UTSVT - University of Texas Solar Vehicles Team

American Solar Challenge 2010

FSGP & ASC 2010 Race Log

• June 26, 2010 We have finished the 2010 American Solar Challenge. We started at 10:12, finished at 2:03, so just under 4 hours for the 110 miles. We ran at 45 mph whenever the speed limit allowed. We ended with the batteries at about 25 percent charge. We finished ahead of 3 cars. The car ran perfectly.
• June 26, 2010 We are currently camped out near the University of Illinois in a city called Normal. The race begins tomorrow at 10am. We will begin charging our batteries at 7am. The finish line closes at 2:30pm and the long exciting journey for the UTSVT and the Samsung Solorean comes to an end. We will keep you updated on our progress tomorrow. Follow the Live Solar Car Tracker for more information.
• June 26, 2010 Finally got a internet connection on the computer. So here are the updates from the last update. We reached Jefferson City, MO on Wednesday the 23rd and trailer the rest of the way to the stage point in Rolla, MO. We took off from Rolla, MO in the 10th position and reached a little outside of West Alton, IL before one of the battery modules gave out on us. We fixed the problem the next day by replacing the module and taking a small time penalty. After taking out the bad module, we realized that due to the solar car going on some bumpy rail road track, it had disconnected some of the Li-ion battery cells in that module. After the problem was fixed, we drove the solar car about 110 miles to Chatham, IL. We trailered the car the rest of the way to our stage point in Normal, IL.
• June 22, 2010 We are currently in Warrensburg, MO. We stopped here for the night and will pick it up tomorrow at 9:20am. We did some mechanical work right after we took from Topeka, KS. The car seems to be responding much better now and we hope to get lots of miles covered tomorrow. Follow us, we will be live at 8am or so.
• June 21, 2010 We made it to our second checkpoint and the first stage point of the race. We left Neosho, MO at 9:45am and made it to Topeka, KS by 7:30pm. We trailered the solar car around mile 150 of 240. It was all a part of our race strategy. We also did some mechanical work on the brakes and troubleshooted the motor. Everything now looks ready to go for tomorrow. We will wake up at 6am and be ready to head to Jefferson City, MO by 9am.
• June 20, 2010 We made it to our first check point with batteries in great condition. We did not have to make any stops for the batteries to cool down. We made it to the check point at 5:50pm. We are going to charge our batteries till 8pm then relax and get ready for tomorrow.
• June 19, 2010 Finally we got a green light for our Mechanical systems. We have safety inspection tomorrow and given that we pass, we will be on the road and racing at 12pm. Our batteries are all charged up and ready to race tomorrow.
• June 19, 2010 We got to Tulsa, OK at 4 am in the morning. On schedule today is to get a green light on Mechanical and do Safety inspection. The American Solar challenge road race starts tomorrow at noon.
• June 18, 2010 (Lap: 152 of 150) THE UTSVT IS GOING TO THE AMERICAN SOLAR CHALLENGE 2010. WE DID IT!!!
• June 18, 2010 (Lap: 65 of 71) Took another break to cool down the batteries. We are almost there and qualified. This will be the first time in 15 year UT has qualified for a solar car road race.
• June 18, 2010 (Lap: 50 of 71) We took a break to cool down the batteries and to change the back tire. We will be going out on the track in a few minutes to finish the rest of the laps to qualify for ASC 2010. The batteries are at 39.35 Degrees C and the battery level is around 56% full. Benton is going to take the driver position and hopefully finish us off.
• June 18, 2010 (Lap: 32 of 71) We just did a driver change at lap 29. Benton drove really well. Now its George's time to shine. Temperature = 41.35 C. Battery Level = 57% Full.
• June 18, 2010 (Lap: 18 of 71) We are up and running on the track. Need to complete 71 laps to qualify for the American Solar Challenge. We did some more work on the battery ventilation system. Hopefully it works. GO HORNS!
• June 17, 2010 (Lap: 79 of 150) We finished the day off with completing 79 laps. We need to get that number up to 150 if we want to qualify for the American Solar Challenge. Tomorrow is a big day for us. We are just charging up the batteries right now until 8 pm. Then we have to impound the battery boxes and resume charging at 7:30am on Friday. We go back on the track at 9 am. We are coming up with some ways to ventilate the batteries better so they don't overheat due to high temperatures in Cresson, Texas.
• June 17, 2010 (Lap: 76 of 150) Well we tripped our BMS because of the batteries getting too hot. Looks like we are going to have to bring in the car to cool down and then send it back out to complete as many laps as we can. We will need to complete a total of 150 laps tomorrow to qualify for the ASC 2010.
