Our mentors along with a parent of one of our team members started the trek from Seattle, Washington to Dallas, Texas last Saturday. They stopped in Boise, Idaho; Provo, Utah; and Albuquerque, New Mexico before finally arriving at the Texas Motor Speedway. The drive team met up with the rest of the team last Wednesday.
The Team had some down time on Wednesday night before check in on Thursday. We went to a local grocery store called Buc-ee’s and saw a movie. To the left is a picture of Tom, George, Mateo, Teddy and Charles posing with the stores mascot outside. We then checked in on Thursday and received our scrutineering booklet and our drivers got their ID’s checked. We did some work on the car in the parking lot of the hotel then called it a night.
The scrutineering process took us one and a half days to complete. It included six stations where our car was inspected to insure it fulfilled the correct measurement, endurance, steering, safety, and electrical requirements. We did a test on the track where we drove the car around two laps. The car handled well and easily passed the test. Each of our seven drivers, Nic, Anna, Charles, Mateo, Tija, Tom, and Jon all had to complete a slalom course and demonstrate their ability to handle the car and get out of it in 15 seconds in the case of an emergency. All drivers passed and are certified to drive the car starting Monday.
Our team was the 5th car to pass through and get certified on all 6 stations of scrutineering. We now have extra time on Sunday to test the solar panels and make sure the car is completely ready to race Monday. We will continue to update on our progress in the race!