Aurora Report #2 from Bibendum. 29 May 2010
A BRIGHTER RIO BUT ALL HILLS AND MOUNTAINS
Slowly the sun is making its appearance fighting through a humid sky. So for Sunday’s rally we are expecting clear weather. Almost all of the vehicle entrants arrived by today. The glamour cars were from the French car companies, Peugeot and Citroen as well as several lovely Audi vehicles.
It was a day for affixing stickers and tags. For the Aurora solar car it was required to fit the number plate, the exemption from Brazilian registration sticker, the e-code sticker to pass through the tollbooths and of course the Michelin Bibendum event stickers.
Ford Brazil had generously provided a crew cab Ranger vehicle which also had its range of stickers applied. As well it was fitted with a flashing yellow light and two way radio system. In fact the Ford Ranger would be the leading vehicle for the Rally although its purpose would be to lead the solar car on the 300 km journey.
Drivers in all categories of vehicles were briefed. Michelin provided lunch for the workers and so went the day. For Aurora it was more intense as we prepared the battery, inflated tires, fitted wheel spats and then checked a good portion of the planned rally route.
The route is extremely hard for a low powered solar car. It mixes high-speed freeway sections with several amazing mountain climbs and finally inner city streets. Famous names like Copacabana and Ipanema sound great but driving those areas would be something else again.
The main mountain climb rises 1000 meters in less than 20 km. A long grinding climb on a narrow 2-lane road with hardly no parking places and no road shoulders. In fact the concern we have is about keeping the wheel motor temperatures below the melting point of some of the motor’s internal components. Similarly the long descents will also cause motor problems especially if too much regenerative braking is used.
After 4 hours on the road the scout team returned to ponder how to survive tomorrow.
We were not alone. A number of the battery powered cars decided to shorten the route and to avoid the worst of the climbs. They risked having insufficient electricity to make the long climb.
Still the Michelin organisers have done an amazing job in organising this event and tomorrow its up to the entrants to show what they can do.
By the way the Aurora battery charger failed a fuse and we had no spare. Fortunately a Swiss team had a similar charger which they allowed us to use to finish the charging job.
For some reason the Aurora team was the last to leave after Derrick completed a last lap or two of the pavilion complete with headlamps blazing.
Tomorrow is looming as a very hard day for the Aurora 101 solar car. It all starts at 7.00 AM. Derrick the erstwhile driver is in good shape however as he had his nails done in Chile on the flight from Australia!!!