July 20, 2008

Winnipeg, Manitoba — University of Calgary’s solar car Schulich 1 will start Stage 4 of the North American Solar Challenge (NASC) in sixth place overall this morning as the race route takes a 90-degree turn to the left along the Trans-Canada Highway, heading towards the finish line at the U of C on Tuesday afternoon. The team moved up one spot in the overall classification after a demanding day of racing on Saturday that saw most vehicles pulled to the finish line at Red River College on trailers after sunshine failed to materialize during the race day and the U of C team slowed due to a flat tire.

“We were the last car out on the road, which means we will gain time on other teams who ran out ofAnything to declare?: Jeff Wickenheiser stops at the border into Canada on Saturday afternoon. power and had to trailer further than we did,” team operations manager Darshni Pillay said. “We did really well considering the weather and the mechanical issues we that came up.”

Day 7 of the 4,000 kilometre race that began in Plano, Texas on July 13 began at 8 am with teams picking up where they stopped in North Dakota on Friday evening. The U of C Solar Team started about 20 kilometres north of Fargo and was forced to keep a modest pace of 50 km/h as overcast skies and rainstorms slowly drained the car’s batteries as it made for the Canadian border at Pembina, North Dakota. Driver Jeff Wickenheiser eventually pulled Schulich 1 into the special lane devoted to solar car convoys at the Canadian border crossing at 2 pm. Despite taking care of the paperwork beforehand, solar car drivers were still required to stop for routine questions by Canadian border protection officers.

“The officer asked me if I had any alcohol, tobacco or firearms on board, which of course I didn’t,” Wickenheiser said. “There’s barely enough room in the solar car for anything except whoever is driving.”

In fact, NASC regulations require all drivers to weigh at least 80 kilograms, which means the slightly-built Wickenheiser needs to carry a large yellow bag of weights, known as ballast, in the car in order to meet the minimum weight requirement.

Schulich 1 continued north from the border towards Winnipeg but only made it about halfway to Winnipeg from the 49th parallel before the team made the decision to trailer the vehicle in order to make the 5 pm cut-off. The vehicle’s battery had drained to 10 per cent of its capacity and the team later realized much of the power loss was due to a flat tire.

“Making the decision to put the car in the trailer is a strategic one in a lot of cases,” said NASC director Dan Eberle. “Trailering comes with a penalty of 1.5 minutes for every mile but if it comes down to taking a penalty or driving really slowly, sometimes you’re better off to put it in the trailer.”

Ironically, the clouds parted as soon as the race day ended, giving teams a chance to charge up their depleted batteries and enjoy a barbecue dinner and music concert in the college parking lot.

U of C began Stage 3 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota in seventh place but will begin Stage 4 in sixth place after overtaking Missouri University of Science and Technology, whose car lost time to Schulich 1 over the last two days. Stage 4 begins at 9 am this morning from Red River College. Teams will drive west on the Trans-Canada Highway to checkpoints in Brandon and Regina and the final stage stop in Medicine Hat, Alberta on Monday evening.

The U of C team is glad to be back on Canadian soil, where they can enjoy all the comforts of home, including Tim Horton’s coffee and picking up supplies at Canadian Tire.

“It’s kind of strange to go from shopping for parts for the car at Canadian Tire every day to not having it there when you need it,” Pillay said. “Now we know exactly where we can go to find everything we need for the rest of the race!”