Ford Australia

End of Race Day 3: Neck and neck with Nuon

Posted Tue, 10/27/2009 - 7:35am by Steven Hechtman

After an intense day of competition, the team sits neck and neck with Nuon for second place. We are currently camped out approximately 2 kilometers behind Nuon, though they ended the day shortly after 5:00 PM while we ended at exactly 5:00 PM. When we pulled off at our campsite, our lead vehicle was directly behind their chase vehicle. Tokai University remains in the lead, already having passed Glendambo. Barring any great misfortune, they will emerge as winners of the race. Our team is excited to be in direct competition with Nuon for second place, who have finished first in all of their four previous races. Never before has Michigan finished higher than third in the World Solar Challenge/Global Green Challenge.

The day started with both us and Nuon just north of Alice Springs. We arrived there shortly after 8:30 with Nuon close behind. A cable was left unplugged at the end of the control stop, which forced us to lose some time at the exit of the control stop. Shortly after leaving Alice Springs, one of our MPPTs malfunctioned and tripped the vehicle's circuit breakers. While we were on the side of the road, Nuon passed us to take second place.

We spent the remainder of the morning pushing on towards Kulgera, and ran across many entries from the Eco Challenge class of the Global Green Challenge. These vehicles were seeking to maximize their fuel economy while competing across the outback, and were running slower than we were! While navigating through the pack of Eco Cars, we even had a chance to run alongside Ford Australia once again. In the midst of weaving through the Eco Cars, we pulled into Kulgera about 10 minutes behind Nuon.

UMSolar and Ford Australia

Posted Tue, 09/22/2009 - 1:23am by Steven Hechtman

In order to meet the challenges of transporting our 20-person Race Crew and many of our spare parts across Australia, the Solar Car Team requires a fleet of versatile vehicles for its race caravan.  The University of Michigan team would like to thank Ford Australia for supporting the team by lending us four vehicles that satisfy even the toughest of the race's demands in the upcoming Global Green Challenge.


The team's semi trailer approaches Ford Australia's Head Office

During the afternoon of September 18th, Ford Australia hosted the team at its Head Office in Melbourne. Infinium and two of the four vehicles Ford Australia provided to the team were on display outside of the Head Office, and we had the pleasure of meeting with many Ford employees. Ford Australia's President and CEO, Marin Burela, joined us to see the solar car and to wish us luck in the Global Green Challenge. Mr. Burela, who previously oversaw Ford's small cars operations globally, spoke excitedly about the Ford Fiesta and Ford's other fuel-efficient vehicles that will be taking part in the Global Green Challenge's eco-car event. Our team is looking forward to competing alongside the consumer vehicles entered into the challenge.


Ford Australia President and CEO Marin Burela speaks with Solar Car Team members

Of the four vehicles Ford Australia is providing to the team, the Ford Territory SUV is a perfect fit for the needs of our Lead, Chase, and Weather vehicles. With three rows of seating, each Territory can carry either seven passengers or five passengers with ample room for extra equipment.  The 30 storage compartments in each car provide plenty of space for any spare parts or tools we may need. Our Chase vehicle even has an LCD screen mounted to the ceiling, so our strategists will be able to use the screen to display telemetry data coming from Infinium. The last of the four support vehicles, Scout, is a Ford Ranger pickup capable of hauling a large cargo load plus a full cab of team members. With these quality vehicles and the generous support from Ford Australia, our team caravan is well-prepared to respond to the challenges we will face in the outback.


Solar Car Team with Lead vehicle, a Ford Territory