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06 July 2008: Day 7
After a fantastic bonfire last night (during which Caitlin's jeans caught on fire) and a good sleep, the team left Dan’s at 9:30 this morning. We left Mudgee and headed towards the blue mountains. During this time we managed to fit in some driver training, Clara drove really well until we once again had problems with the electrical system and had to pack up. This was fortunate as it began to rain when we reached Lithgow where we stopped for lunch.
The Sunswift team got back to the workshop at 4:00 pm and are unpacking and cleaning before taking next week off. Even solar racing teams occasionally need a holiday.

Mitch, Soleman, Clara and Glen (hammer-man) before driver training	Clara drives the solar car

05 July 2008: Day Six
The team enjoyed a well-deserved sleep in before heading into town for driver training. We had similar problems with the electrical system as on Thursday and so spent two hours working on the car. Jono then drove to the Oatley winery where the team from The Cadillac Chef joined us and Clara was interviewed by Russell, the Chairmen of the Mudgee Regional Tourist Council. We enjoyed the opportunity to park the solar car next to Russell’s fully restored 1918 Cadillac. Clara also spoke to another reporter from The Mudgee Guardian.
This evening the team will be enjoying sausages at Dan’s (our incredibly generous host) and a bonfire before heading back to Sydney tomorrow.

Fixing Driver Controls	Jaycar Sunswift III and 1918 Cadillac

04 July 2008: Day Five
Friday saw the team visiting Mudgee High School where we were delighted to find that students already participated in a remote control solar car competition. All the groups were interested and interacted with the team. They even got out their solar cars to show us.
Local paper The Mudgee Guardian came to see the car and speak to team members and Rural ABC interviewed Clara for a web video.
On Friday evening Dan took us to the local pub where we had some fantastic local lamb and Jono came second in the pub's pool competition.

Year Twelve Engineering Studies under the array	Under the array

03 July 2008: Day Four
The team left Springwood this morning and headed to Mudgee. We were optimistic about the car’s performance after yesterdays repair. Jono drove the car:
“When you are a little kid on a roller coaster, you’re scared but you know that engineers have made it safe. Driving the solar car you think the same thing but we are the engineers…”
After ten minutes we stopped for a tire change, unfortunately the tire put on by the mech team also had a hole in it so this had to be done twice. We drove for another 20 minutes before stopping due to problems with the electrical system. We pulled over for repairs, during this time the police drove past giving Sunswift roadside safety procedure the thumbs up. We eventually packed the car up and headed to Mudgee where we are staying with Dan Power.

Police giving Sunswift the thumbs up	Jono in the car

02 July 2008: Day Three
The team rose at 6:30 am this morning and headed to Jono’s former school Penrith High School. We spoke to several enthusiastic senior students whose level of comprehension amazed us all. The students asked intelligent questions and conversed with team members long after the session had finished. We opted not to allow students into the car today as we were concerned about damaging delicate areas of the chassis however under Mitch’s careful supervision one student was allowed to look under the array and see the trackers. We enjoyed our time at Penrith High School where I am told students already participate in building solar powered boats, the students even had us stumped with the question of the day, “why are there onions in the electrical box?”
After the presentations the team was joined by our new mech leader Campbell and spoke to local paper The Gazette. We then set to work repairing the car. We were having trouble getting commands from the driver controls through to the new motor controller. After a brief trip to Jaycar and several phone calls back to Dave in Sydney we then headed up to Adeline Park where we ate lunch and worked both on the solar car and the rodeo. Fortunately at 4:08 this afternoon we were successful in getting the car working again and the team changed the design to avoid some of these problems in the future.
This evening the team is hoping to relax and watch the State of Origin before driving to Mudgee tomorrow.

