ASC 2012: Days 4 & 5

Posted on July 19, 2012 by SVP.

UMNSVP has had a rough couple of days on the rayce. We started out running smoothly on Tuesday morning but by the end of the checkpoint at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo the temperature was high and our batteries were close to reaching their cutoff limit. Not long after leaving Kalamazoo we had to pull over and turn the car off to let the battery cool, losing valuable charging time.

Due to the lost hours of charging, our battery pack was low Wednesday morning. We spent most of the day driving beneath clouds and rain, unable to catch up with the sun that was ahead of us. The caravan drove slowly all day and was unable to make it to Normal, IL before the end of the rayce day. This forced us to trailer the car about 80 miles, taking a huge time penalty and pushing us back to 6th place. Hopefully with a good charge this morning we can make up some of our lost time.