• June 17, 2010 (Lap: 76 of 100) Average speed is about 20 mph. At this rate we will be short 6 laps. We cannot speed up because the batteries are going to overheat because the temperature in Cresson, Texas is extremely hot. We are hoping the battery temperature doesn't go down.
• June 17, 2010 (Lap: 70 of 100) After cooling down the car, we are back on the track. Battery temperature is 40.85 degrees. We have 2 hours left before the track closes, which means we need to get about 15 laps per hour. If we do not complete 100 laps today, then we will need to complete a total of 150 minus the laps we completed today.
• June 17, 2010 (Lap: 64 of 100) We are thinking of bringing the car in to cool down because we are about 0.65 Degrees from tripping the batteries.
• June 17, 2010 (Lap: 60 of 100) We had to slow down a little to keep our batteries from overheating. We are currently at 42.85 Degrees and we trip at about 44.5 Degrees. The battery level is down to 58%. We need 40 more laps to go in about 3 hours and 15 minutes.
• June 17, 2010 (Lap: 45 of 100) We got a flat tire and had to run out to the track to change it. After changing it we realized that the tire's valve stem was bad, therefore we had to come to the pit area and change out all three tires. We are back on the track and doing good. The battery temperature is 40.35 Degrees.
• June 17, 2010 (Lap: 36 of 100) We just switched drivers. Benton drove for 2 hours. George took over. We are aiming to complete 100 laps today to qualify for the American Solar Challenge.
• June 17, 2010 (Lap: 15 of 100) The car is on the track and we are looking good. Battery temperature = 38.35 Degrees.
• June 17, 2010. Rise and shine Texas. It's a great day to go "raycing." We will be starting our laps on the track at 9am. We will have the Solar Car Cam working by then. GO HORNS!
• June 16, 2010. Today was like a practice run for us on the track. Our laps did not count because we were not able to finish the adequate number of laps needed. The goal is to either complete 100 laps tomorrow or 150 laps by Friday if we want to qualify for the American Solar Challenge. We are aiming to complete 100 laps tomorrow. We have a new racing strategy in mind and will be up and "raycing" on the track at 9am.
• June 16, 2010 (Lap: 47 of 51) Took another battery cooling break. We have some ideas of how to fix the overheating problem. We are going to work on it tonight. Our goal is to complete 150 laps in 2 days if we want to qualify for the American Solar Challenge 2010.
• June 16, 2010 (Lap: 38 of 75) Taking another battery cooling break. Cresson, Texas temperature: 97 Degrees.
• June 16, 2010 (Lap: 31 of 150) We are back on the race track. Average speed is about 38 mph. Batteries are holding up. We are monitoring the car on the Chase Vehicle Program. GO HORNS!
• June 16, 2010 (Lap: 26 of 150)
Due to the high temperatures in Cresson, Texas, the batteries reached their threshold temperature. Therefore, we are currently cooling down the batteries. We should be up and racing in a little while.
• June 16, 2010. We have a blue light on the mechanical system, which gave us entry to the Formula Sun Grand Prix. We have successfully completed 26 laps on the track and were one of seven cars to start the Formula Sun Grand Prix at 9am.
• June 15, 2010. We are still working on the mechanical system, we hope to finish that tonight so we can get a green light for the mechanical inspection, which will allow us to compete in the Formula Sun Grand Prix that starts at 11 am.
• June 14, 2010. Just found out that the Mechanical parts will not get here until tomorrow morning. Our plan is to disassemble the suspension tonight so that once the parts come in tomorrow morning, we will be ready to put the car back together.
• June 14, 2010. We passed the Dynamics testing. George and Benton did an awesome job driving the car. Now the only thing left to do is to get a green on the Mechanical static test. The parts should come in tonight and we should have the car ready for inspection by tomorrow morning. GO HORNS!
• June 14, 2010. Got the yellow light for Mechanical static test. Dynamics, here we come! We ordered the hardware we need to get a green light last night and will install it on the car tonight. Hopefully we will have all greens by Tuesday and we will be ready to race in the Formula Sun Grand Prix.
• June 13, 2010. We did not get a green light for the Mechanical scrutineering. However, if we tighten all of our bolts and add the one missing bolt on the parking brake mechanism, we will get the yellow light to go do dynamic testing on the car. We will order the parts that will get us the green light tonight and have the car ready for second inspection tomorrow afternoon. GO HORNS!
• June 13, 2010. The team passed the Array, Driver, Body & Sizing, Electrical, and Battery Protection static scrutineering stations. The Mechanical scrutineering, last static, should start very soon.

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