Shortly after sunrise we arrived at Northwest High School in Fortworth, took the car off of the trailer, completed minor tasks, and waited for the race to begin. An hour prior to our departure time, all the solar car teams had a brief meeting; Solar Car Director Marcus Lehman and Vice Director, William Shih, spoke about what to expect during our first day of racing and alerted teams that William may be stopping by their parking areas to let them know if they had incurred any penalties during the scruteneering tests. Team Volt-Tech was pleased NOT to see William—we had no penalties.
We began the race at 9:05.
Upon arrival at the Solar Car Challenge, each team was given a number that would position them in the pits at the Texas Motor Speedway and represent their departure number in the race. Ours was nine. Walnut Creek, a team from California, was next to us while in the pits and positioned next to us in the Northwest High School parking lot. Having them pull up next to us in the early morning hours somehow felt secure and reassuring. You can see them in their blue shirts in the photo below.
Etched into the field house at the high school was an interesting graphic.
Chris is using zip ties to secure baking soda to the floor of the car. Baking soda must be easily accessible in the event of a fire.
One of our tires have a slow leak. Per Mr. Lucks, half a can of "Fix A Flat" should work. Jackie and Cameron take care of it.
This is this morning's read out on the solar controller. The top number on the left is the voltage of the solar panel and the number on the right is the voltage of the batteries.
Our primary batteries are four batteries. Together they weigh over 120lbs. and the procedure for removing them from the trailer to the car is a three person operation. Shown putting the batteries in place are Chris, Nick, and Elijah.
For optimum performance of the solar panels, dust and dirt must be cleaned off of them. Elijah went on the roof of the trailer and cleaned the panels with water.
The car has its own unique name. Students chose the name Yatagarusu. I asked a few of the students about the origin of the name and they said they wanted a mythological creature related to the sun. Yatagarusu is a three legged crow that in East Asia mythology represents the sun. Our car has three wheels and the crow has three legs. This seemed to be a perfect mythological creature to represent our car. The logo was designed by Ulster BOCES Graphic Visual Art student, Will Brassington and is prominently displayed on the back of our t-shirts.
Shown left to right are front row Marisa Jankowski and Jackie Gleelan, back row Elijah Leveque, Steve Scribani, Alex Trelor, Chris Garrison, Cameron Miller, Nick Vincent, Mr. Harris, and Mr. Smith
Snippets from our morning meeting with Dr. Marks and William Shih
Steve and Elijah getting ready to race.
Here is a video of some of the cars departing on the first leg of the competition. In this video, Ulster BOCES is the last car.
We did not get far before the car stopped. As I understand it, the four batteries in the car have a controller. As a safety feature, the controller will shut down everything if the voltage on the batteries go below a certain point. Each of our batteries are capable of holding 13 volts, so all four batteries equate to 52 volts. The controller was programmed to go into a crawl mode when the voltage went below 47 volts. That left us with 5 volts to run the car. Throughout the day adjustments were made, the situation was discussed, and a consultant was called. We were able to drive more, but the car struggled to maintain power.
It is always interesting to notice different varieties of birds and plants than what may be found in New York. I spotted a black vulture flying that conveniently landed on a pole near me. I am very familiar with turkey buzzards, but have never seen a black vulture in New York. However, I know that Ms. Rochetti has seen them in New Paltz—a recent arrival for us.
There are quite a few live oak trees. Live oak do not lose their leaves and their roots are connected with other live oak trees which is why they are found in groves.
According to one of the judges, we are very fortunate to be seeing so much greenery. Normally, the grasses would be brown and desperate for water.
Socks of the day—bulldogs.
Alex set out cones and flagged cars away from us when we had to stop on the roadside.
Lunch was a mandatory stop in Bowie, Texas. The town has a large statue of a bowie knife. I have heard of a bowie knife and I thought perhaps that they had been manufactured in the town. I spoke with a few ladies at the Bowie (I was quickly corrected in my use of a long "o") Community Center about the connection with the knife. They said that legend has it that Jim Bowie, a famous fighter at the Alamo, had stopped here to water his horse, the town adopted his name and evidently the knife that was made for him. Everyone was very friendly and we wasted no time in locating the fast food restaurant chains in the downtown.
Chris, Cameron, Elijah, and Alex are shown in the parking lot at the Bowie Community Center.
The day ended with a dinner at our hotel in Ardmore, Oklahoma.
Tomorrow we will be in the lobby at 6:00am for complimentary breakfast, and then prepare for our 123 mile trip to Ponca City, Oklahoma.
