End of Race Day 2: Second Place

At the end of the second race day, Infinium is currently in second place, positioned 30 km north of Alice Springs. Tokai University, currently in first place, arrived in Alice Springs at 4:06 PM today, so we are essentially 90 minutes behind the race leader. We are 20 km ahead of four-time champions Nuon, although they have gained on us over the course of the day. Once again today, Infinium ran with great reliability, and we spent no time on the side of the road.

Today was marked by dust from a dust storm blanketing the sky for nearly all of our race route. Roughly 80 km into our day we reached the system, which continued all the way to Alice Springs. The dust in the sky limited the amount of power we were able to get from the solar array, forcing us to reduce our speed from the previous day's pace. We anticipate that the dust should clear up tomorrow as we head towards the South Australian border. Once in South Australia, the speed limit will decrease from 130 to 110 kph, making it harder to catch any team ahead of us. However, if we keep a lead over Nuon, we will be in for some great racing for the next half of the race!

Comments

Nuon passed UM sometime this
Nuon passed UM sometime this morning. Nuon left the control stop at Kulgera at 11:54am. We were 12 minutes behind, leaving at 12:06.
Anybody have an update?! I
Anybody have an update?! I can't go to bed without knowing what's going on!
Hello Infinium, Welcome to
Hello Infinium, Welcome to South Australia
Steve since you welcomed the
Steve since you welcomed the Team to South Australia, do you know when or if they left the Kulgera Control Stop? I wish the GGC website updated timely. Also does anyone know how the time change from the Northern Territory to South Australia is handled. Do they loose an hour of travel time to be off the road at 5 p.m. new time?
I do not know when they
I do not know when they entered or left the control stop, cant help with the time difference either, what i do know is where the car is, they are a little over halway between the border and Marla. Also hello to Paula.
Typically time changes are
Typically time changes are not recognized until the end of the racing day. This way no one gains or loses time when crossing a timezone border.
Typically the raycers don't
Typically the raycers don't recognize the time change until that night. You keep racing in the same time zone all day even though you may cross the state line during the day some time. They effectively make the time change after racing is done for the day, so nobody gains or loses racing time due to time zones.
Something changed on the GGC
Something changed on the GGC Current Rankings. It now shows Infinium's departure time from Alice Springs as 9:02, and Nuna5's as 9:05. 3 minutes!
GGC Map updated, shows Tokai
GGC Map updated, shows Tokai in Kulgera.
Both Infinium and Nuna should
Both Infinium and Nuna should have reached Kulgera by now, yes? (It's now about 3 hours after they left Alice Springs, and Google Maps gives the road distance between Alice Springs and Kulgera as 276 km)
GGC should update the current
GGC should update the current rankings. Twente, MIT and Principia should have reached Barrow Creek by now. Tokai may still need a while to reach Kulgera.
Principia's spot tracker
Principia's spot tracker shows them either in Barrow Creek or really close to it.
. . . and as of about 10:30
. . . and as of about 10:30 AM, Principia leaves the bustling metropolis of Barrow Creek, one of those "don't blink" towns.
According to Wikipedia, the
According to Wikipedia, the current population of Barrow Creek is 11. That means the population roughly triples when a solar car team pulls into the Barrow Creek...
Racer_D has pics of Michigan
Racer_D has pics of Michigan and Nuon entering Alice: http://twitpic.com/n2u5t http://twitpic.com/n2tel Michigan at 8:28, Nuon at 8:32.
Nuna5 said 10:57 Sydney time:
Nuna5 said 10:57 Sydney time: we hebben geen indicatoren over 8 panels, zowel capaciteit als de voorraad: we have still no knowledge about the 7 panels and the capacity of the batteries, no indication, computer says 0 (because of the crash 7/10/09)
Google translate of that:
Google translate of that: "Nuna5 said 10:57 Sydney time: We have no indicators on 8 panels, both capacity and stocks, we still have no knowledge about the 7 panels and the capacity of the batteries, no indication, computer says 0 (because of the crash 7 / 10/09)" Still hard to understand. Is it the panels or the telemetry that isn't working right?
nocharging current, geen
nocharging current, geen idicatie van de laadstroom naar de batterijen 7/8: is the charging current of 7 pannels is unknown, and oplaadsnelheid = rate of charge (normal 18 s.), telemetry is working okiedokie
At this point in 2005, I
At this point in 2005, I think it was Aurora and Michigan fighting for second, with Nuna3 way out ahead. Now it's Michigan and Nuna5 fighting for second, only minutes apart, with Tokai 100 km ahead. In '05 a piece of metal hit Michigan's car, cost them a few minutes of repair time, and Aurora passed them. Now it sounds like Nuna5 may be having technical difficulties. Seems the contest for second and third gets exciting every race.
they must keep the maximum
they must keep the maximum speed limit, now its 110 km/u, in the north it was 130 km/u. nuna5 has a top speed of 168.428 km/u at Zandvoort and 1 hour g average between Ede/Wageningen and Roosendaal of 137.408 km/u, I do not know what the car of Michigan does ? after the crash, 2 weeks ago, the car is as bad as they call it the "Schicht" of Ollie BomBommel, a famous dutch cartoon who's driving a terrible car
Time difference is 14 and 1/2
Time difference is 14 and 1/2 hrs. Therefore at 9 PM eastern time it is 11:30 AM at the race.
Between Michigan and Nuon is
