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Wet and dry then wet and dry

That was the sort of day it was. It was raining as we left the hotel at 8.00 AM. We had lots of steady work to do without the need to take out the solar car for any more track work. Most of our jobs consisted of verifying repairs done over the previous days and attempting to gain more local solar data, except there really was no sun through most of the day. The motor was fixed, telemetry was working well, and the batteries were going into their final charging session.

One Step Forward < Two Steps Back

After all the laps completed yesterday, today was going to be a bit easier. All day in the pits finalising the list of jobs started over the last two days. It wasn't!

How does one say 'bloody hot' in Japanese?

It was going to be a solid work day with track testing as well. Our two main tasks were to get the battery packs repaired with new modules brought from Melbourne and to have at least one battery pack ready to undertake two hours of track testing.

Aurora 101 tests on first day in Suzuka

We knew we were in Japan! Precision trains, pachinko halls and pushbikes.

92, 19, 7x2, 5x2, 3x2, 82, 101, 10/tenths

The famous Aurora 101 solar car has been on a holiday in Rio de Janeiro and has enjoyed a 40 day voyage direct to Nagoya, Japan to run the in the superb solar car "Dream Cup' at the International Race Circuit, Suzuka.

SWEET SWEET SUGAR LOAF

One more event but possibly the most fun. A parade of the most interesting cars from Bibendum 2010 at Flamengo Beach against a background of Rio’s most famous landmark, Sugar Loaf.

This required an early start from the Rio Centro pavilion. Seven thirty in the morning. Thankfully everything had been loaded the night before and it took little additional work to join a convoy of trucks taking vehicles through the centre of Rio to this beautiful area of Flamengo. All was helped by the fact that today was a public holiday.