News
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06/02/2009 - 21:19 posted by Brent
I just received a call from Team Manager Nick Such and he reports that the car is working! We want to give special thanks to the University of Minnesota electrical team. We really are surrounded by the world's best experts on efficient electric motors and with their help our car is ready to go for tomorrow. Here is a link to the Minnesota team's website.
Also, the UK team will not be camping at the race track tonight like planned. Most of the team has been camping on-site to save money, but the area is under a Flood watch, so the team will be dry in a motel tonight. More tomorrow!
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06/02/2009 - 11:48 posted by Brent
Earlier this morning the UK Solar Car team was the 4th out of 11 competitors to qualify for the Formula Sun Grand Prix. We are very pleased that we have achieved Green in all testing areas. The official start of the rayce will be at 8am tomorrow.
The team has been experiencing some issues with the motor controller that must be rectified before we can race. We were able to qualify but the controller stopped working after dynamic testing. We will likely be up a lot of the night working to prepare the car, but we have some of the world's most knowledgeable people on Tritium motor controllers assisting us. Team members from Northwestern and the University of Minnesota have been very helpful and we greatly appreciate them.
We are anticipating rain for most of the day tomorrow. This will slow driving speeds at the rayce due to reduced sunlight. Officials can red flag the rayce, but only in the event of unsafe weather conditions. Our car can be driven in the rain, and we only do so when necessary at a rayce. Please continue to check this website and our Twitter for updates on the team. The next update should include some video footage from dynamic testing and some photos of the team.
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06/01/2009 - 22:25 posted by Brent
The solar car team has been enjoying the laid back atmosphere of the race. It is a lot of fun to look at the other nine teams' designs and get ideas on how we can improve ours. There are a lot of great, experienced teams at this race including NASC 2008 competitors, U of Minnesota, U of Waterloo, and Iowa State. Formula Sun is proving to be more relaxed than the North American Solar Challenge since we don't have to worry about driving on public roads. A lot of effort goes into logistics, racing, and safety decisions while on public roads.
The biggest news today is that our car has passed all mechanical scrutineering. The only item remaining is the battery protection system where we have a yellow status. For the drivers, array, electrical, mechanical, and body-shell areas we are green. We expect to complete this early tomorrow morning and then perform dynamic testing. Two main aspects of dynamic testing are a slalom course and brake testing. We anticipate no problems in these areas. Check our progress through the day on our Twitter.
Only one car, the University of Minnesota, has qualified for the race so far. We hope to complete qualification tomorrow after dynamic testing.
Once again we thank all of our supporters that have made this trip possible for us!
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05/31/2009 - 22:52 posted by Brent
The UK Solar Car team has arrived in Cresson, TX. Registration was today and the team has been making preparations for scrutineering to begin, tomorrow, June, 1. The team had a great drive to Texas and is excited to get to work tomorrow. Keep up on Twitter!
The car charging:
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05/30/2009 - 11:16 posted by Brent
This morning the UK Solar Car team departed for Cresson, TX and the Formula Sun Grand Prix around 8:30am. They are expected to arrive very late this evening. Scrutineering is scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, while the main race will run Wednesday - Friday. For those of you not familiar with solar car racing, "scrutineering" is a period where professional engineers inspect our car for safety. We are very excited about this opportunity and Gato del Sol III chances!
Please frequently check on this website and our Twitter account for race updates. The team is very busy but will be updating Twitter every few hours. I am still in Lexington, and will be giving formal updates at least once every day. Please direct any questions regarding the race, our team, or anything else to brent.white(at)uky.edu.
We are especially thankful for our sponsors that have made this all possible! Over the next few days we will be parading your name on our car and trailer across 2,000 miles of interstate. We hope to generate interest for your business while we are in the eye of the national and local media at this race.
