End of Day 4

Unfortunately, the team was unable to finish the race yesterday stopping 10km north of Port Wakefield. Through out the entire day the team battled Nuon for second place which including at least 6 lead changes. The team was able to pull into the Port Augusta checkpoint 5 seconds ahead of Nuna 5. Shorty after leaving the check point Nuna 5 over took Infinium, but a couple minutes later Infinium moved back into second place. Nuna 5 matched Infinium's speed and then eventually passed and put some distance between the two cars.

As time in the race day was coming to an end, it looked like Infinium would finish the day four minutes behind Nuna 5.  Unfortunately, the team ran out of momentum trying to make it up a hill, and was forced to push Infinium to the top and take a 10 minute penalty. This penalty combined with the lead Nuon has created, will almost certainly mean a third place finish for Michigan.

Our hats go of from the team from Tokai University who ran an incredible race with their amazing car. We would also like to congratulate Nuon on their successful recovery and race. They certainly made the last leg very exciting for us back at home.

Lastly, I would like to congradute our team in Australia on running an amazing race. Everyone in the States is so proud of how well the race crew performed. The team should be crossing the finish line this evening. I encourage everyone to follow Infinium into Adelaide using the GPS tracker.

Comments

I stayed up till 3:30 last
I stayed up till 3:30 last night to track your progress, and didn't shut down my computer until I knew you had stopped for the night! We are so proud of you all, and esp our son Chris for the great work he did with the computers! Enjoy the rest of your time in Australia!!
Whooeee! Great race on day
Whooeee! Great race on day 4. A real nail biter. Those who have been in a WSC race know what you've been through. Congratulations to all! You will look back on those grueling days (and nights) with fond memories. Party hardy and then get back to work and make Infinium fly past Tokai at the NASC.
Michigan was 4 minutes faster
Michigan was 4 minutes faster in the first 218 km of the last lap * then the Tokai (T.= 00.04.08,27 hr/m/s. altim. 240.8 m. according to log Nuna5). (Nuna lost 23.8% of her power that lap for 426 cells (tot 2120 cells / 34.7 % return).
Congratulations, Infinium
Congratulations, Infinium team members! After yet another exciting race, you have continued an outstanding tradition of being the best in the U.S. and among the best in the world. Go BLUE! Steve & Donna Adams (parents of Michael Adams, Momentum team 2005)
nice video from today with
nice video from today with Blue: http://www.nuonsolarteam.nl/video/
Great job team - from the
Great job team - from the Hechtman family. We are all happy for the great achievement in placing 3rd in this competition. Each member of the Michigan team will have an advantage in their future careers because of all the hard work and dedication you exhibited during your career on the Michigan Solar Car Team. George Hechtman
Congratulations from all of
Congratulations from all of us at dasolar.com, it was a pleasure to sponsor the team and we look forward to sponsoring again... How about one of those cool T-shirts? :) We're celebrating here with Touhey's OLD...
GGC now says MIT reached
GGC now says MIT reached Glendambo at 8:53 (5th place). Coober Pedy, Port Augusta, and Adelaide to go. 566 km. 7 hours of driving time available. They should make it today.
Principia's tracker shows
Principia's tracker shows them in Glendambo at 9:06 our time. Should be in 6th place. They probably won't reach Adelaide today. Early tomorrow.
Congratulations! Great work,
Congratulations! Great work, you make us all fans and parents very proud. :)
Well done team. 3rd is
Well done team. 3rd is respectable. Look out NASC participants. I was taking with the main driver from Tokai and he let on that they are planning to enter NASC. Should make for a very interesting race.
Oh, my. Tokai in NASC! That
Oh, my. Tokai in NASC! That would be huge.
Wow that would be awesome.
Wow that would be awesome. The route for next year looks shorter, so the margin for error for teams will really be tight.
Is NASC even happening or are
Is NASC even happening or are they pretending that everything is fine and dandy? Do they have a sponsor?
Good work team. Enjoy the
Good work team. Enjoy the moment. This is a highlight of your life. We enjoy all the great races. Bob and Maria Hayes parents of Maggie (Momemtum 2005)
Whoo! Time to relax.
Whoo! Time to relax. Celebrate!
OK, time's up! Start getting
OK, time's up! Start getting ready for NASC!
Only 227 days until NASC
Only 227 days until NASC starts!
congratulations team!
congratulations team!
GGC Rankings say Michigan has
GGC Rankings say Michigan has reached the end of timing! At 8:58, Michigan finishes third.
Hopefully everyone has piled
Hopefully everyone has piled out of cars right now and is celebrating. Enjoy the moment, team!
According to GGC Rankings,
According to GGC Rankings, Team Nuon has finished in 2nd place, at 8:28 AM.
Sunswift reached Glendambo at