Between Michigan and Nuon is 21 km/ 13.2 m.
Michigan left Alice Springs
Michigan left Alice Springs at 9am sharp local time with Nuon hot on their heals leaving at 9:02!
How does the difference in
How does the difference in starting times factor in to the :02 difference?
Unsure. All i have from the
Unsure. All i have from the GGC is time out of the stop. Also I hear that teams were not even released at 1 minute intervals at the start so that can be confusing too...
Seeing as 9am in Alice
Seeing as 9am in Alice Springs doesnt happen for another 10 minutes, I'm assuming that GGC posted the times of a half hour after the two teams made it into the stop before they have left. http://globalgreenchallenge.com.au/ggc/?p=rankings
Go, go, go! Faster!
Go, go, go! Faster!
Wait half a mo . . . 7:18 PM
Wait half a mo . . . 7:18 PM here is only 8:48 AM there. How can you know what happened at 9 AM sharp when we haven't reached 9 AM yet?
Michigan should be entering
Michigan should be entering Alice Springs just . . . about . . . NOW.
Once somebody knows for sure,
Once somebody knows for sure, please post an in/out time! Need to know when they're leaving!!
By Nuon's estimates, we
By Nuon's estimates, we should be pulling into the Alice Springs control stop right now: http://twitter.com/Racer_D/status/5185293344
I guess right now the team is
I guess right now the team is all awake and doing the sunrise charging. Team, good luck in consuming your next five years' early waking up quotas. GO BLUE, and beat Tokai
The GGC map says Adelaide,
The GGC map says Adelaide, the end of timing is at 2998 km. Michigan ended Day 2 at 1463 km. 1535 km to go. Jeff Goldblum, what would you say we need to do to make that in two days? "Faster, faster. Must go faster!"
Just in case not everyone has
Just in case not everyone has seen this yet here is the Nuon day 2 video which features Infinium 50% of the time. It got me very pumped up. Enjoy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rew_tYGKx0k
Team Nuon reported the solar
Team Nuon reported the solar intensity on day2 was 1000 Watts per M**2, but went down to 500 W/m**2 during the dust storm. That's pretty significant. Principia said that when they stopped, the storm had left a thick coat of grime on their array. Supposed to be hazy in Alice Springs, but clear and sunny in Kulgera and Coober Pedy. Still got those pesky crosswinds to deal with, mostly from the East.
If you want to know what an
If you want to know what an Austraian dust storm looks like, check the pictures on our page. During the mock race we stopped at the end of the day and set the array up on its stand for charging, trouble was we did not know where the sun was.
Can someone explain to me
Can someone explain to me what the times on the Real Time Maps mean? Different cars have different CST Times. Thanks and GO BLUE (and stay safe).
Just learned something new
Just learned something new from Nuon's blog. They said Barrow Creek was only a 10 minute control stop. I thought all control stops were 30 minutes. Some are less than others. Anyone out here know which are which?
Go blue! We will be the
Go blue! We will be the champion for this year!
Principia reports Sunswift
Principia reports Sunswift from Australia's UNSW team has camped practically right on top of them (maybe 4 km apart). Sunswift may have run a few minutes past official stopping time, so they may have to wait a few minutes in the morning before starting our, during which Principia hopes to pass them and retake 6th place.
I have been lurking in the
I have been lurking in the background for some time, but would like to clarify....After 2 days, Tokai is 90 minutes ahead and Nuon is 15 minutes behind - correct? And Tokai's solar cell superiority is beating our battery pack superiority? So if the weather is sunny, they have the advantage, if it's cloudy, we have the advantage? And sandstorm does not equal cloudy?
If Michigan has a 50kg pack
If Michigan has a 50kg pack versus the 25kg pack that everyone else is running, that means they've got a lithium-iron-phosphate pack, instead of the lithium-polymer packs that everyone else has. Double the mass of LiFePO4 was allowed because LiFePO4 battery chemistry has a much lower energy density. What matters isn't the weight of the pack, it's the total energy storage, and I don't think anyone knows what Tokai is running for battery cells. It's possible they've got some hot LiPo cells and their pack has more energy storage than Infinium's, despite being half the mass. What's this solar concentrator I keep hearing about? I've never seen any photos of it...
According to Tokai's website,
According to Tokai's website, they have "Panasonic, Li-ion Battery 25kg 5.6kWh"
check out pictures here:
check out pictures here: http://www.alishacook.com/solar2.html
I think the problem with the
I think the problem with the sandstorm was the extreme wind conditions that slowed us. We here at home all thought and hoped we would gain on Tokai during the sandstorm and were confused and sad when we found out that wasn't the case.
Keep up the great work team!!
Keep up the great work team!! You guys rock. I can't wait for another exciting day of racing! GO BLUE!!!
Gosh I missed the first two
Gosh I missed the first two days. So we did overpass Nuon! What a good job. Keep up there guys and be safe. My heart is with you. Go BLUE!
Wow, almost to the booming
Wow, almost to the booming metropolis of Alice Springs, population <30,000. Take a quick look at the palm trees because it's nothing but red dirt and scrub until Adelaide! Go team, keep Nuna in your rear view!
Thats right, we will have to
Thats right, we will have to be careful... dont want to run into that morning rush hour.
Excellent work Michigan and
Excellent work Michigan and all the other Teams! Can't wait for DAY 3! It's great to be a Michigan Wolverine!