Solar Flare Newsletter!
Principia Solar Car Team
Hello Solar Enthusiasts!
We are delighted that we finally have time to send our updates. The following was written on the team’s drive out to the Pittsburgh International Race Complex. Enjoy!
Good evening solar supporters! Or is it morning? Some of our team members might not be able to tell. After several weeks of race preparation and extensive testing runs, including a practice race on portions of the race route (a first for Principia Solar Car), the team has packed our newly wrapped trailer and are on the road to Pittsburgh for scrutineering and Formula Sun Grand Prix!
As usual we will be making our way with all of our vehicles in convoy for the journey, with most of the students falling right back asleep after a 6 am departure this morning. Veterans and rookies alike are thrilled for the upcoming race, eager to demonstrate what we have learned.
Following this week of extensive inspection and qualification, we will transplant to Cleveland for the start of the 2016 American Solar Challenge. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Facebook, as many things will be going on in the coming weeks! Stay tuned for more email updates coming soon.
Solo Luminous
Principia Solar Car Team
Thursday July 21, 2016
After a long 18-hour adventure of driving yesterday, the team took a recovery morning before jumping into preparations. We met around 11:00 am in a restaurant in our hotel for a late breakfast and discussed the plan for the next week. Logistics spent the majority of the day shopping for food and various supplies necessary for getting us through the next few days. Electrical and some volunteers worked very hard to prepare for the upcoming electrical inspection at scrutineering. At about 6:00 pm, we headed over to the track for group registration.
I would like to introduce the new members of our race team. We have five members who have never experienced a race before. Yasha Doney is junior majoring in Math. She is a fantastic addition to the team (she is our lead vehicle Safety Officer, among several other roles) and works very hard on every task that she performs. Austin Webster is a sophomore who is majoring in Mechanical Engineering. He has stepped into the role of the team’s quartermaster, which entails keeping track of all the team’s tools and equipment. Not an easy role but he has done wonderfully so far.
Also new to the race team is Jake Williams. Jake is a sophomore Computer Science major. He has been doing wonderfully with helping out the mechanical team. Jake also took on the task of plotting out the entire race route on a computer program called Street Atlas so that we can navigate via computer during the race. It was a hard, long task but he rocked it, and the team is very grateful to him! Andrew Huddleston is another awesome team newbie who has taken on some of the craziness of logistics. Andrew is going to be a sophomore this fall and is contemplating majoring in Physics. He has been a big help in keeping everything running smoothly for the team. Andrew works extremely hard to make sure every need is met. We are very grateful for him!
Nick Flanders is our fifth and final newbie to the race team. He is a sophomore computer science major and has transitioned into being part of the electrical team. He is a fantastic addition to electrical, bringing a great work ethic and a desire to learn. We are so incredibly grateful for how much he puts into the car and the team.
All five of these individuals are solid, and we are very excited to have them with us. They bring a lot of good qualities to the team dynamic. Look for them as well as our veteran team members on our Twitter and Facebook pages!
Stay tuned for more updates coming soon!
-Solo Luminous
Principia Solar Car Team
Friday July 22, 2016
Today was a very productive day for Principia Solar Car! We had a somewhat early start with a 06:30 breakfast followed by a team meeting. All the teams had to be at the track by 10:00 for a group meeting. Once there, Gail Lueck, the race organizer, covered various need-to-knows about scrutineering - which officially began at 1 this afternoon. She also reminded us that this year is the 100th anniversary of the National Parks. In lieu of that, every stage stop in this race is at either a national park or a national monument. This route is a pretty unique and educational opportunity for this year’s race. I'll send updates about our stops or checkpoints along the route. The route is posted on the American Solar Challenge’s website: www.americansolarchallenge.org
As far as scrutineering went this afternoon, Principia flew threw several inspections. We are all good to go on mechanical, the battery protection system (BPS), lights and vision, array, body and sizing, and driver registration. With just a little bit of work on the supplemental battery pack and a couple stickers on the van, electrical and support vehicles will be good to go as well.
Tonight the team is working on the supplemental, egress practice, and some little fixes here and there. It was a good day, and we expect that tomorrow is going to hold good things for the team and our car as well.
If you have any questions that you would like answered in the daily email updates, please email me at prin...@gmail.com. Remember that you can check out pictures, updates, and additional information on our Twitter and Facebook feeds!
Principia Solar Car Team
Good evening solar enthusiasts!
I wanted to make a quick correction a previous update. Nick Flanders is an upcoming junior, not a sophomore. Apologies, Nick!
As some of you may have seen on our social media pages, today was a very good day for Principia Solar Car! With the exception of needing a couple things for our support vehicles and having half of dynamics remaining, we have all greens! That means that we are good to go as we start to get ready for the qualifier. This morning consisted of finishing up our electrical inspection and getting through Driver Operations.
