A 7th Place Finish in WSC!
Principia Solar Car Team
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Hello, Solar
Friends!
The race is over, and the results are in: we’ve
officially come in 7th place in the World Solar Challenge
class of the 2009 Global Green Challenge, behind Tokai (Japan), Nuon
(Netherlands), Michigan (USA), Sunswift (Australia), MIT (USA), and
Aurora (Australia).
As I explained yesterday, our goal for the
morning was to push the car as hard and fast as possible, hoping to
cross the finish line with an empty battery pack. Justin Sinichko put
the pedal to the carbon, and with Matthew Piatt and Tom Brownell in
the Chase van giving instructions, we flew down the road at more than
100 kph – definitely running the pack down, like we planned.
Weather reports led us to believe we’d be operating under cloud
cover for most of the morning, but those predictions never panned
out. We had clear, bright sunshine for most of the way, and we were
able to travel much faster than we’d anticipated. Several times,
the Lead van had trouble staying far enough out in front of the solar
car because it was moving too fast! The morning and the kilometers
zoomed past, and we crossed the official end of timing line at 10:13
a.m., securing our position in the standings.
From there, we
still had to navigate through the city of Adelaide to complete the
course and parade across the ceremonial finish line in Victoria
Square. Once we got close, the team piled out of the vans and into
the world’s first solar bus, which led Ra 7 to its final
destination. In the square, the team surrounded the car on the
ground, and we all walked Justin and Ra 7 across the finish line, to
the raucous cheers of spectators, officials, and other teams.
Awaiting us at the end of the walk
was a majestic fountain in the center of the square, and as the numb
euphoria of finishing the race started to wear off, we realized the
other teams greeting us were chanting, “Fountain! Fountain!”
Justin was the first to make the plunge, and he came out dripping and
looking for company. About half the team ended up drenched, laughing
and splashing in the fountain in celebration of finally making it to
Adelaide. Members of the other teams that had already arrived joined
us in the wet and wild cheering and dunking, and the whole square was
bright with sunlight and good cheer.
We steered Ra 7 into a
display tent to one side, and then spent a few hours talking with the
public and hearing racing stories similar to our own from the other
teams. No other solar cars arrived on the scene while we waited, and
we’re still uncertain as to just how many teams finished the race
without trailering. We’re looking forward to seeing the other teams
tomorrow and hearing how our friends on the other 20-odd teams
fared.
In the meantime, we took some time to ourselves as a
team to explore the non-solar-car-related wonders that Australia has
to offer. Our destination was the Cleland Wildlife Park, where we
saw, petted, and fed kangaroos, koalas, emus, giant pelicans,
wombats, echidnas, dingoes, Tasmanian devils, monitor lizards, and
wallabies. Then it was off to a celebratory dinner at Outback Jack’s
on the beach, thanks to supporter John Chaney, who traveled all the
way from Houston just to meet us at the finish line.
Now the
team is settled into the Adelaide Shores apartments (and grateful to
be back in real beds!) for the next couple nights. We only have a day
or so to pack everything up to ship back to the States, but for
tonight, we’re happy to forget the work to come and bask in the joy
of having run a good race.
Cheers,
Karen
Principia College Solar Car Team
618.374.5290
www.principia.edu/solar