LAUSITZ, SATURDAY 2009-05-09 @ 16:47:00
by Malin Kjellberg

Vera experienced some engine trouble during Friday morning and didn't get out on the track before lunch. Smarter, on the other hand, was on the starter line at 13.30. A very, very, slow acceleration where the complete team hold their breath and then she was on the way. Emma drove 2 laps of the total 8 and then Smarter was out of power. An investigation in the pit afterwards showed that the brakes had been engaged and consumed to much energy, more than we had... No distance.

Vera out on the track in the afternoon and after a smooth ride by Melanie, the result was 27ml and 996km!! Swedish record!

Smarter team worked with the brakes and solved the problem during the evening. The whole team was served Spaghetti Bolognese in the tents and then the first competition day was over.

Saturday morning Vera went for 2 attempts and increased the distance - twice! In attempt no 2 Vera consumed 22,5ml and did 1146km and in the third it was 20,5ml and 1243km!! This shows that practising and testing always gives results.

Smarter was testdriven on the test track after lunch after some of the electric parts had been changed and everything was fine. But, suddenly, a whell bolt broke - wheel off!

Back to the pit, in a hurry due to that the start was to be in a few minutes, a quick solution to the bolt was done and Emma drove out on the track again at 15.00. The bolt didn't make it more than one lap and then we lost a wheel and the race was over... The team was very disappointed, at the same time, what they have achieved here at Lausitz is amazing. Smarter arrived here in pieces, never test driven, and she leaves as a car that has rolled 3 laps. The team has achieved a lot of experience and we will be back!!

LAUSITZ, FRIDAY 2009-05-08 @ 10:50:00
by Malin Kjellberg

Wednesday evening Vera passed scrutineering successfully while the work with assembling Smarter continued. More Chinese food was served, delicious, before the night shift started to mount the powertrain, the wiring and assemble the cockpit.

Thursday started, without rain but really grey and dull, with a text message at 6.30 to me from the pit that 9 persons needed breakfast after working through the night. Arriving at the pit meeting some tired but happy faces, Smarter was on wheels and only needed some wiring connections and then all tests and checks of all systems was to be performed.

When testing the brake system, we didn't get enough brake force - none at all. Problem search began and we started with airing the brakes. THis took more or less a couple of hours, since we at the same time found some leaks that we fixed. When this was improved, the pedal system attachment took some beat due to the higher forces...

Our Smarter driver, Emma Jansson, practised the egress out of the vehicle. In the case of an emergency, the driver needs to get out in under 10s. She managed this without a problem.

In the last minute, just before closing, Smarter rolled into Scrutineering and passed brake test and all safety equipment checks. She weighed in on 74kg, which is less than half of the approved weight according to the rules, and also half of the weights of Baldos(Lulea) and Aurora(KTH)!! For this we thank our body material and manufacturing sponsors, Elitkomposit and Oxeon!

Unfortunately the steering was a bit unbalanced - we had a steering radius of 7m to the right and 5m to the left (?). Regulations states 6m and prefereably in both directions. We got a remark and had to get back Friday morning.

The Vera team members arrived just in time for a very late dinner, korv Stroganoff, and the team was complete. Now we're 35 persons on site from different parts of Chalmers. I can tell you, dinner dishes after 35 persons is no game!!

Night shift began; Vera was to be run on the chassis dyno for optimisation, in Smarter the steering had to be fixed and reinforcements for the brake pedal mountings designed and mounted.

Friday morning we finally awoke to a blue sky and sunny weather. After the breakfast at 7PM, the Vera team starting preparing for a race and they are soon rolling out for first attempt. Smarter is finishing scrutineering in this moment and her race begins at 12.30PM.

Walking around in the pit, I see a lot of focused, although nervous, team members, working really great together. We have really created something together and this is what we're here for! Now we roll out and get some distances!

Think of us today and I'll be back to you directly after our first attempts with an update :-)

LAUSITZ, WEDNESDAY 2009-05-06 @ 17:07:00
by Malin Kjellberg

After a long bustrip through Denmark and Germany we arrived Tuesday afternoon to Euro Speedway Lausitz. Camp was setup during sporadic rain and then both Vera and Smarter were unloaded into our garage in the pits, together with all tools and equipment.

Work has progressed well, everyone is working really hard to get them rolling for the scrutineering and test drives on Thursday. An hamburger dinner was even served in the garage by the teachers yesterday to keep the work going.

Vera is on wheels, engine starts and runs well. She is basically just waiting for her driver, Melanie Despeisse, who will wrrive tomorrow. Smarter will be on wheels tonight, powertrain is working separately in our dino and all mountings for all parts are nearly finished. Left is the final wiring, check lights and horn and then she rolls too.

Today we were served chinese food at the camp made by our chinese students and soon after the camping was evacuated due to an incoming storm. Everybody had to take shelter in the garages and brick buildings. The storm never arrived, instead we got sun and some unsteady winds and just now, at 5.00PM Wednesday, the camping opened again. So we will get dinner in time too.

Next news report during the day tomorrow...

Keep us in your minds ;-)