After kicking off the Solar Car Challenge and in the lead with 200 laps, we were ready for another high performance day. Utilizing lap data from the first day, the strategy team worked tirelessly beforehand to create a plan that conserves our energy but also gets us the most laps. An incredible amount of calculations and hypothetical scenarios were taken into account during the early part of this day, so hopes were high that the car would reach another 200 laps today.

Being the first out of the gate, there was less slower traffic at the start of the day. It was considered that we could speed up while we didn’t have to worry about passing. However, after further discussion, we started the day at the same ~40 mph. This was a little slower than calculated to create a buffer in our battery charge. We knew we could speed up later if we encountered issues further in the race, similar to yesterday’s approach.

From the start to high noon, the car performed excellently at a steady speed. However, just as things seemed to go just right, all remote data from the car ceased. Battery capacity, speed, solar input and motor power were among the pieces of critical information that were required to tweak the strategic plan that now became obsolete. The team sat by anxiously awaiting a status report from our strategy team as they worked to fix the issue, only to find out that there was a deeper, underlying issue. With only our mathematical models, the car was now driving blind through at least the rest of the day.

As the strategy team updated and created models that predicted the charge and later the optimum speed, it seemed as though we could recover. But by past noon, another issue had arisen; an increased heat index. With another team’s driver already sent off in an ambulance due to heat, we needed to consider the fact that they could cancel the race for the day at any moment. Therefor, it was vital that we take our 30 minute mandatory lunch break before this potential cancelation to not have to worry about penalties.

Scrambling to come up with a last-minute plan, a decision was made between the team to take the lunch break as soon as possible. Within the time frame, we could also diagnose our lack of data and fix everything with one stop. Assembling quickly, the team met in the garages to work on SOCKEYE. The clock had started and every minute mattered.

However, during this time, our issues became more complicated. After spending every second on the car, we could not fix our data problems. And with the heat stress warning being lowered, time was now against us as the solar noon passed us by. The strategy team returned to our control room to manage our models.

With the race nearing its end, the team had regained their enthusiasm and their original plan. The strategy team continually crunched the numbers until half an hour until the end, getting ready to relax as the challenges of the day seemed to fly away. Given the success of our first day, the team put their trust in the strategy, and continued to drive at the same constant speed due to the lack of data.

As the car rounded the back stretch of the track, the car came to a stop. We were all confused but acted quickly. We sent out a recovery team, but before the recovery vehicle got to the car Zach was able to get the car moving again, only slowly. It soon reached the pits, then turn into the garages once more for a more detailed diagnosis.

Luckily, this issue happened just 30 minutes before the end of the race day, so our afternoon charge was extended and we would have plenty of time to diagnose issues. The entire team came together to fix the various issues that lead to the car stopping on the track. The main fuse was replaced, the microcontrollers swapped, and even a fan was implemented to keep the electronics cool. As the time approached our 9pm impound, we had fixed most issues but the lack of telemetry data. We decided to clock in for the night and recoup in the morning to try and solve the issue. Otherwise, we would drive blind again the next day.

Again there won’t be a live stream today but our team will keep updating about our time in Texas. Check out the Solar Car Challenge for photos of SOCKEYE and other teams (www.instagram.com/the_solar_car_challenge/) and track live in time results on the Solar Car Challenge website (https://www.solarcarchallenge.org/challenge/results-live.shtml).