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05/28/2009 - 23:00 posted by Brent
The University of Kentucky Solar Car Team is pleased to announce its participation in the 2009 Formula Sun Grand Prix in Cresson, TX. This endurance-style race will be held June 1-5 at the Texas Motorsports Ranch, the same track that hosted scrutineering and qualifying for the 2008 North American Solar Challenge. To win, a team must drive the maximum number of laps in the 3-day racing time period, challenging young engineers to build an efficient yet reliable solar-powered vehicle.
Fourteen members of the UK Solar Car Team will return to the Lone Star State with a revitalized Gato del Sol III. This car achieved the 5th position out of 24 entries in the 2008 NASC qualifier, so we hope that with the minor improvements we have made, it will perform as well if not better against our 10 FSGP competitors. Once again, UK is the sole representative of the schools in the Southeastern Conference.
The UK Solar Car Team finished second in its class in this event in 2004, when it was held at Heartland Park in Topeka, KS. The event was last held in 2005. When held in the same year as the NASC, this event has served as the qualifier for the NASC race.
For updates during the week, please check us out via the following sources:
We also invite all UK Alumni in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area to come cheer on your CATS!
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05/24/2009 - 23:00 - source: Lexington Herald-Leader [Original article]
The University of Kentucky Solar Car Team ran some tests of Gato Del Sol III, its third solar panel-powered car, on Sunday in preparation for competition May 31 through June 5 at Motorsport Ranch in Cresson, Texas. The UK Team, comprised of students from several departments in the UK College of Engineering, will compete against teams from about 10 other colleges. The new model is powered by a combination of 480 solar panels and 168 lithium polymer batteries. Last summer, Kentucky successfully completed the North American Solar Car Challenge, a 2,400-mile race from Plano, Texas, to Calgary, Alberta.
(Photos by Matt Goins)
Matt Goins
The Gato Del Sol III can reach speeds of 55 mph. The combined weight of car and driver is about 660 pounds.
Matt Goins
The spartan cockpit of the solar-powered car includes a simple control panel.
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05/23/2009 - 01:53 - source: Lexington Herald-Leader [Original article]
Robert Wyler was tooling along the interstate near Lexington on Thursday afternoon in his '86 Honda Civic with manual transmission, his speedometer pointing to 60, doing his part to lessen the nation's dependence on foreign oil.
The windows were rolled up for aerodynamics. The air conditioner didn't work, but Wyler wouldn't have been running it if it did.
Approaching Newtown Pike, he turned the ignition switch off (which you shouldn't try with an automatic). Without touching the brakes, he hit the exit at a speed that caused his passenger to hold on, and coasted most of the way to the traffic signal.
Anthony Robertson was called hypermiler. He did small changes to his already hybrid car to make it more gas efficient.
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05/22/2009 - 16:16 posted by Brent
We've been busy working on the solar car this week and this weekend is our best chance to get time driving the car. We will be establishing the role that each member of the crew will perform during the race. Out of the 14 people attending Formula Sun, only 3 will be drivers and everyone has a critical task. These range from planning race strategy, monitoring the car's energy usage, coaching the drivers, to just team logistics.
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We will be driving our car on Saturday, May 23 and Sunday, May 24 at Commonwealth stadium's K Lot on campus and the public is welcome to attend our test sessions. Here is the schedule:
Saturday:
12PM - 4PM - Dynamic testing and driver orientation
4PM - ??? Laps around various course setups
Sunday:
11AM - Late Afternoon? Race Simulation
We would love to have you come out and support our team! The car amazes me each time I see it in action!
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05/20/2009 - 18:35 posted by Brent
As most of you who have followed the University of Kentucky Solar Car Team on the blog may know, sometimes updates are few and far between, and during the races themselves the updates are daily at best. We are a bunch of busy workers and having the time to write out full articles can be difficult, especially considering our school schedules.
Well good news! You can now follow the team on Twitter! We still intend on keeping this blog updated just as before, but for the quick up to the minute status of our team, check us out: twitter.com/uksolarcar.
Now, you can follow us on the Formula Sun Grand Prix without having to wait until evening for any news on the race. Rural Texas does not have the best wifi, so updating twitter by cell phone should be very easy for us. Hope to see some followers!
Regards,
Mark
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