A few months after joining the team in February 2008, I attended a pre-scrutineering event at Principia College in Elsah, Ill. The senior members of Mech Team were not able to attend, so though rather new, I represented Mechanical and learned a lot about the systems and requirements by presenting our structural report.
The race crew for the North American Solar Challenge, a solar car race across the United States and Canada. My race crew duties included mechanical support during race stages, including tire changes, daily equipment preparation and fastener checks, serving as a safety and first aid representative, and assisting other teams (electrical, array, aerodynamics) as needed.
Centaurus I - North American Solar Challenge 2008 - The pit team for Centaurus I in action: changing tires, switching drivers, refilling water bottles, and checking electronics.
Centaurus I - North American Solar Challenge 2008 - The University of Minnesota's Centaurus I crosses the finish line in Calgary, CA.
The Mechanical Team is responsible for checking hardware to ensure safety - even the fasteners inside the cramped driver compartment. Team members took turns crawling in head-first to inspect hardware, though once the roll cage was installed, a little help was required. Fellow Mech Team member Tristan is aided by Aero and Array Team members.
Our team won, among other awards, "Best Prepared" for the initial safety testing and racing qualification, by being the first to pass all certifications and then assisting other teams to prepare for their own certifications. Following the race, the team won an award for excellence in mechanical design, which likely helped us to come to the race with systems that met the specified requirements.
Centaurus I - North American Solar Challenge 2008 - The race crew demonstrates our pit procedures, being assessed by the race committee for road safety. One of the few teams to pass this station in one try, we assigned two "shifts" with each member assigned a specific pit role. We were commended on our practice of stopping the chase vehicle at an angle to protect the solar car and students from traffic, adapted from a practice we observed police officers using.
Centaurus I - North American Solar Challenge 2008 - Mechanical Team member Ryan holds up our team's scrutineering sheet, which declared the University of Minnesota first to get all "greens," passing all safety and technical requirements. Some of our systems, including Mechanical, managed this feat in one try.
Centaurus I - North American Solar Challenge 2008 - One of the first thing the University of Minnesota team did when we arrived on site for inspections and qualifying was to set up a giant, military-surplus radio mast that allowed us to communicate from all over the racetrack grounds... and display a bit of roguish team spirit!
Centaurus I - North American Solar Challenge 2008 - At a checkpoint at the end of a race day, Mechanical Team members unwind by challenging competing teams to a game of ring toss with used solar car tires and traffic cones.
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Solar Vehicle Project
I was a member of the University of Minnesota Solar Vehicle Project (www.svp.umn.edu) from 2008-2010. I helped to build and race Centaurus I, before becoming Mechanical Team Lead and helping with the mechanical design, analysis, construction, and project management for Centaurus II. As team lead, I helped coordinate group meetings and tasks, represented the mechanical team during all-team and executive meetings, helped find and coordinate with potential sponsors, and compiled reports on the mechanical systems to be submitted to race authorities. Examples of my CAD and Matlab work coming soon!