Hey everyone! i know you haven't heard from us in a while so here is an update. Texas is HOT (and windy). When we arrived down here we were a little behind but I'm pleased to say that we are pretty much back on track. Today we passed Array, Mechanical, Battery protection, Electrical, and Body and Sizing. Tomorrow we go on to dynamic testing and qualifying. The team as received numerous compliments about our cars looks &design features. During scrutineering, the inspectors complimented us on our well thought out car was.
On Sunday night we began having trouble with our generator. We tried to fix it but no luck. we took it to a small engine repair shop and had it fixed, and we had it running but then it went down again. This really had us scratching our heads and we ended up taking it back to get worked on. turns out our gas can was bad and was putting junk into the tank. We got a new gas can and now its running like a champ.
Yesterday afternoon one of the race officials came hustling up to our trailer and told us that the University of Minnesota had gotten word of a hail storm headed our way. so that sent all the teams into a cleanup frenzy and we packed all our stuff up. the clouds off in the distance didn't look that bad and for a while I thought it would just go around us. Maybe about 45 mins after we had put the car away the wind really picked up. It came from nowhere! Some rain started and then the storm hit--no thunder to speak of or lightning, but big fat horizontal rain drops were shooting everywhere. it rained for about 15 minutes and then stopped. it had blown over one of our tents and the winds leading up to the storm had destroyed the canopy tent we had been eating under. There had been no hail but the rain increased the humidity for the rest of the day( so much for that dry heat)
We have been eating pretty good food. We ate burgers on Sunday, bbq chopped beef on Monday, and last night we had chicken breast. soo good
Today was good we forgot our traffic flags back in Ames do we made some new ones out of some dowels and bright yellow shop rags. we also went into wal mart and got a gift card donated to help pay for a new canopy for eating dinner under and keeping the coolers shaded.
We have done so much in the past three days and the whole team is really excited about the race. The car looks great and the team is working really hard to make sure everything gets done that needs done.
Sorry it took so long to let you know what was up. Talk to you soon, thanks for all your encouraging comments.
Luke
8 comments:
You guys are all heroes in my eyes!
With all the adversity, stress and hardship experienced in the building of this car, you've never given up and you've managed to shine!!
No one should doubt the dedication of the Iowa State Solar Car team!!
Pa Kelly
Good luck everyone. After all the hard work and preparation for the race you guys really deserve to win. And don't forget to have some fun and some sleep along the way. I'll see you at the media stop in Topeka.
Go team PrISUm!
Jeff Sibert
Former team member of PrISUm Spectrum
Hey guys,
I started keeping tabs on Team PrISUm after reading the article on the ISU homepage. I know you guys have worked really hard to get the car on the road and make it race-ready. Good to know that the harsh weather did not do much damage and scrutineering is done with.
I used to see you guys hard at work day and night outside Sweeney Hall. I hope you win!
Anyways, I really admire your dedication and motivation. Way to go!
All the best with the race!
Keep us posted,
Niranjan
ISU
Personal message to Tim!!
Your whole lab is pulling for you. This place has gone to hell without you!! Think!!! Josh is our leader, its turned into a sweat shop!! He is currently using the restroom, its the only time I get a break, Megan is slaving away on Josh's CTs, Erin is working on organizing Josh's new office. Good luck with the solar car!!
Room 1121 Black Lab!!
p.s. Ted says "hows it going"
WE'RE WAVING HELLO LUKE.
CONGRADULATIONS! 7/13/08
ISU made it into the race.
Ed, you seem to do pretty well on 3hours of sleep.
We're very excited, proud, and come to the web site often.
Tom and Diane
Sarah and the rest of the team,
Hope you guys are doing well. We're all (of course) rooting for you, especially to beat Michigan (since I live in Ann Arbor). Go #9!
Post more when you get a chance. Or better yet, take a nap.
Bryan Arnold
Team PrISUm 1992-1995
Good luck to the team once again!
For anyone reading the comments, I want to let you know that I established the "Unofficial" PrISUm blog where I'm going to post anything I see about the team's progress. Until or unless this blog starts getting updated more often I'll host it as a clearinghouse for updates and information because I like to keep myself up-to-date on fun things like the solar car race (even though I am far, far away in England right now).
The blog is here: http://notprisum.blogspot.com/
Hopefully my bored student antics are helpful to someone.
Congratulations to the team! You are all working hard and smart. You should all be proud of your effort and dedication.
For those of you who are reading this blog, I tried to post this before, but it didn't work so I will try again. We met the team in Sioux City, and spent time watching them charge the array Weds. evening and again Thurs. morning. The team members were all tired, but continuing to work hard. The car seems to get in better shape each day. The inspector who was riding with them commented to me that they work together very professionally whenever they stop. We picked up a few items for them, including 30 apples and jumper cables for the lead vehicle, and then saw them off at about 8:20 am Thursday morning.
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