Click for a photoessay of the 2003 Tour de Sol!

The final standings of the rally can be found here.

    05/12/03 - Today we had display and autocross in Trenton, NJ. Everything went pretty well... In the autocross, we were definitely among the quickest times. It was an impressive site to see the VeggieGolf weave around the course, and the team was really on top of their game today.

The VeggieGolf cornering hard in the autocross

We had an awesome display in Trenton, NJ, where we set up a real oil press (supplied by Carl Bielenberg) and had people pressing vegetable oil from sunflower seeds right on site. It really drove home the point about renewability and energy independence!

    05/11/03 - Argh. I apologize for not having updated this sooner. We have been very busy with tech testing and everything.

We finally got everything signed off, and are underway for the 2003 Tour de Sol. So far we have done very well on the performance tests. We don't know the exact numbers, but we got some of the quickest times on the acceleration and cone (slalom) tests. On our last run of the acceleration test, we burnt up a radiator fan motor.

The VeggieGolf in Tech Testing

A foreign object had lodged in the blade, and stalled the motor out. The numbers we had already gotten were sufficient, so we were out of the woods. However, this development was troublesome because the range event was Sunday, and we had no way to get Volkswagen parts on the weekend. We rerouted the signal to the smaller auxiliary A/C fan, and bypassed the A/C clutch.

Last night, one of the cars caught fire during charging, and was destroyed. Luckily no one was hurt, but it is definitely a big bummer for the Electrovaya team. Our condolences.

Today (Sunday) we participated in the range event. In this event, we test the vehicles range (distance it can travel), efficiency, greenhouse gas emissions, and reliability. We drove for 6 hours straight, without stopping, for almost 300 miles, and used less than 4 gallons of vegetable oil. We haven't seen the official results yet, so we don't know where we stand... But these are definitely impressive numbers.

Tommorrow is the autocross event, and we are pumped! Happy Mother's Day to all our moms. :)

    5/10/2003 - Well, we made it to the 2003 Tour de Sol! Right now the car is going through tech testing. It is a long and difficult process of making sure the vehicle meets all of the safety requirements of the Tour de Sol. Most of the tests should be pretty easy for us, because much of the vehicle is stock. However, we have already gotten a sizable laundry list of minor changes we must make to our fueling system.