Sunswift reached Glendambo at 8:10 in 4th place. MIT should be there soon, if not already. Glendambo is 566 from the end. Sunswift should make it to End of Timing by the end of today. Maybe MIT will, too. Principia may, but just barely.
OSU's Adventure class car
OSU's Adventure class car should reach End of Timing soon, too. The next team is like 5 hours away. A lot of teams won't reach the end today. Some won't reach the end tomorrow without trailering.
Looks like from the Spot
Looks like from the Spot Tracker we are almost there....
Just a heads up that the team
Just a heads up that the team was mentioned on Channel 4 news in Detroit. They did get a couple of details wrong (they said the team got second place and the video for the race showed Nuon the whole time) but it was nice to get a shout out in the media.
This is currently off the
This is currently off the front page of the NY Times website: http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/28/solar-race-cars-compete-in-.... Great press for the U-M team and a mention for Steve Durbin...congratulations to the entire team in Australia and Ann Arbor! Be proud of yourselves, we all are! Go Blue!
Congratulations on a great
Congratulations on a great race! Your friends here at U of M Credit Union are proud of your efforts and proud to be a sponsor.
No tediUM No one glUM
No tediUM No one glUM Much pandemoniUM With decorUM, victoriUM CongratulatiUM InfiniUM
Here some video to see the
Here some video to see the Infinium - Nuna5 battle. must all be exciting to experience. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvUB2Dlo-38&feature=player_embedded
Nuon's Day 4 video, now with
Nuon's Day 4 video, now with English subtitles! http://w.wsctube.com/2009/10/nuon-day-4-chasing-michigan-or-is.html
Can we hire these video guys
Can we hire these video guys for NASC? Seriously these are fun to watch :)
Team Nuon does make great
Team Nuon does make great videos, editing, formatting, adding titles, all within a few hours. Very professional.
Thanks to the neck-and-neck
Thanks to the neck-and-neck nature of the race, I had the privilege of talking to the Nuon media people at many of the control stops. I'm pretty sure they were doing all this editing/posting work while at the campsite with the team each night. They were very hardworking, professional, and friendly!
The excitement, the pride,
The excitement, the pride, the disappointment, the surprise, the suspense--it's too much. I'm gonna need a couple years to recover before we do this again.
You only have one year...The
You only have one year...The team never stop the great job!
Thanks for the update, we
Thanks for the update, we were all wondering exactly what happened. What time (please specify time zone) does the team start running today? Can't wait for the official results to be posted, it ain't over till it's over!!
Race day starts at 8 AM, Race
Race day starts at 8 AM, Race Crew Standard Time. In South Australia, RCST is 14.5 hours ahead of us, because they observe DST (Northern Territory doesn't). What I don't know is whether they're starting on SA or NT time. Presumably SA, since they'll now have a full day there. That'd be 5:30 PM EST, assuming I can do arithmetic.
That's what half of us
That's what half of us thought yesterday, but they didn't seem to start moving until 6:30 EST. They're about 109 km out of Victoria Square in Adelaide, so my prediction is they'll cross the ceremonial finish about 1.5 hours after they start. After a full night/morning charge they should be able to go the speed limit the whole way.
Still early, but I am
Still early, but I am refreshing my browser already. Cant wait!
My fortune cookie from lunch
My fortune cookie from lunch said "do not let great ambitions overshadow small success". Eerily appropriate I think.
Question: did we move after
Question: did we move after we pushed the car? In other words, could we go back to where we started pushing in the morning, and restart with no penalty?
Great job! You certainly made
Great job! You certainly made my day last night. So proud of you that you gave such a good shot there. I envy you have such a great race. Hold your heads up and enjoy the last stretch.
Hey, did you see Chetan Maini
Hey, did you see Chetan Maini (Sunrunner) on the cover of the business section of the NY Times today? http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/28/business/global/28reva.html
What a race. Great job to
What a race. Great job to the Infinium team. Looking forward to the finish, congratulations!
Thanks for all the excitement
Thanks for all the excitement and giving us some great stories with your fantastic fighting spirit. Congratulations, Team Infinium!
Yes, ran out of MomentUM,
Yes, ran out of MomentUM, LOL... MomentUM made it to the top, but we had a flat and finally stopped on the way down the hill to change it ... and charge. The EXACT same hill. Jeez... Good luck today, hope Nuna has a few challenges of their own....
Isn't the aboriginal name for
Isn't the aboriginal name for that hill: Mount 3rd place... Oh well.
Very funny -- an out of
Very funny -- an out of MomentUM. Damn that hill.
Except for the pushing
Except for the pushing penalty and a lack of shrapnel this is a very Momentum-like finish. Congratulations everybody and go blue.