The Final Results

Crossing the finish lines was amazing and a huge relief for me! We were home safe and sound without so much as a scrape (although with a few bug bites) or an emotional meltdown by any of our team members.

Grady was on the phone constantly as we drove from Medicine Hat to Calgary. When we called Angela Knight (the CBC traffic reporter) she starting updating the city every half hour of our route. As we drove the TCH people were camped out at every farm crossing and road. We were well out in front of all of the teams (novel experience for us in the Chuckwagon as we passed Michigan in Brooks - they were only doing 110!!)

And everyone honked at us as well. Our route to the school was the most direct so we missed the crowds but, from the city limits on, the streets were lined with families and well-wishers. Calgary gave these students a hero's welcome. Grady and I dumped our S10 and carried the flags and media kits to the finish to hugs and greetings from so many people. President Harvey Weingartner and Dean Elizabeth Cannon were so excited to see us and were full of questions. As the checkered flag holders they were ready to bring everyone home in style. The University really put on a show with a huge enviro fair and pit area for the teams. Kids, families and onlookers were amazed to see the cars up close and many autographs were given. Now all of us feel like rockstars!

True to my promise I was there to wave in Durham who trailered to the finish at 4:30 and then drove across the ceremonial line to my waving flags. They came home with me for newcastle Brown Ale (first beer in a loonng time) and barbecue. Without funds nor hotel room, they camped out all over our house and the car on the driveway was a big hit with Ben and Henry across the road!

Pancakes for breakfast and then the awards ceremony at the Zoo and it's all over! I finally got some sleep last night - 16 hours into the sleep bank - today I'll clean out the S10. You gotta feel for Grady - he went from the finish line to the airport for a 27 hour flight to papua new guinea where he will follow a Light up the World project. He must be quite discombobulated!

Thanks again for your cheers and support. We will all take the week off to reconnect with kith and kin and then do a big debrief of the car and race before we even begin to think of our generation 3 car. Of course, that's assuming there is a generation 3!!

Into The Home Stretch

Medicine Hat, Alberta — The final leg of the 2008 North American Solar Challenge (NASC) begins this morning at 9 am at Medicine Hat’s Family Leisure Centre as 15 cars will charge their batteries in
Raycing across Alberta: Schulich 1 heads for home today.
the early morning light before heading to the finish line for the 4,000-kilometre race in front of the Olympic Oval on the U of C campus. The U of C’s Schulich 1 vehicle will be the sixth vehicle off the starting line as driver Tiffany Veltman brings the vehicle home from the epic cross-continent rally.
“This race has been a great experience but I am also really looking forward to getting back home,” Veltman said. “The finish line is something we’re all excited about because we know there are so many people following us and supporting us.”

The U of C is 10 hours behind the top-5 NASC leaders in the overall standings for the race but has managed widen the gap between its rivals from the Missouri Univeristy of Science and Technology to two hours. Schulich 1 was given four hours of time penalties for trailering the car into Winnipeg and from Winnipeg to Brandon over the weekend. Many teams also received penalties for trailering after cloudy skies made it impossible to charge batteries sufficiently. The top five teams include the University of Michigan, Principia College, FH Bokum, Waterloo University and the University of Minnesota.

Monday saw brilliant sunshine fuel up vehicles as they continued Stage 3 of the race across Saskatchewan. The U of C team pulled out of the checkstop in Regina at 8:45 am and drove its fastest day yet as Schulich 1 hits speeds of up to 100 km/h. The car crossed the border into Alberta shortly before 5 pm and the team was able to charge the car’s batteries in the evening and will continue charging this morning before heading west for Calgary.

“Our goal was to break even and hold our batteries to 70 per cent of their capacity by charging while we were driving, and we pretty much managed to do that,” the team’s electrical engineering manager Leo Marrero said. “We’ll charge up as much as we can this morning and as long as the clouds don’t move in too fast, we’ll be in good shape to get into Calgary this afternoon.”

The solar cars will head west on the Trans-Canada Highway and the leading teams are scheduled to arrive in Calgary at approximately 12:30 pm. The race route through the city will see the cars and their escort vehicles travel west along 16 Avenue to 52 Street NE where they will head north to McKnight Blvd. The cars will then follow McKnight Blvd. west to John Laurie Blvd before turning south onto Charleswood Drive and then follow 32 Avenue NW to the U of C at Collegiate Blvd.


Wild Rose Country: FH Bokum's car enters Alberta on Monday.
The U of C’s finish line celebration will take place from 10 am to 4 pm and includes a barbecue and environmental expo and a chance for the public to see the solar cars on display and meet solar car team members. It is the second consecutive time the U of C has hosted the NASC finish line after the race left the United States for the first time in 2005.

“The folks in Calgary have really impressed us with their hospitality and creating a real party-like atmosphere for the finish,” race director Dan Eberle said. “We are really glad to be coming back to Calgary for this year’s event.”

Schulich 1 Finishes Sixth In NASC

Calgary, Alberta — Fifteen solar powered vehicles cruised to the conclusion of the 2008 North American Solar Challenge fuelled by sunshine and Calgary spirit as thousands of spectators lined the streets and gathered at the finish line at the University of Calgary today to greet cars including the U of C’s own Schulich 1.