Driver Operations was primarily focused on proving the drivers’ abilities to get out of the car in 10 seconds or less on the primary side, and 15 seconds or less on the secondary side. All four of our drivers passed with flying colors! Jackson and Hayley were chosen to egress on the primary side, and both exited the car in under 8 seconds. Nick and Nicole were selected for secondary side egress, and they both got out in well under the required 15 seconds. Good job, drivers!
This afternoon was spent running logistical errands and helping other teams work towards passing their inspections. As the afternoon progressed, dynamic testing became available. With persistence from the team and Nick behind the wheel, we were able to be the first car to complete and pass half of the dynamic scrutineenering. The other half will be completed tomorrow.
Overall today was a great day for our team and for others. There was a lot of camaraderie among all the teams at the track. Principia has worked hard to lend our time, skills, and equipment to any team that asks us for help. The general mindset of the teams at the track are all so focused on getting each other through scrutineering, and that has been really great to see.
As always, remember there are pictures and fun updates throughout the day on our Facebook and Twitter pages. Until tomorrow!
- Solo Luminous
Principia Solar Car Team
Hello again Solar Enthusiasts!
Today was another eventful day for the Principia Solar Car Team! As you may have seen from our social media updates, our day was filled with working on the last half of Dynamic Scrutineering. Today’s scrutineering entailed the slalom course as well as the braking test, requiring hard work and dedication out of our drivers and pit crew.
We started our day off with the slalom course. The slalom test requires all our drivers to weave in and out of a series of eight cones under 11.5 seconds. All of our drivers passed with flying colors!
The rest of the day was centered upon scrutineering for the braking test. The braking test for Formula Sun Grand Prix requires the car to come to a complete stop in a certain amount of time that is proportional to the speed of the car. This test can be considered one of the more challenging tests in part due to the required quick reaction time from the driver and the immense stress put upon the car.
With many different minor modifications to the car as well as a thunderstorm that closed the Pittsburgh International Race Complex for about an hour and sent all the solar car teams running for dry trailers and vans, the braking test has taken up the entirety of our afternoon and evening. Unfortunately we have yet to pass the braking test, but with a whole new day testing tomorrow and the determination to problem solve from our team, we remain enthusiastic about what tomorrow will bring!
Overall it has been a fantastic day for the Principia Solar Car team! Despite setbacks, the team has never looked better! As always, if you have any questions that you would like answered in our Daily Update, or if you are just curious about if we are sick of eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, send me an email at prin...@gmail.com. There are also some awesome updates and pictures constantly coming in from our Twitter and Facebook feeds, so feel free to check those out as well!
-Solo Luminous
Principia Solar Car Team
Today was another fantastic day for Prin Solar and the Ra9 race team! It was day two of three of the Formula Sun Grand Prix (FSGP) at the Pittsburgh International Race Complex. At 9am, after two hours of charging up our battery with our solar array, the race began. We started in 2nd place due to our performance yesterday. Our first driver of the day, Nicole, started us off with two and a half hours in the car and completed 50 laps which is roughly 80 miles. After a quick driver and tire change, Jackson took the driver's seat and finished the rest of the day off with about 5 and a half hours in the car. 113 laps later, he got us to a fantastic end total of 172 laps! With two days of FSGP completed and a total of 343 laps between the two days, Principia is sitting comfortably in 2nd behind the University of Michigan and roughly 50 laps ahead of 3rd!
The team is now diligently preparing the car and strategizing for the final day of the Formula Sun Grand Prix. We are optimistic about what the third day of this race will bring and have full faith in the excellence of our drivers, our race crew, and our car. Thank you so much for your support! As always, check us out on our Facebook and Twitter pages. Until tomorrow!
-Solo Luminous
Principia Solar Car Team
Good evening solar car enthusiasts!
Today was the rest day between Formula Sun Grand Prix and the American Solar Challenge. We spent the morning traveling from Pittsburg International Raceway to Brecksville, Ohio, at Cuyahoga Valley National Park where the race will start tomorrow! On the way we picked up new support members Rachel Holser (driver of our Scout vehicle) and Ken Pratt (pilot of our truck and trailer.)
In the afternoon the thirteen teams displayed their solar cars for several hours at the Cuyahoga Valley Career Center. Despite rainy conditions earlier in the day, the event was well attended. Team members answered many questions from the enthusiastic crowd. At the event, we welcomed our first observer for ASC, Rita who hails from Kansas City and is a middle school science teacher. We also picked up new support member Phil Fielding (truck and trailer co-pilot) in the evening.
We’re performing final mechanical and electrical checks and cleaning the car before the start of tomorrow’s exciting race, which we are excited to say we will be starting in second position.
Remember to follow us on the live tracker: http://tracking.sporttraxx.com/races/solar-challenge-2016/ and on twitter @prinsolar.
- Solo Luminous