09/10/11 – 23:30 (GMT+9:30)

In the eight days since the last blog update, the car has undergone a transformation and driven further and faster than it has since the last race. On Thursday 6^th, with the car mechanically and electrically sound (and with clearance to road test from the NT authorities), we took a very shabby Endeavour II out for a spin. No paint, wheel covers, bare carbon fibre patches and no canopy meant we were not the most aerodynamic or prettiest of solar vehicles out on the road, but then we weren’t too worried about the car getting dirty or scratching our paintwork before the prerace events. We saw Nuon’s Nuna6 (odds on favourites to win by all accounts) along with cars from Twente and Umicore (who are running a 3m² Gallium Arsenide array with concentrators).

The purpose of testing the car before we finished all the work was to hopefully highlight any underlying problems. Mechanically the car passed the day without issue, electrically we found a few niggles. Dan, rather embarrassingly, had cross wired the rear indicators (attempting to signal right resulted in the front right and rear left indicators flashing!) and the brake lights were intermittent –…
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01/10/2011 – 23:00 (GMT+9:30)

Sorry for the lack of updates… not much was happening (other than Alisdair’s comedic conversations with the shipping company). As of Thursday 29th WE HAVE THE CAR!

Wednesday saw Dan spend hours sweating whilst unpacking the container, as the dock workers were too… well built… to fit under the trailer. But his efforts got the container through customs faster than we could have wished for (two weeks ago).

George and Oli went to the dock yard first thing Thursday for a ‘four hour’ quarantine session; thankfully the officer assigned to our case convinced himself that we must work in a clean room so he didn’t need to look at everything, 50 minutes later we were done.

Sitting down to lunch we were greeted by a long-awaited phone call, the contents of the container were ours… but must be collected in the next two hours after also visiting the office on the other side of Darwin. We managed most of the stuff, with another trip required Friday morning. With Endeavour finally in the workshop, we began on the long to-do list. The new wheels also arrived from the UK.

Due to something about lectures and University we…
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Unfortunately this is less of a parody and more an accurate reflection of conversations – hence the unfortunate ongoing delays in receiving Endeavour II.

Me: Hi, our freight handlers say you haven’t released the container to them yet. Is there a problem?
Customer Services: Certainly, sir. Do you remember the Shipping Instructions – the ones I told you were okay two weeks ago? Well, it turns out they weren’t okay – we need some more details. Can you fill in this form? [Attaches form]
Me: [Attaches complete form]. Okay, that’s annoying but never mind. Will you be able to issue the Bill of Lading now?
CS: Certainly, sir.  It will be issued today.

The next day (Australian daytime)

Me: Hi, have you been issued the Bill of Lading yet?
Freight Handler: No, the shipping company say you haven’t paid them, so they can’t release the container to us.
Me: Well, that’s probably because they’ve not invoiced me… I think I’d better speak to them.

Later that day (UK daytime)

Me: Hi, I still need the Bill of Lading issued for this container. I understand there’s a hold-up because I haven’t paid the shipping fees?
…
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16/9/2011 – 19:00 (GMT+9:30)

Thursday saw the successful collection of George first thing. A phone call to the freight forwarding company told us the container wouldn’t be available for unloading and customs until Monday, so we have four days to recuperate, acclimatise and organise race logistics. First on the to do list was to visit BOC Darwin to be inducted onto the site and receive our safety gear. I can’t say any of us are particularly looking forward to working in safety specs, long sleeves, boots and trousers in 30°C+ heat, but the workshop and facilities British Oxygen are providing are worth bearing the safety kit.

Whilst conducting Friday morning’s pay and display parking duty, Oli decided to go for a run in the bicentennial park… this was rather short lived as the 28°C heat (at 8am) and high humidity soon took its toll! With little to do until the car is unpacked, discussions over breakfast moved to what to do in the afternoon, the morning taken up with planning and car hire enquiries. With the decision made to visit the aviation museum (fully realising what a stereotypical engineering choice this was) and not at all based on the princely…
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14/9/2011 – 8 P.M. (GMT+9:30)

Following a frustrating morning, the afternoon (generally) went well. A hot walk to the ‘downtown’ car hire lots landed us a 4×4 for the week. We can now get about and more importantly, to and from our workshop at BOC’s site in Darwin. A brief visit to the site shows we’ll be welcomed with open arms, provided with plenty of kit, facilities and have a great space to put the finishing touches to Endeavour.

Dan was collected from the airport in our shiny new ride, however without his bag! This contains most of the cars electronics that didn’t ship in the container:  both new and old battery management systems; the spare telemetry system; the lights; CAN nodes; and boxes of other electronics and cables. It was still in Perth! Apparently his ticket had also confused the BA staff at Heathrow. Bag booked on the next flight so one more trip to the airport required this evening. Douglas and his bag thankfully arrived in the same place.

Endeavour has landed! Our freight forwarding company has informed us that the container has been unloaded and is now awaiting the customs and quarantine processes. A short visit to…
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14/9/2011 – 10 A.M. (GMT+9:30)

All seemed to be going well, we’d arrived in Darwin at 4:30am, along with our bags! It seems despite the front of house staff being baffled by our tickets, Qantas, British Airways and Jetstar had managed to communicate with each other such that our bags didn’t go AWOL.

We made it all the way to immigration before Alisdair was stopped and held back for a brief chat (for reasons unknown). Once they were convinced he wasn’t smuggling a bag load of haggis into the country, we were free to go and hire a car… or so we’d hoped.

After waiting an hour for Thrifty to open, it turns out not only are there all the solar car teams turning up and booking the big vehicles, but there is also a big young persons’ athletics championship on. As a result there are virtually no cars available at the airport. On the bus we go to check in at Dingo Moon Lodge. Time for a sit down, breakfast and a rethink of our plans (maybe a shower too). We need a car for 5 adults pretty sharpish, we’re due to pick up two more this afternoon!

A typical English-summer-grey September (12^th) afternoon saw the first four members of CUER set off for Darwin in preparation for the World Solar Challenge.

However, in true CUER style, and with everyone booking their own flights, this was not as simple as the four of us getting on a plane. Four team members on three different routes: Oli S and Alisdair going to Darwin via Singapore; Dan taking the same flight to Signapore but then getting a transfer to Perth before heading to Darwin; and Douglas going via Bangkok, Sydney and then on to Darwin.

Following the passable lemon and coconut chicken noodle dinnner, the passagers of QF3346 to Singapore were treated to a breakfast of sorts. Although suspiciously grey scrambled egg, something that appeared to once have been a sausage and some soggy bacon left much to be desired (the muffin was ok).

The wonders of the departures lounge in Singapore Changi saw three weary travelers visit the cactus garden, checkout the free internet kiosks and wonder around pondering if it is possible to have too many designer handbag shops (it definitely is!).

We did however find a most intriguing sign: “2012, the year we finish our makeover. And…
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