On Friday, July 30th, the White House’s Blog for the Office of Science and Technology Policy featured an article on the American Solar Challenge. The blog post, found HERE, highlighted the challenge of solar car racing and the importance of educating students on alternative energy technologies.
Photograph of Infinium Featured on White House Blog
The 2010 race crew has brought back Michigan’s 3rd straight National Championship and 6th overall. Infinium crossed the finish line 2 hours 12 minutes and 9 seconds ahead of the second place team Minnesota, the official stands can be found here.
Over the course of 6 days, Infinium traveled 1,100 miles averaging 40 mph, which is amazing considering the number of stop lights on this route! The race crew only had 15 minutes on the side of the the road making a minor electrical repair. To bring back a championship the team had to run a flawless race. Any downtime or penalties could have cost the team the race, but the team worked hard during the months prior to the race to ensure this didn’t happen.
With the race now over, the team turns its sights to the 2011 project. More pictures from the race should be uploaded in the near future.
Congratulations to the Infinium Race Crew. Three in a row!
Below are highlights from my last photo upload. For high resolution copies of all of the photos I took during the race, click here. The last few pages in the gallery contain end of race photos. (These three photos are on page 11.)
Michigan wins the 2010 American Solar Challenge! I’ll make a post later with the officials times and more details. Congratulations to the 2010 team!
Infinum will begin it’s sprint to the finish line at 10am this morning. The team should reach Naperville around noon. Stay tuned to the live chat for instant updates.
Infinim arrived in Normal continuing to hold on to first place. The race crew was able to beat Stanford to Normal by 15 minutes which gave the team it’s third stage victory!
At the stop all teams voted Minnesota to have the best sportsmanship, so congratulations to their team!
Tomorrow Infinum will leave Normal at 10AM and reach Naperville around Noon. Michigan is currently leading by a little over two hours, which will be almost impossible for another to team make up. I encourage all our fans to come out and see Infinium cross the finish line, we are expecting so see lots of yellow tomorrow morning!
After getting some much needed sleep last night, Race Crew woke up ready to complete the second to last stage of the American Solar Challenge. Infinium as 50 miles to travel this morning before reaching the stage stop in Normal. We are expecting some tough competition from Stanford this morning, as they are trying very hard to win this stage.
Over night the team learned that Missouri S&T is about 10 minutes back and Minnesota is about 40 minutes. After completing the third stage, Infinium should have a pretty good lead over second place!
Route 66: Infinium cruising at the speed limit on historic Route 66.
After a long day of racing, the team found a campsite in Decatur just off the race route. Infinium stopped at 6:04PM this evening, and about 6 minutes afterwards, Stanford pulled up just across the street. Tomorrow morning both teams will be sprinting to Normal attempting to win the stage.
After being tight with Minnesota this morning and afternoon, they had to pull off the road for what is rumored to be battery problems. We don’t know the current location of any other teams, but we believe we are at least 15 minutes ahead of everyone but Stanford.
The team should reach Normal before Noon tomorrow. Be sure to watch the live chat for instant updates!
Infinium cruised smoothly into Alton at 1:30PM in first place. The University of Minnesota was on and off our tail all morning; Infinium would pull ahead of them on corners and then get stuck in traffic allowing their car to catch up.
At the checkpoint we were able to gain a good charge and leave with a 2 minute lead on Minnesota. The team will not reach Normal this evening, so the race crew will be looking for a spot to camp for the night.
Last night the team slept inside the air conditioned Missouri S&T Athletic Building. The team would like to thank the Athletic Department for their gracious accommodations.
This morning the sky was covered in clouds which preventing every team from getting a good charge. No need to worry though, Infinium’s battery pack is in good shape!
Minnesota left 1 minute after Infinium this morning, Michigan currently has a 1 hour and 5 minute lead over Minnesota. We expect strong competition from them this morning.
This portion of the route features slower speeds and lots of rolling hills. Infinium is expected to reach Alton this afternoon.