July 17, 2008

Into Sioux Falls in the nick of time

U of C Solar Team earns rest day in South Dakota, gears up for race to the Canadian border

Sioux Falls, South Dakota — Schulich 1 pulled into the second stage stop of the 2008 North American Solar Challenge with just minutes to spare on Wednesday evening, after the longest day of driving yet that saw the car cover almost 500 kilometres. Solar Team members were exhausted but elated after the 10-hour day that saw the U of C car ranked seventh place overall and earned them a day off from driving today before the race continues north towards Manitoba on Friday morning.

“I kept checking my watch and just hoping we were going to make it on time,” said driver Tiffany Veltman, who drove Schulich 1 for close to six hours yesterday. “It’s going to be really nice to have some time to sleep in a little bit and do some work on the car before we push for the finish line.”

Day 4 got off to a slow start with a cloudy morning that saw the U of C vehicle conserve battery power by holding to a modest speed of 50 km/h as it left Kansas. The clouds cleared mid-way through Nebraska, however, and the team was able to pick up its pace to 90 km/h for the rest of the day. The clock was ticking towards the 6:30 pm cut-off time for racing as they entered South Dakota and lost 20 minutes after taking a wrong turn.

“By the time we figured out we were on the wrong road we had gone about six miles, so we had to turn around and go back to where we left the race route,” Veltman said.

Schulich 1 ended up being the fifth car to cross the finish line in downtown Sioux Falls at 6:20 pm. The first place team from the University of Michigan arrived in the city at 12:35 pm, followed by Principia College at 1:41 pm, FH Bochum at 3:16 pm and the University of Waterloo at 3:51 pm. The U of C team is now the second-place Canadian team behind Waterloo and ahead of Red River College and Queen’s University.

All teams have until 6:30 pm today to finish the second stage of the race. Stage 3 will begin at 8 am Friday as the cars head for a checkpoint in Fargo, North Dakota and on to the next stage stop in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Follow the race on the U of C Solar Team's blog: www.ucalgary.ca/blogs/solarteam

For more information, visit:

U of C Solar Team website: www.calgarysolarteam.ca
U of C's 2008 NASC finish line event website: www.finishline.ucalgary.ca
2008 NASC website: www.americansolarchallenge.org

To arrange media interviews and obtain photos or video from the race, contact:

Grady Semmens
U of C Solar Team
Cell: (403) 651-2515
Email: gsemmens@ucalgary.ca