Infinium Reaches First Check Point

Posted Sat, 10/24/2009 - 11:08pm by Steven Durbin
The team successfully made it Katherine. They are currently in 3rd place, trailing Tokai and Umicore by 5 minutes. After a roadside pit stop, Nuon is in 4th place trailing by 10 minutes. Weather is sunny so all top teams are hitting speeds between 100KPH and 110KPH.

Comments

Nuon has completed 635 km, UM
by benzine (not verified) - 10/31/2009 - 6:09pm
Nuon has completed 635 km, UM 749 km and Tokai 806 km. Nuon will have to avg 108 kph to hit Alice Springs in day two. We have it squarely in our sights which is consistent with our 4 day race strategy.
Go infinium Many people
by Colleen Fagan (not verified) - 10/26/2009 - 8:26am
Go infinium Many people in the NT want you to show your stuff. Good luck and safe travelling to Michigan University team.......
Nuon has completed ~635 km,
by Cameron Wylie (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 11:21am
Nuon has completed ~635 km, UM ~749 km and Tokai ~806 km. Nuon will have to avg ~108 kph to hit Alice Springs in day two. We have it squarely in our sights which is consistent with our 4 day race strategy.
Google earth tells me that
by Cameron Wylie (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 11:11am
Google earth tells me that Infinium split the distance between Darwin and Alice Springs nearly perfectly, ~750 km driven, 750 to go. Tokai is ~57 km ahead of us.
Aurora 101 has spun after a
by hAl (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 11:10am
Aurora 101 has spun after a tyre blew. They lost 5 hours so the car must has significant damage. Don't think they are out of it yet but not sure if they will start tomorrow.
Special..the german teams did
by AndreH (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 10:35am
Special..the german teams did not make much progress (four flat tires) but already saw during their repair two solarcars driven by..going back home. How is AUrora ? On a map it was showing she was still in Darwin (or..back in Darwin) http://www.hochschule-bochum.de/solarcar/rennen/wsc/global-green-challen...
Is this, at the end of the
by AndreH (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 10:20am
Is this, at the end of the video..the Umicore Infinity Solarcar ? It is so jammed that I do not recognise it.. http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=16275124&ch=...
http://twitter.com/solarcar/s
by FN (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 10:19am
http://twitter.com/solarcar/status/5147472069 Spec sheet on Tokai car.
Tokai says their top speed is
by TC Lambert (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 1:26pm
Tokai says their top speed is 95mph. 97% efficiency motor. 30% efficiency solar cells. <150 kg weight. Bochum said Tokai had the lightest car in the race.
95 kph according to
by Evan (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 1:54pm
95 kph according to http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://deka.challe.u...
Yeah, but they AVERAGED more
by TC Lambert (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 2:38pm
Yeah, but they AVERAGED more than 95 kph on day one, so the translation can't be right. Their spec sheet says top speed is 150 kph. 150 / 1.609 = 93.2.
Crash umicore. Last seconds
by hans (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 9:59am
Crash umicore. Last seconds of movie (reuters). Car is total loss http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=16275124&ch=...
Man that is gutwrenching
by Chris Hammond (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 10:14am
Man that is gutwrenching stuff. This has been a really interesting first day though, I never would have guessed at results like these. Umicore's out, Nuon's 47 minutes behind us, and we're chasing down Tokai for first place. Of course, the rest of the race will probably be just as interesting; I bet Nuon makes a strong comeback.
Wow. That looks even worse
by Cameron Wylie (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 10:08am
Wow. That looks even worse than Nuna 5's crash. I was hoping for closer more exciting race. Let's hope Nuon can get back in it and make it excting. Not too exciting though...
http://www.eetasia.com/ART_88
by FN (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 9:54am
http://www.eetasia.com/ART_8800577320_765245_NT_4b75a073.HTM Tokai seems like the real deal....
On Sunday, the start to the
by Harrison's (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 9:51am
On Sunday, the start to the exit from Dunmarra was 633 km in 6:40 or 1.58 kmMinute. Estimated stop at 5:35 is 759 km. Monday, estimated arrival/exit for Tennat Creek would be 10:22/10:52 and 4:10/4:40 for Alice Springs if same pace can be maintained. TC is 987 km and AS is 1489km. In 2007, "We Cheerleaders" stayed at a Best Western in AS that was suppose to have internet but it was down. Hopefully this year they will have it.
On Sunday, when did teams
by Harrisons (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 9:21am
On Sunday, when did teams have to be off the road, 5:00 or 5:30? Are the remaining days 8:00 - 5:00?
The cars started one minute
by ErikH (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 9:36am
The cars started one minute after each other starting from 08.30h. So the 10th car started at 08.40h. The first car had to stop at 17.30h. The 10th car at 17.40h. Next race days will be from 8am till 5pm.
