Skilži during one of the test runs

All previous posts have been in past tense, but considering the race and how fast everything is developing, we think it’s about time to move into present.

One of the first things we were told of when we arrived yesterday was that the races had been put forward to this day, Wednesday, since Thursday was expected to come with bad weather. This morning and early afternoon was used for test runs, as was planned, but at 15:00 they stopped all testing, and at 15:45 the first actual competition rounds were made.

During the night we worked with the rpm and the oxygen sensors (lambda) since they were giving faulty values, and made some other shape-ups and last minute configurations. We did a few tests and tryouts and everything actually seemed to work out.

Skilži on its very first official measurement

In the morning we were among the first to visit the safety inspection. This is done to ensure that the vehicles are safe to use in the competition, but also to make sure there are no irregularities with our equipment. The vehicles are put on a 20 degree slope to test the brakes, the engines are started and immediately shut down to test the emergency stop device, and the driver has to prove s/he’s able to escape the vehicle within 10 seconds, among other things to ensure that there’s no risk in participating. Both Baldos II and Skilži passed flawlessly, the inspectors even smiled a little when Stina managed to come out of the car in less than five seconds.

The coming test-runs were also flawless. Both Baldos II and Skilži completed several laps without any issues or breakdowns. The systems were not perfect but worked alright, and compared to last year we felt confident in that we’ll at least get a result.

Which we did!

Baldos II just after start

Skilži just completed its lap and made it to 575 km on the equivalent of one liter of gasoline – the first result officially measured with that vehicle. That is a really good start-off point for coming measurements.

Baldos II initially had some trouble. During refueling just before race start, someone broke the fuel tank. We ran over to Shell shop to order a new one, but were informed it could only be done online. So we ran back to our computers, ordered another one, ran back to the Shell shop and got it, back to Baldos II and immediately installed it. Luckily the fuel tank is easily detachable and in a few minutes we were back on the queue for the refueling. Right now Baldos II with Erika behind the wheels is on its second lap on the very first measurement in the contest.

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