Clara introducing car systems	Fixing the electrical system

01 July 2008: Day Two
The team said goodbye to Terry and headed to Mitch’s old school St Patrick’s. Most of the day was spent talking to senior Engineering, Physics and Design and Technology students. We were successful in getting the telemetry working on a projector screen and two lucky students, Jordan and Erin were able to operate the motor and regenerative braking system while Glen explained the output of the software.
After the presentations the team was interviewed by local paper The Leader before packing up and heading to the Blue Mountains.
On the way to the mountains the team practiced radio protocol which we are working on perfecting now before the driver training scheduled for this weekend.
The team arrived at Assistant Team Leader Jono’s house in Springwood where we will spend the next two nights before heading to Mudgee.

Testing wheel motor	Jordan in the solar car

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30 June 2008: Day One
After a rigorous weekend of driver training and working on the new motor controller the Sunswift team set off at 7:30am bound for the Sutherland Shire. Our first stop, Inaburra School.
After evicting several teachers from their parking spots we set up in the teachers’ car park and met our first class, year five. The students were engaged and enthusiastic as team leader Clara explained the basic systems of the car and a brief history of Solar Racing. The students were delighted when electrician Glen explained the superiority of the Sunswift electric motor over a turbocharged electric engine.
Our next groups were year 7s, 9s and 10s followed by year 11 Design and Technology and year 12 Engineering Studies. The team greatly enjoyed sharing our passion for sustainable technology with students close to our own age and interests. Individual team members gave a run down of the electrical system, mechanical systems, composite materials, the solar array, aerodynamics and the Controlled Area Network (CAN).
At 3pm we said goodbye to our kind hosts and headed to Barbie Rogers’ place where we stayed with team member Mitch’s grandfather Terry. The team had an enjoyable evening relaxing on the Ab King Pro and a well-deserved sleep.

The Team	Mitch showing students a solar cell

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27 April 2008: Wing, Wheels and Wine Festival Mudgee
Our weekend in Mudgee had something for everyone and from beginning to end we were surrounded by interesting ideas, friendly characters and entertaining sites. We arrived late and our hosts Dan Power and Nicki Schmid generously took us out to dinner in the local homely pub full of smiling faces, children and the odd dog. One of the local lads challenged us all to a pool competition and walloped us grandly so we mingled with the crowd instead. Many of them were also from out of town and full of interesting stories from Father John who is flying around Australia in a plane he built to raising funds for work in East Timor, to talk of solar-electric trains, permaculture and more.
We were kindly put up by Stephen Miles and his family and slept in his straw bale recording studio Sunpower Studios that runs (as the name suggests) purely off solar panels and we had a great time chatting about his trackers, batteries and panels. I don’t think most people slept much that night as we had to be up at six and were shouted a grand breakfast by mother Nicki down the road at Hazelbrook Farm and it was a true huge farm breakfast that set us up for a long day enjoying the sunshine admiring some great cars, air shows and a little wine tasting for the more sophisticated among us. The Mudgee school kids had built some cool little remote control cars that ran off capacitors were nearby and we had some great yarns with the guy next door with small two door electric vehicles.
When we finally packed up that afternoon we were thoroughly exhausted, totally inspired and full of excitement about building a new car.

The team outside the Straw Bale Recording Studio	Mudgee High Solar Cars

20 April 2008: Altium Support Sunswift
Altium has generously supported Sunswift by the donation of its latest software the Altium Designer, the design suit is the first unified application that incorporates all the technologies and capabilities necessary for complete electronic product development and a piece of software that will be highly valued by the team. The electrical team will be using the Altium Designer for new circuit boards within the car including driver control boards that are necessary for the new motor controllers that the team will be purchasing later this month.

Altium Software	Electrical Team Installing Programs

08 April 2008: Randwick Eco Living Fair
The Randwick Eco-Living fair proved to be a fantastic local event with workshops, talks, native plant giveaway, organic food and a huge variety of stands supporting eco-living. The team was surrounded by interesting people many of whom recognized Sunswift III from previous displays. Stimulating conversation was had by all regarding renewable technology and a sustainable future with the highlight of the day meeting Peter Garrett and sharing his passion for these topics.

Sunswift at the Fair	Meeting Peter Garrett