Hooray, first post for me! It’s been long time coming…

6^th October 2009 was an important day for one reason.  If you hadn’t guessed already, it was the first time Endeavour ran on public roads.  More specifically - a 15km stretch just south of Darwin.

Our intrepid driver, Mike, draws 40,000,000 amps (according to telemetry data) as he attempts some burnouts on Channel Island Road.

Ok, admittedly the car was missing the outer shell (still languishing in port), but it was still hugely exciting and slightly nerve-racking.  It was the first time we’ve done any running in a hot climate, and the fact that the shell wasn’t there meant that most of the electrical and mechanical components were exposed to the unrelenting sun and stifling humidity.  Fingers were crossed all round.

We attempted to use the convoy formation planned for the race, although we didn’t have a truck at the time.  Mike was the brave/stupid driver that day, even though he got thoroughly burnt three days ago swimming in Litchfield.  The day’s programme was, well, basically drive as far as possible.

Things didn’t get off to a great start, as the car lost power after about 100m (not to mention the usual Eco-faff).  After a quick reset though, we were off and running for good.  The first run was at a gentle pace – a 40-50kph affair, mainly to test the telemetry and radio comms.  Results were fair, although some data did seem a little off (e.g. 40,000,000 amps from the battery).  Still, the car drove 10k+ without issues, and Mike survived.

A quick turnaround, and we were off again.  At this point, the sun was at its highest, and there wasn’t a cloud in sight.  Great for the race, but pretty annoying at the time, given there was no shade to be provided for Mike, and, more importantly, for the electronics.  The battery’s glass fibre shell was acting as a greenhouse for the cells, so it was no surprise when the BMS (battery management system) started to read temperatures of up to 58 Celsius.  Motor temperatures also got precariously high (~120C), and it was lucky that nothing melted (I hope…).  Nevertheless, the car got to about 80-90kph, and was still in one piece by the end of the third run.

No expense spared when it comes to driver comfort.

By the end of the day, Endeavour had travelled around 45km.  Some issues remain, though.  Firstly, power outages were quite frequent during the second and third runs, probably due to battery issues (oops, sorry!).  Secondly, radio and telemetry suffered a bit from noise and range limitations.  Some suspension- and brakes-related issues were also discovered, and the car was drawing too much power in general.  Oh well, nothing works perfectly the first time.  A great success nevertheless.

- Chao