 
(Click photos for larger image)
photo credit: Stefano Paltera/North American Solar Challenge
July 27, 6:00 pm: Mercury I pulled in to Calgary this afternoon, completing the North American Solar Challenge race! Officially placing 18th out of 42 teams originally entered and 20 teams that qualified. The ISU team considers its first solar car race a major success and looks forward to making improvements in Mercury I for next year's Formula Sun Grand Prix and the 2007 NASC.
July 27, 12:30 pm: The lead cars are in Calgary as the rest remain en route for the last leg. Mercury I is about half way to the finish line. An email from the team indicated cloudy weather, headwinds, and hills for the past 2 days that slowed progress. Today the weather is partly cloudy so they're hoping to go all the way!
July 26, 10:30 am: The team has made it to Medicine Hat, Alberta - the final province in the race! Medicine Hat is a stage stop, so all teams will wait here tonight and start the last leg tomorrow morning. On to Calgary!
July 25, 7:00 pm: The ISU team is in Canada and we no longer can reach their cell phones. According to the NASC GPS site they are staying at the western edge of Saskatchewan tonight.
July 23, 5:22 pm: We are approaching the border in Canada!!!!
July 23, 12:30 pm: We are burning through brake pads and stopped in order to recharge the batteries and procure more pads. We spent a lovely night camping out in Grafton, ND and met many wonderful people asking about the car. It is a definite hit! We have 60 miles to the Canadian border and will check in when we arrive. Another interesting tidbit is a story from the road. There was a dog sitting by the side of the road watching the normal cars go by. When the solar car came by it became alarmed and ran quickly away. Perhaps solar panels will be used in place of deer whistles. Yet another great example of alternative uses of energy.
July 22, 9:45 am: We made adjustments to increase the output from the solar array. We are now leaving Fargo and are looking to go the 175 miles into Canda. Yes, that's right...we are shooting to make it into Canada!!!
July 20, 7:00 pm: Today was Mercury I's best day so far. With repaired solar array and a gear ratio change to allow higher speeds, we made 135 miles, just missing the open hours for the Omaha checkpoint! Mercury I's batteries are depleted and will require a major charge tomorrow morning.
July 20, 1:44pm: The brakes are fixed and we are rolling from Topeka, KS and hoping to make it all the way to Omaha, NE today. We are BACK in the race!
July 19, 7:00 pm: We made no progress today. After repairs on the solar array and we thought Mercury I was ready to roll, we discovered a missing brake pad. Closer inspection revealed a damaged brake rotor, too. So we will trailer the car to Topeka and try to get the rotor repaired there tomorrow.
July 19, 9:00 am: Our sick team member will fly home, while the rest of the Mercury I team will forge ahead after a complete battery charge. The weather looks a little better, but we still don't have full sun, so battery charging could take a couple hours.
July 18, 4:30pm: There is a large storm looming so we will trailer the car up to Broken Arrow and continue to Topeka, KS from there. This leg of the race would take over 10 hours so to trailer at this part of the journey was expected. The weather is looking better ahead for tomorrow.
July 18, noon: One of our team members is feeling under the weather so he and a faculty advisor have stayed behind as the rest of the team heads for Oklahoma. Partly cloudy conditions are keeping the speed down, but we are moving.
July 17: The first day of racing is reported to be "mostly uphill!" and, with overcast weather, Mercury I struggled to make it about half-way to the first stop: Weatherford, TX, arriving in 18th place. Two cars have already left the race: Northwestern's car suffered a battery fire and SIUE was disqualified. The team again spent time troubleshooting the solar array and fixed a minor wiring problem that could improve performance.
July 16: Saturday was the team's "day off", but they spent it getting it ready for the start of the NASC race on Sunday. Thanks to the generosity of an Austin-area ISU alumnus, they had a garage to work in, making some repairs on the solar array.
July 15, 2:15pm: WE QUALIFIED AND ARE IN THE BIG RACE!!!!
With only one lap to go to qualify, Mercury I ran out of steam and had to be charged (by sunlight on a cloudy day!) for another 20 minutes in order to complete the final lap. But complete we did and Mercury I is now official for the North American Solar Challenge race, starting on Sunday! The race team will celebrating tonight with a well-deserved barbecue dinner hosted by an ISU alumnus in Austin. GO MERCURY I!
July 15, noon: the repairs from yesterday are all holding and 3 of our 4 drivers have qualified so far (each driver must complete at least 20 miles on the qualifying track and the car must complete at least 120 miles). The last driver will take over in a few minutes - check back later for the latest update!
July 14, 7pm: A trying day of qualification for Mercury I. First, besides morning rains that slowed all teams down, we had an electrical problem cased by some plastic wiring conduit melting, which delayed the team's start; an improvised fix involving injecting epoxy into the conduit got things moving. Second, one of the used power trackers we bought is not working so the solar array electronics system has to be reconfigured. Finally, the radios used for driver communication with the rest of the team didn't work well enough, so new ones had to be purchased. The result is that Mercury I only completed 4 laps today, out of 28 required to qualify. Many other teams had their own problems: at the end of the first day of qualification, only 8 teams are qualified - and that includes several that were pre-qualified from Topeka in May. Well, tomorrow is another day - and the team will be working overtime to get everything working in time!
July 13, 1 pm: Good News!!! The Mercury I Team has passed all scrutineering requirements! We are now offically in the qualifier race set for Thursday and Friday at the Texas World Speedway in College Station, TX. At this point 11 other teams are ready for the qualifier and one team has dropped out - the others are still scrutineering.
July 12, 5 pm: More good news on scrutineering: body: green, drivers: green, batteries: green, mehanical: yellow. A few minor fixes will get us a "green" for mechanical tomorrow. The final test will be dynamics: where the car is tested for handling (slolem, braking, etc.).
July 11, 7 pm: Mercury I passed the solar array scrutineering test with a "green light", and essentially passed the support vehicle test (David Marx's car isn't there yet and a complete pass can't happen until it is).
July 11, 10 am: Team arrived in Austin yesterday and finished the solar array wiring. Scheduled for first scrutineering session this afternoon.
Click here for earlier news items. |
