Co-Curricular Solar Car World Solar Challenge Press Releases 1: Arrival 2: Preparation 3: Day 1 4: Day 2 5: Day 3 6: Day 4 7: Day 5 8: Day 6

The Spirit Of Unley Annesley College Solar Car Team

WORLD SOLAR CHALLENGE 2003

PRESS RELEASE 3:
DAY 1: ALL SYSTEMS GO!

After a very busy day on Saturday

• 7.30 am speed trials. Car reached a speed of 60 Km with Lauren Heinrich driving and Ryang Ja Jeong as passenger
• charging the batteries
  
• 3 pm - team meeting
  
• 5.15 - reception at Parliament House with all the other solar car teams
  
• packing for an early start

EOS - The Spirit of Unley set off at 8am for the 3010 Km trip back to Adelaide.

After spending several hours fixing the tail lights on Friday evening, the car was in prime condition as it took off at the back of the field of competitors in the World Solar Challenge.

EOS - The Spirit of Unley performed much better than it did on its first day in the last race, with Georgina Cogan driving for the first one and a half hours. Unfortunately the inverters cut out frequently after the change of drivers due to overheating. The ply wood panel was removed to allow more air flow, but at 2 pm it became obvious that the car would not reach the Control Point in Katherine by 5 pm. The car was put on the trailer for 100Km, but was able to be driven the last 6 Km to arrive at the Control Stop at 4.50 pm. The weather conditions have been trying -temperatures of 40C throughout the day and still 35C at 9pm in Katherine.

The inverters have been moved to the back seat of the car and all passengers have had lessons on reading the variac and turning it down to prevent overheating due the massive amount of current going through from the batteries.

Team Leader, Peter Gubbins is pleased with the result and also with the enthusiasm and co-operation of the rest of the team.

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