According to the nuna home
by hans (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 8:01am
According to the nuna home page they had a very bad day. 5 stops with problems with het solar array and other components associated with the electrical system, it seems they think there someting wrong with te wiring. In total the lost about an hour. They are about 47 minutes behind Michigan. And about 1.04 hour behind race leader Tokai Standings 1. Tokai 2. Michigan at 17 min 3. Nuna at 1.04 hour 4. twente and MIT at 1.50 hour see link: http://www.nuonsolarteam.nl/2009/10/racedag_een_derde_plaats_voor_nuna5/
Couple of facts mentioned on
by Anonymous (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 9:06am
Couple of facts mentioned on that Dutch Nuna5 link: Trivia: It was a very warm day with 39,8 degrees C. It was very windy, with sidewinds and mini-tornados's up to 3 meter per second. The solarintensiteit was 1000 watt per m2 Nuna5 average speed was 85.1 km/h, with a maximum of 110 Kmph. Nuna5 team will repair the car this evening, a broken cable is suspected to have caused the forced maintenance stops. 8:30 - Start of race, Nuna5 had to stop for maintenance after 10 minutes already. 11:00 Nuna5 stopped for 17 minutes 11:55 first controlstop 13:30 Belgian team Umicore got off the road and was halted by a tree. No injuries, but the car is total loss. 14:10 Nuna5 stopped for maintenance for 12 minutes. 16:15 Nuna5 stopped for maintenance for 16 minutes. 16:32 Second controlstop 17:38 end of the first day. Results: 1. Tokai University from Japan ahead for 120 km with an estimated lead of 1.04 hour 2. Michigan University from the USA with an estimated lead of 0.45 hour 3. Nuon Solar Team 4. Solar Team Twente trailing about 0.45 uur 5. MIT from the USA about the same time as the Solar Team Twente.
Landspout wipt Belgian team
by hAl (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 7:42am
Landspout wipt Belgian team from solar race The Belgian solar car that participates in the World Solar Challenge, the biennial unofficial World Cup for solar cars in Australia, is out of the race. A landspout crashed the solar car, as main sponsor Umicore reports. The accident happened on the first day. The team started Sunday morning as the ninth, and after a few hours they progressed to second place. But after a few hundred kilometres the cart was trown of the road by a very strong wind and hot an obstacle. The pilot is unscathed, but the car was heavily damaged. The race is over for the Belgian team, that spent more than one and a half years on preparation. The Belgian team, Umicore Solar team, was composed of students of the University of applied sciences group T Leuvense. In 2007 the team scored second place. (WDM) http://www.tijd.be/telex/algemeen-binnenland/Windhoos_wipt_Belgisch_team...
umicore hit by mini tornado
by Anonymous (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 7:12am
umicore hit by mini tornado or willy willy http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=nl&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fw...
Sounds familiar....
by Brian Ignaut (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 10:36am
Sounds familiar....
Thanks everyone for the
by Harrisons (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 6:59am
Thanks everyone for the updates!!!
Hi All you tired people in
by Steve and Alisha Cook (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 6:49am
Hi All you tired people in America. TC Lambert you said in an earlier entry that Dunmarra looks more like a rest stop than a town. It is a town, an outback town, one hotel 1 gas station, and three houses. On the map http://globalgreenchallenge.com.au/ggc/?p=map Click on the satelite view and you will see what i mean. Also on the WSC page http://globalgreenchallenge.com.au/the-event/daily-wsc-results It is showing what time teams passed the last control stop, there is no phone coverage to be able to report actual stopped position. Bye the way, team well done
So no hotel, motel, or inn?
by TC Lambert (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 7:03am
So no hotel, motel, or inn? What about a pub?
I'm sorry, you did say one
by TC Lambert (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 7:09am
I'm sorry, you did say one hotel. Pool? Free WiFi? (I got a nap in, but I think I need more. Brain no work optimal level no mo. Prity soon wil fal n2 lolspeak.)
During the mock race some
by Steve and Alisha Cook (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 7:26am
During the mock race some people used the free wifi at McDonalds while we were at Port Augusta. A couple of them said to me they were going to wait and log on at the McDonalds at Pimba, a couple of hours north. Check it out on the satelite view, 5 houses 1 petrol station 1 Pub and no McDonalds
Still awake. First day
by Andy Berner (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 6:39am
Still awake. First day official update on the GGC website is up with the checkpoint times. Revise Prin to 6th, MIT is 40mins ahead, apparently. Considering Umicore out of action per earlier posts. Tokai looks to have a 17min lead out of Dunmarra. And now I'm really going to bed...
you should really go to
by Hafiz (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 6:45am
you should really go to sleep. lol. don't forget to pray for michigan!