“We are just overwhelmed by the number of people who came out to cheer for us and welcome us back home,” U of C Solar Team operations manager Darshni Pillay said. “This entire race has been a truly amazing experience for the entire team and we’d like to thank everyone who has supported us and followed us along this adventure.”

The 15 solar cars that left Plano, Texas on July 13 pulled out of the Family Leisure Centre in Medicine Hat at 9 am Tuesday morning on the final stage of the 4,000 kilometre race. All of the teams pushed their vehicles as close to highway speed as possible since there was no need to conserve power for another day of racing tomorrow. The first-place vehicle, University of Michigan’s Continuum, crossed the finish line at 1:19 pm followed by Waterloo University at 1:47, Germany’s FH Bochum car at 2:06, the University of Minnesota at 2:15, Principia College at 2:20, Queen’s University at 2:28. The U of C’s Schulich 1 was the seventh car to cross the finish line with all team members jogging alongside the car at 2:33 pm to a roar of applause from an estimated 10,000 people who gathered at the finish line celebration. Official standings from the race will be available on the North American Solar Challenge website at: www.americansolarchallenge.org

“It was so exciting to be able to drive the car back home today,” said driver Tiffany Veltman. “There were crowds of people cheering and waving the whole way and I just kept wanting to drive the car faster and faster!”

After celebrations for all teams tonight and a NASC wrap-up dinner at the Calgary Zoo on Wednesday evening, the U of C Solar Team plans to take a well-deserved rest before gearing to start designing and building its third car in September.

“We are bringing home so many lessons from this year’s race that will help us immensely as we move forward into the third generation of our car,” Pillay said. “The next North American Solar Challenge is only two years away so we have a lot of work ahead of us as our team continues to improve and become more competitive.”

Hometown Hero

We're in Medicine Hat after a hometown hero's welcome for Jeff. His entire family was there with a fabulous barbecue for all. It was so nice to have a cheering crowd instead of me and my flags all alone by the roadside.

As the team crossed the 4th meridian and into Alberta, we all camped out with cameras and flags to
Back in the Hat: Driver Jeff Wickenheiser gets a big hug from his mom Rita at the finish line in Medicine Hat
welcome them home. It is an interesting thing to stand by the side of the Trans-Canada Highway with two large flags (Canada and Alberta) a lot of people honk their horns which makes you proud! One fellow slowed down and yelled 'mighty patriotic of you' and then sped away. Eventually, Schulich 1 appeared and everyone was waving at the flags....I think they secretly like my over the top cheerleading.

Grady and I arrived about 30 minutes before the car and it was quite a celebration. While the barbecue was being prepared, I ran to Co-op to pick up a gift for our hosts (Icewine seemed so appropriate as it's boiling here) and while I waited at a stoplight a young lady in the car next to me yelled ' Are you with the cars?' To which I replied, yes. She then said 'is that Jeff Wickenheiser?' 'Yes', I said. 'Like wow, I used to dirt bike with him'. It's official, Jeff is a rockstar!

You may or may not know, but the team signed a contract that this is a dry trip. After the many long hot days, I've often rethought that strategy as a cold beer (or gin & tonic) would have been great, so tonight I had a lot of fun delivering to the barbecue O'douls' non-alcoholic beer. The reaction was priceless and everyone agreed it was the best beer ever! On to Calgary tomorrow and we are all trying to hold it together with excitement. Thanks for all your support over the last three weeks, it has been quite a trip and an amazing journey. Finish line tomorrow and an expected 10,000 people there to greet us.

Clock Ticking For Calgary

Regina, Saskatchewan — The race to reach Calgary in the 2008 North American Solar Challenge (NASC) is heating up after rain hampered the start of Stage 4 from Winnipeg on Sunday and forced many teams to carefully plot their plans of attack for making it to the finish line on Tuesday.

“I am really pleased with our progress. Our strategy worked like clockwork and we are really well placed for the drive into Medicine Hat,” said Darshni Pillay, the U of C Solar Team’s operations manager. “We’ve had to take some penalties but I think they will pay off because it has put us in a good position going into the last two days and we haven’t had to trailer our car as much as much as some of our competitors.”
Half the cars were missing from the starting line in Winnipeg as teams including the U of C chose to
Across the prairies: Schulich 1 passes the colourful canola fields lining the Trans-Canada Highway
trailer their cars out of the city since the early morning skies were filled with rain clouds and charging up depleted batteries wasn’t an option. The U of C team trailered Schulich 1 to the first checkpoint 200 kilometres west in Brandon, where the car was unloaded and spent one hour charging thanks to clearer skies. From there, driver Tiffany Veltman maintained a pace of about 80 km/h that enabled the car to make it to the next checkpoint in Regina just 15 minutes before the end of the racing day. Schulich 1 was the only vehicle other than the first-place car from University of Michigan to reach the Regina checkpoint on Sunday.

“This puts us in a good position to start Monday because the skies are clear and we will roll out from the checkpoint and won’t have to stop again until Medicine Hat, except to change drivers,” Pillay said.

This evening’s arrival in Medicine Hat will be a homecoming for Schulich 1 driver Jeff Wickenheiser, who was raised in the Gas City and plans to take the car across the finish line for Stage 4, followed by a team dinner hosted by his grandparents.

“It has been great to see how many people are behind us and excited about the race since we returned to Canada, and it is exciting to think that some of my family will be at the finish line today,” Wickenheiser said.