More media coverage

This morning’s Winnipeg Free Press has a story on the Raycer’s progress in the first leg of the North American Solar Challenge: Red River team rolls in international solar race.

Also, check out this clip from Sunday night’s CTV National News which includes an appearance from Raycer team member Christopher Ball:

And finally, for those of you who just can’t get enough solar car news, this useful link pulls together news and photos from several different team blogs (including this one):  http://friendfeed.com/rooms/nasc-2008.

Audio update on Day 2

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All them grasshoppers?

Raycer team leader James Doell checks in with an update:

The car continues to plug along without incident, just as we had hoped. The whole team is starting to gain confidence in the car and in themselves as a team and are taking more and more ownership of the race strategy and getting the car ready for each day.

A highlight of the day yesterday was “talking to locals”. We had a steady stream of people stop by the car as we were charging last night. Everyone from an Amish looking man with his little daughters, young families, and a fellow who was so impressed he came back to get more brochures last night and came again this morning to see us off! One old guy with a white beard and bib overalls in a pickup truck pulled up to us and asked about “all them grasshoppers I seen drahvin down the road.”

I’ll be working on my Texas/Oklahoma accent so I can give y’all an accurate account.

At the first stage stop

The Raycer team pulled into the first stage stop at Crowder College in Neosho, Missouri just after 11:00 this morning. Unofficially we’re in sixth spot (one spot ahead of where we started), and are first among the Canadian cars.

According to the Weather Channel, Neosho is a sunny 85 degrees today, so all the teams will be able to get in some good battery charging time this afternoon.

Day 1 update

Here’s a quick update from Barry at the end of a long first day of racing:

Hi everyone. We’re in Wagoner, Oklahoma for the night, and as far as we can tell we are currently in 7th place. The day has gone very well,  but with the clouds we were only able to maintain an average speed of 45km an hour. This is a bit slow, but we decided to run conservatively so if there’s no sun again tomorrow we have enough power to make it to the stage stop.

We’re around 100 miles from the 1st stage stop at Crowder College in Neosho, Missouri. We should be there by mid-afternoon Monday, even sooner if the weather is good. The team is tired from a long day and since we’re up again at 6:30 am, most of them have called it a night. Tom is busy preparing the meals for tomorrow, and I’m doing logistics and such to make sure we’re all ok. Will update tomorrow after reaching the stage stop.

And here’s a quick clip of the Raycer on the road on Sunday, passing through Calera, Oklahoma:

And they’re off!

The qualifying round wrapped up on Saturday after an intense week for all teams. 12 cars have officially made the cut, with another three tentatively qualified pending their performance on the first leg of the race. An additional two demonstration vehicles will be part of the 17-car field that leaves from Plano, Texas on Sunday morning. You can check out the entire starting grid on the NASC homepage.

The Red River College Raycer is scheduled to start in seventh spot, around 9:06 a.m.. Once again, you’ll be able to follow the team’s progress in real-time by clicking here, or on the SPOT link in the sidebar of the blog homepage.

In other news, our car won the Fastest Braking Award on Saturday. With that victory in their pockets, the team is now under strict instructions not to touch the brakes again until the race is over. Full steam…err…sun ahead to Calgary!

Recipe for success

The NASC is one of the premier student engineering competitions in North America. Teams spend years working on their vehicles, carefully designing, building, and testing every component, and are constantly making improvements in search of optimum efficiency and performance.

So what’s the one big upgrade to the Red River Raycer that most other teams have taken notice of in 2008? It’s this guy!

After hearing about the super-sized dining experiences of the 2005 Raycer squad, RRC organizers recruited Culinary Arts student Thomas Marks to join the team on the road this time around. Tom has been ensuring his teammates are well fueled with a healthy mix of fresh sandwiches and salads, and some standout dinners, like this plate of seasoned center loin pork chops, tomato rizzoto, pan fried carrots and salad:

Not surprisingly, food like this has been drawing envious glances from other teams. And as much as our guys have enjoyed saying, “What, you mean you don’t have a chef?” to their competitors, they decided it would be nice to share Tom’s talents with the rest of the group by hosting a BBQ/potluck for all the NASC teams on Wednesday night.

While the University of Calgary reports that “the Red River chef just about swoons in the heat shimmer around the barbecue,” we’re happy to say that Tom managed to survive. He and the entire Raycer team put together a great dinner and a wonderful display of sportsmanship on behalf of the College.

We’re in!

Earlier this afternoon, the Raycer team from Red River College officially passed all of the qualifying requirements for the 2008 North American Solar Challenge (NASC 2008).

NASC 2008 is a competition to design, build, and drive solar-powered cars in a cross-country time/distance rally event. The 2,400 mile race begins in Plano, Texas on July 13, and includes a stage stop in Winnipeg on July 19-20, before finishing in Calgary on July 22.

RRC was the third team to qualify, behind the Universities of Michigan and Minnesota, two schools with a rich tradition of solar car racing. RRC is the only community college participating in this year’s race.

“This is a great accomplishment for our solar car team, and we look forward to following their progress during the race and greeting them at the Winnipeg stage stop,” said Dr. Jeff Zabudsky, President of Red River College.

The NASC 2008 qualifying round was held at the Texas Motorsport Ranch in Cresson, Texas. This rigorous process consisted of an eight station technical inspection, followed by on-track testing of the car and all drivers.

“During the 2005 race, just making it through the qualifying round was considered a victory for us,” explained Leon Fainstein, Mechanical Engineering Technology instructor at RRC. “To qualify so early this time around is an encouraging sign.”

The Province of Manitoba, Powerland Computers and MTS Allstream are the major sponsors of the 2008 Raycer project.

Staying on track

The Raycer is a blur as it passes the University of Calgary’s car on the qualifying track in Texas. Photo courtesy of Missouri S&T.

The qualifying round continues on the track this morning, with two of the Raycer drivers meeting the standard and two left to go.

Last night, Raycer team chef Thomas Marks coordinated a BBQ for all 300+ (!) participants in NASC 2008. Check out the Missouri S&T team blog for feedback on the event , and some interesting info on the solar car history between our two schools.

Green light on scrutineering! Next stop, the track.

Word in from the Raycer team this afternoon that it has passed all eight categories of the NASC 2008 technical inspection process. Up next, the car and drivers take to the track for the second part of the qualifying round.

Congrats guys!