The car was traveling around 75 km/h down the main stretch of the track when the rear tire blew. It proceeded to come off of the rim, leaving the car driving on an aluminum rim and two front tires. At this point, the car fishtailed, and our driver did a good job keeping the car in the track. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to keep it in completely, and the tail section of the car swung around and hit the side guard-rail. Now at first, this doesn’t sound too bad. However, as luck would have it, the small half inch gap in the guard rail lined up perfectly with the tail of our car and got wedged in. Several things happened as a result.
Firstly the chassis separated from the aeroshell at some locations, and slid along mounting points at other locations. Secondly, the front half of the aeroshell lept off the car and onto the track skidding away. Lastly, the tail section of the car that was wedged in the guard rail stayed there while the car moved forward. This ultimately ripped the back of the car off and destroyed about 10% of our array.
Sounds bad doesn’t it? Well, this is a learning experience, and we’re adding this one to the list of accomplishments. Why you ask? Because the team pulled it together and handled this situation incredibly well. I am amazed by the progress and spirits of the team today, and the efforts of the last 12 hours. We followed all safety procedures and there were no problems in the clean up. We had the car back in the shop and disassembled completely within about 2 hours. After a complete check and overhaul, the car was reassembled and all problems were identified. Solutions were proposed, and the guys spent the last 6 hours working on implementing the solutions.
These guys are dedicated. They have spent the past two years leading up to this short 5 days race, and they aren’t about to let a little bad luck stop them. Despite our loss today, you’d think nothing had happened. The car as it stands now is fully race ready and can compete safely and according to rules and regulations. But the team wants more. We’re constructing a new tail for the car with the help of our trusted shop man Dan, who’s welding aluminum for us. We’ll be putting the spare panels on tomorrow. Come Friday afternoon – you’d never have known the car was in an accident.
Now the guys on the team have been incredible, but there’s been a lot more support out there. Every team out here on the track feels for us – and they’ve been incredibly helpful. We’ve gone in search of tools and materials and not one team has turned us down. So thank-you to all the other teams competing out here in Darwin.
I must finish up this entry as we’ll be at it again in mere hours. We’ve post-poned our scrutineering test, but we don’t have a firm answer on when it is, so the sooner the better. Thanks for reading, please check out the pictures as they come up.