Bright and early at 8am, Sunswift’s solar racing team gathered at the
workshop, enthusiastic for a day of testing Ivy at Eastern Creek
Raceway. This would be the first time that many new recruits would
have a chance to see the car in action and understand what is actually
involved in preparing for a testing run. A quick safety meeting
outlining radio protocol, safety issues and hazards followed with the
traditional ‘safety cake’.

We rolled Ivy out of the trailer together and did a quick spin just to check that she was good to go. The new team members then got to change roles in the ‘control car’ where we found the telemetry worked well but continued to drop out.  There were no major issues during the day, with the spa bond holding the steering rack together once more. It proved to be a successful  and fun day of team bonding. Videos and more updates to come!

- William Widjaja

IVy - Back in action!

With our first testing run for the new team on the horizon the following week and with the car not having run under its own power for a good 4 months, we decided to pull it out and drive it around the car park to make sure all the major systems are still functioning. This initial testing would also be a chance for the new members to see the car in action.

Preparing the tyres

The tyres, battery and radios were prepared, Yi Syuen jumped into the driver’s seat and IVy was good to go! As we just wanted to test and make sure the car was in a driving state, we ran the car with the top shell off to simplify the job of using the car.
We were able to drive the car to the end of the car park, chuck an 8 point turn at the end and return towards the workshop but on the way back a crack was heard and a piece of black material was seen flying into the air.

This exercise demonstrated the importance of testing once more and it was great that this issue turned up in the car park rather than next week after travelling out to Eastern Creek for a testing run!

Author: Charith Perera

Sunswift is BACK! After a long spell between updates we’re back on the radar. Expect to see more regular updates coming from the new team.

Since you last hear from us here at Sunswift many new and exciting projects have been brewing in the background and we’ve had a number of new faces in new places. Firstly, I’d like to officially welcome Karina Hudson to the post of Project Manager. Karina is studying a double degree in Aeronautical Engineering and Physics. Karina is currently completing her fourth of five years at UNSW. Our past Project Manager, Daniel Friedman has left the team in very capable hands.

Project Manager - Karina Hudson

We also have a new Lead Mechanical Engineer, Yi Syuen Lim and a new Lead Electrical Engineer, Charith Perera.

Yi Syuen Lim is fresh off the plane from his year studying abroad at Purdue University in the United States of America. Yi Syuen is commencing his honours year in Aeronautical Engineering and will be leading the charge on the new build as his honours thesis will define the shape of our new baby. Before heading to the U.S.A., Yi Syuen undertook his Industrial Training at Malaysian Airlines where he gained valuable insight into the professional engineering world. The team looks forward to working with Yi Syuen over the coming months.

Lead Electrical Engineer - Charith Perera

Charith Perera is currently studying a double degree, majoring in Electrical Engineering and Physics. Distinguished by his incredibly cool manner under pressure, Charith was the obvious choice for Lead when Etienne graduated with his Masters degree and moved on to even bigger and better things. Charith has had two years with the team during the 2011 World Solar Challenge Race campaign including holding a Taste of Research Scholarship with NICTA, a long time supporter of Sunswift.

Academic Supervisor - Dr. Graham Doig

Finally, I would like to welcome Dr. Graham Doig (back) to the team as our first official academic supervisor. It’s great to see a past team member now on staff and helping the team continue with what we do best. Having spoken with Karina, Charith, Yi Syuen and Graham in depth over the last couple of months I know there are exciting times ahead for the team so stay tuned!

The team is now back in Sydney, grudgingly getting back into the swing of normal life (exams, thesis, work…), after a week that was nothing short of an adventure. As we recall last week’s race, we realise that what made it so much more interesting, stressful and exciting was the ever changing weather that affected all the teams. Nature really dealt solar cars an interesting hand, with its share of bushfires, 60kph winds, pouring down rain and idyllic clear blue skies.

Throughout these ever changing conditions, we were very lucky to have detailed weather updates from our sponsor Weatherzone. Weatherzone’s Opticast data and meteorologist briefings allowed us to make sure our energy usage was on track, and to adapt our strategy quickly when there was a change in predicted weather conditions. This data was absolutely essential to the team, and we are very grateful for their support. Weatherzone has been on board as a Sunswift sponsor for the 2009 Global Green Challenge and this year’s Veolia World Solar Challenge, making it possible for us to have greater confidence in our race strategy – thank you Weatherzone.

