Scrutineering 2004 Day 1
Rainy Morning
The team awoke to pouring rain and decided to wait for some friendlier weather before taking off for the track.
Mechanical Scruitineering
The mechanical inspection went very well. The team received a comment of "Great."
Driver Ballast = $$$$
Drivers are required by the regulations to weigh 176 lbs and if they are under they must carry ballast. A change this year required the team to use pennies (yes, those pennies). Neda, Erik, and Shauna display nearly a hundred dollars in pennies for use as driver ballast.
Gap Adjustment for Drag Race
Al adjusts the motor air gap for optimum acceleration and top speed for the 1/4 mile drag race. the fastest time gives the winner pole position for the start of the race on Wednesday morning.
UPDATE: 1/4 mile - 25.07 sec, Trap Speed - 49.8 mph
Driver Egress Testing
This is a fun little video (960Kb) of driver, Peter Meinz, doing an egress test at the Body and Sizing Inspection station. The egress test checks the ability of the driver to exit the car rapidly in an emergency. Peter went from driving configuration to standing outside the car in less than 10 seconds.
Electrical Scruitineering
The electrical team inspection went flawlessly, earning the EE team an "Even better than Mechanical!" comment.
Checking Front Fenders
The rain cleared up so the team prepared to train drivers on the track. Scott from the array team inspects the fenders in the trailer prior to on-track testing.
On Track Testing
We have almost all new drivers this year, so multiple test laps were given to each driver so they can learn the track lines and how to drive specific lap times.
Windy Weather
The weather this morning in Topeka was somewhat ominous. The reports were predicting wind gusts up to 65 mph. We saw winds at least that strong that tried to rip away tents, overturn trailers, topple trash barrels and cause all sorts of mayhem with scattered Port-O-Johns.
Figure 8 & Braking Test
Borealis II easily negotiated the Figure-8 handling test and panic braking test at the Dynamic scrutineering station. Since the team wanted the option to race with two different types of tires, both tests were completed twice, once with each tire type.
Comments
Nick
Is that a treaded tire with mud on it!!!???
Sunday Sunday Sunday....
Posted by: Nick | May 19, 2004 at 01:02 PM
adam
Too bad we lost by .18 seconds!
Posted by: adam | May 19, 2004 at 01:36 PM
Travis Lee
The tire is a Cheng Shin moped tire. The pit tents were moved off the tarmac back onto the gravel (read, mud!) next to the track, so moving cars in and out of the pits involved a lot of mud and nastiness.
We thought about heading over to the dirt oval at Heartland =).
Posted by: Travis Lee | May 20, 2004 at 01:34 PM
JEan Andrews
Fantastic, your team looks great. My kids in Fridley are following your progress and checking in on your site every day. Keep up the great picture review. Jean Andrews (Love ya Trev and Neda and Al too)
Posted by: JEan Andrews | May 19, 2004 at 02:19 PM
JEan Andrews
Fantastic, your team looks great. My kids in Fridley are following your progress and checking in on your site every day. Keep up the great picture review. Jean Andrews (Love ya Trev and Neda and Al too)
Posted by: JEan Andrews | May 19, 2004 at 02:19 PM
Kevin Grotheim
Way to go University of Minnesota! You have the support of many folks back here in Minnesota - show em' what you got!
Posted by: Kevin Grotheim | May 19, 2004 at 07:52 AM
Travis Lee
Thanks Kevin, we're doing everything we can and the car is running very well, knock on carbon fiber.
Posted by: Travis Lee | May 20, 2004 at 01:15 PM