r3 Solar Car Team Progress

Stage Stop was at the Red River Notre Dame campus. Stage Start is at the Manitoba Legislature.

Early in the morning, the car is trailered to the Manitoba Legislature. There are lots of trees in the area, and the batteries aren't fully-charged. The team gets back into it, seeming more energized than any previous morning. Cleaning the array, and prepping the car for the second leg, they pose for another picture before gridding their car.

It's nice to be back with the other teams, as they can see their competitor's struggles once again. As cars are lined up, some are being serviced in a mad dash. The r3 Solar Car simply looks for sun to top up its batteries, after having cleaned its solar array. Any worry of less than full batteries are erased when the readouts report full as the car is waiting on the grid. The start time is pushed back on Stage Starts.

Onwards to Brandon, with the locals cheering them on. It doesn't take long for the Raycer to hit trouble though. Just past Broadway still in Winnipeg, the car is sidelined. It seems to have hit an electrical snag. Whatever it was, they weren't parked for long before they got back in it.

Further down the road, before reaching Brandon, the car hit trouble once again. Parked on the #1, the team went about troubleshooting the issue, safety vests and flaggers on duty. Some time passed before it was realized that one wire, in the maze of thousands of wires, had loosened up due to the many road bumps this car has trekked. As any electrical troubleshooter knows, these things aren't found easily, and it hurts the team timewise.

Onwards once again, and in Elkhorn, Manitoba, the team parks for the night. They were pumped this morning that they'd be able to show their car's potential all the way to Medicine Hat. It hasn't been the case so far, but it hasn't been an all-bad showing either. Queen's and Kansas State, both open class cars, are within reach, and Stanford and McMaster have been left behind. It's been a 170-mile day for the team with its 2-hour downtime for troubles. Let's see what tomorrow holds for these warrior raycers.