So Andy goes to bed and they
by TC Lambert (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 6:36am
So Andy goes to bed and they just updated the WSC daily results. They show four teams made it to Dunmarra, and list departure times as 1) Tokai 15:58, 2) Michigan 16:15, 3) Nuon 17:02, and 4) Solar Team Twente 8:05 (they must have meant 18:05). So that's Michigan at +17, Nuon +64, Twente +127.
8:05 is correct. as it states
by Anonymous (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 6:49am
8:05 is correct. as it states the 26th
Oh, how cool is this? It
by TC Lambert (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 6:41am
Oh, how cool is this? It looks like MIT, Principia, and Stanford are 5th, 6th, and 7th. They left Katherine between 1:30 and 2:30 and have probably passed Umicore by now. And how sad, Aurora did not make it to Katherine.
times given are checkpoint
by Andy Berner (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 6:40am
times given are checkpoint departure times, so Twente gets to pull out at 0805 on Monday morning, meaning they hit checkpoint at 1705 Sunday evening. And now I'm really, really going to bed.
Thank you, Andy, I thought
by TC Lambert (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 6:45am
Thank you, Andy, I thought you were gone. So Twente is +67 behind Tokai. And the Adventure class car from Japan's OSU (can't help being irked by an OSU), left Dunmarra at 16:42, +44 behind Tokai. Oh, but I didn't factor in the staggered start times, so . . .
Okay, think I got it. Nuon
by TC Lambert (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 6:59am
Okay, think I got it. Nuon started 2 min. ahead of Tokai, so their +64 minutes is really +66. Michigan started 2 minutes behind Tokai, so their +17 is really +15. Here's a biggie: Twente started 7 minutes behind Tokai, so their +67 goes to +60, AHEAD OF NUON! (You don't get to say "ahead of Nuon" very often. By this time in the last four races, they were running away with the lead already.)
The Adventure class OSU car
by TC Lambert (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 7:00am
The Adventure class OSU car started 21 minutes behind, so their +44 drops to +23, first in the Adventure class and 3rd overall. (Also ahead of Nuon.)
no sign of Twente on the
by Anonymous (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 6:34am
no sign of Twente on the map??
Hmm... my initial idea that
by Andy Berner (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 6:18am
Hmm... my initial idea that the officials would have the website updated within an hour of the end of raceday appears to have been a bit optimistic... it's almost 1800 in Oz, you'd think everyone would've phoned in and at least they'd have provisional locations up. Trying to use the not-so-realtime map is a bit of an exercise in frustration.
and by 1800, I meant 2000Z...
by Andy Berner (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 6:20am
and by 1800, I meant 2000Z... this is what I get for staying up posting on a race blog at 0330PDT...
and by 2000Z, I meant 2000
by Andy Berner (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 6:21am
and by 2000Z, I meant 2000 local... that does it, I'm going to bed.
And exhaustion claims another
by TC Lambert (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 6:27am
And exhaustion claims another solar car fan . . .
Latest map update places
by Andy Berner (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 5:56am
Latest map update places Infinium just south of Elliot. Fantastic run, guys. Counting control stop time, I get that as ~750km in 8 hours running for approx 95km/h average. Nice work.
Auroras location has updated
by Anonymous (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 5:50am
Auroras location has updated before Katherine.
So the emerging picture is
by Andy Berner (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 5:45am
So the emerging picture is something like this in the challenge class at the end of day 1: 1 or 2) Tokai 2 or 1) UM 3) Nuon 4) Twente 5) Principia? That's about my best guess given the info we have right now.
If TC's numbers are right, I
by tibfib - 10/25/2009 - 5:54am
If TC's numbers are right, I think it would be moderately safe to put UM solidly in 2nd...as much as I believe in the team, I doubt they could make up something like 16 minutes in the last hour of the race day... Still, after going through Day 1 in '07, I'll gladly take a solid second place on Day 1 and within sight of 1st!!!
Words are seeds, tibfib. UM
by Ethan's Mom (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 4:20pm
Words are seeds, tibfib. UM will WIN!
TC's numbers are always
by TC Lambert (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 6:12am
TC's numbers are always subject to correction. Those timestamps may not be the entry time into Dunmarra. They might be when the map happened to update.
This is where it kills me.
by TC Lambert (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 5:38am
This is where it kills me. They've stopped to have dinner and forgotten us sleepless fans. Steve, put the vegemite down and call your mom. She won't care if you wake her up, I promise.
With Nuon suffering from
by Hafiz (not verified) - 10/25/2009 - 5:20am
With Nuon suffering from accident damage and umicore out of commission, does that mean we're the favorite? ANYWAY, is there a twitter account that I could follow?