We’re currently on the route back to Sydney, expecting to get back this afternoon. We’ve got a whole lot of pictures we’ll be putting on our facebook and blog very soon.

Sorry for the delay guys, internet has been quite patchy!

– Dan

Ready for the first morning rays. Sunswift next to team Twente.

We all got up well before the sun to set up the array (or take pics in my case). It was a bit cloudy in the morning and we had quite a bit of smoke haze after getting away.

Not long on the road and we came across solar car Apollo that had lost it on a cattle grid with a suspension problem, ploughed off the road and did some damage to their array. No one hurt and our trailer vehicle stopped to lend assistance.

Something like 7 hours to Tennant Creek. We came in 7th, 9 minutes behind team Twente.

Once into Tennant Creek we find out that the Highway ahead has been closed by fire.

We are forced to all remain at the control stop for the night. Not sure what that will do for the race strategically, but certainly everyone is getting a charge in now for the remainder of the day.

Everyone is still smiling.

Matt

Alex checkin the array power

Somewhere on the Stuart Highway north of Tennant Creek

Group shot at Tennant Creek. Road closed, staying the night. Smile everyone.

At the control stop in Dunmarra catching the last of the sun

A good run today. An 8:30am start from Darwin in grid position 4. Passed several cars with mechanical issues but Sunswift had some too which were fixed after the first control stop. We ended the day in about 7th position in the fleet. After a great dinner the team are working on various maintenance issues. Getting data live to Sunswift Live, fixing tyre pressure issues and checking the array.

It has been an action-filled four days since we arrived in Darwin Monday night. Here are the highlights:

As soon as we hit Darwin pavement we unloaded the solar car at Hidden Valley Raceway and met some of the other teams such as Stanford, CalSol from Berkeley, and ETS from Montreal.

Unpacking Monday night.

Besides acclimating to the blazing heat and humidity, Tuesday we worked on getting the car up to scratch for scrutineering. Robby also had her first go on the track. She loved the hairpin turns and reaching 100 km/h on the straight.

Robby getting comfy for her first track run.

Wednesday we picked up our star driver Barton Mawer from the airport and he immediately got in some hot lap training. At full throttle he reached 115 km/h on the straight, which is the limit we set electronically to not drain the battery in the endurance race.

Bart about to hit the track.

We also had scrutineering on Wednesday. While all the major mechanical and electrical elements passed, we had to improve a couple minor issues, namely the hand brake and rear vision camera.

Scrutineering at Darwin Showgrounds.

Thursday we completed more hot lap training, fixed the scrutineering issues, and our chief mechanical engineer Tommy reinspected the entire car, performing checks such as bleeding the brake lines to ensure there were no trapped air bubbles.

Escorting Ivy through the pit lane.

We also had a media shoot Thursday at sunset on the track for the Sydney Morning Herald and the NT News.

The team watching Ivy get paparazzied.

Friday morning we visited Kormilda College, the high school that our electrical engineer Glen graduated from. The students were keen and had a lot of great questions.

Showing the Kormilda students Ivy's innards.

Now we’re on the track for some final hot lap training with Bart. We have already implemented a few ideas to allow the car to reach an even higher speed in the time trials for for pole position tomorrow.

Achieved 115 km/h Wednesday. Today's top speed TBA.

Today was a big Mock Race Day for the Sunswift fleet. We travelled one of the most gruelling stretches of the WSC, starting in Glendambo in SA and finishing at the NT border.

The car was on the road by 8 AM as planned. With all systems functioning seamlessly, the fleet drivers perfected their radio protocol, the team engaged in timed control stops, and the solar car drivers practiced their maneuvering techniques for the cattle grids and road trains of the Stuart Highway.

We even managed to get some Sunswift Live testing done. It all looks ready to go, just a few tweaks and we’ll have it beaming data straight from the solar car via space!

Not only did the car run smoothly, but the team ran smoothly as a unit. We’ve set up camp in Kulgera, and are about to hit the sack before starting an epic two day journey to Darwin.

Sunset over our array in Kulgera

We’ve come a long way and we look forward to meeting the competition. See you in Darwin on the 11th!

P.S. This post is coming to you via satellite! Thanks Addcom!