood at the second control stop called Barrow’s Creek with his grandson, a third generation solar car fan. For solar car alums, this is the tightest race they’ve ever seen for the Michigan team. All top five teams closed out the day with less than half hour between them. There’s no clear winner yet—and that could remain so until Day 4. “I predict that on Day 4, someone just going to gun it,” Chuck said with a grin. His grandson chimed in, “And someone else is going to gun it too early, and someone else is going to make a mistake.”

Mistakes are magnified when teams are neck-and-neck like today. A universal favorite to podium, the Tokai team incurred setback after setback. Despite pulling in 3rd at the first control stop, Tokai’s penalties pushed them back down the pack into 5th. Their solar car accidentally ran Michigan’s chase vehicle off the road, after not accelerating fast enough to overtake. Reportedly, it’s possible that Tokai could receive another penalty, peeling away their grip on a chance to podium. Team Punch, currently fourth, may also incur a penalty — we won’t find out for sure until tomorrow.

More blog updates, from UM Solar, can be found HERE.

YT Video Day 1

YT Video Day 2

Go Aurum! Go Blue!