Rayce Day 4: Nebraska to South Dakota

I apologize for not posting yesterday's blog post sooner, we were in a hotel with no internet last night. I have it written, but have not posted it yet. Make sure to go back and read it!

Today was a very long day for the team, both physically and mentally. We left our hotel at 5:00AM to make our way to the charging location. Unfortunately, there was cloud cover over most of southern Nebraska in the morning, so it actually took more power to run the car than we got from charging. So, we started the day with a pretty empty battery pack. We are really starting to feel the effects of missing 6 or more hours of charging in the first stage stop.

We ran in to the Omaha checkpoint, where Tyler and Adem were instant celebrities because of their Nebraskan roots. Overcoming delays in refueling the vehicles, we erased memories of yesterday's stage stop by managing to leave on time. Soon afterward, we broke in to the sun and saw that our new power trackers were finally working properly!

Due to our low battery pack, however, the hills around Omaha were a significant challenge to navigate quickly. Getting out on the flat road gave us a chance to demonstrate what our car could really do; we caught up with Calgary and Missouri S & T, who were both stopped ahead of us last night.

But, as our current luck would have it, the day was not to be without problems. In the early afternoon, the motor throttle stopped responding to the drivers' input. We found we could fix the problem while moving by restarting the car, it soon became apparent that there were other forces at work besides software glitches. This, coupled with power trackers sporadically shutting off, caused us to fall short of our goal of getting in to Sioux Falls tonight. Our current position is in the town of Alcester, SD, about 40 miles south of Sioux Falls.

We are looking forward to seeing all of you in Sioux Falls tomorrow!

--David Towey
Crew Chief

July 16, 2008

Comments

Here's a link to the Omaha news coverage: http://www.wowt.com/home/headlines/25532149.html#

Posted by: Jan Coffey | July 17, 2008 7:33 AM

May today see you resting and recharging (yourselves and the car) in Sioux Falls! Our thoughts and prayers are with the team. Glad to hear that you had some nice fan action in Nebraska. You are an amazing group of people. Take care of yourselves! Thanks for the update. There's also a nice article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=20080714_11_A1_spancl775271
with a picture of Centaurus. Keep up the great work!

Posted by: Jeanne LaMoore | July 17, 2008 8:17 AM

Go Gophers Go! I've been reading the news reports and other teams blogs to find out just what a great team you are! I'm so impressed that even when you are dealing with your own challenges, you are still there for the other teams! South Dakota is famous for it's flatness, let's hope the sun shines bright for you, and the car runs happy!

Be well, I hope you get some rest, run fast.

Posted by: Louise Somers | July 17, 2008 9:51 AM

Good luck everyone. So begins the next 800 miles of the middle of nowhere! I hope you can avoid the headwinds on CAN-1 and that they hit all the other teams!

Posted by: Pat O'Connor | July 17, 2008 6:00 PM

Good job!! You're doing awesome !

Posted by: Marcela Melo | July 19, 2008 12:58 PM