Wednessday 12 October 2011
I'll be here until Sunday 16th when the Challenge begins.
Photos from today are on Facebook with a few comments.
Rain on the ground this morning. It has stopped but there's still plenty of cloud. The cloud occasionally broke for the teams to test solar panels, but the cloud kept it a bit cooler, although still humid.
I took the YikeBike into Hidden Valley today. I rode to the nearest bus stop in Darwin folded the Yike and waited for the bus. Everyone waiting was amazed. Took the bus to Hidden Valley road, where I unfolded the Yike and took off on the 4 km trip to Hidden Valley. This is much better than walking, like I did last year!
Having a YikeBike at a solar car race gets a lot of attention! Everyone wants to know me :)
Most of the teams are here, a few are at scrutnieering, which started today, and several have their own workshop elsewhere in Darwin - Nuna, Umicore, Cambridge, and Bochum, maybe some others.
Camera trouble today, so not so many photos, but many good discussions with the teams.
So first up, Aurora. Same car as last time with a few improvements. They are running the Mitchelin tyres again this time. They say they are better this year. The team is going string after the loss of Dave Fewchuck, and the retirement of strategist Peter Pudney from the team.
Onda Solare from Italy are interesting. They are the first Italian team, and they are a private team with members from industry, and some from the Ferrari technical school. They aren't a Ferrari team, but Ferrari are supporting them and hosted their grand unveiling.
The Onda car ,Emilia2, has a carbon tube frame, and the back section has tubes that slide inside the front section, sliding back for the driver to get out. The top shell comes off in 3 parts, see later photos. They also have a chain drive and a cluster on their motor. The motor moves side and back to change gears and tension the chain.
UMP solar a budget team from Malaysia are lead by the same guy that did the 2009 budget car (open frame, car looking, blue) . This time they have golden motors (like my electric bike), but 48V 1000W versions with their own axle and a disc brake fitted. They can get 50kph with their large wheels but are limited by their 48V MPPT. Motor cycle forks, bicycle forks were too weak. Drum brakes on rear, for hand brake and to meet dual braking system.
Calsol Impulse 25 from Berkley USA, have the VW sticker. Their array is laminated as a compound curve! Laminated by the team over a plug the same shape as the car with a vacuum. It worked pretty well, although the edges of the cells are not perfectly flush with the surface. Otherwise standard EVA-tedlar layup.
Stanford, 16, has rear wheel steering, driven by an actuator. It can be either set to crab the car sideways, or work with the front steering for tight cornering. So the front wheel spats are narrow, and so is the suspension. The suspension is very cunning, with a double top linkage giving a virtual centre directly above the tyre. There is no accerman either, since this would change the toe when crabbing. With the top virtual centre the kingpin angle is zero, and the wheels turn in less space. The shock is below the bottom arm.
They have one caliper on each front wheel, and one on the rear. Stanford also have tight fitting wheel covers that turn with the wheel inside the spats. The spats have skirts that almost touch the ground, made of carbon and a flexible resin. This is all in aid of sailing when they crab the car. Apparently this was done by Tokai in 2009.
Stanford have laminated their cells on i-phone glass, but thinner. unfortunately they dont have mitchelin tyres, but they will be an interesting team to follow. They are also visiting NZ after the race and might call in to see the solar fern.
Then there is the Koreans. They are the first Korean team in the WSC , from the Kookmin university. These "Green Maniacs" were building their body shell and fitting solar cells the day before their scrutineering. Being from Korea I knew Barry would want me to ask if they knew about Dal Shabet. When they worked out what I was saying the three girls broke into a chorus of "Supa Dupa Diva"!
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