First Day of Dynamic Events

Today the acceleration and skidpad took place in the morning and the autocross in the afternoon.

Early in the morning, the team arrived at the track after a few members put in a lot of time last night fixing the engine issues we have been having. It turns out that a cam bolt came loose. Time in the morning was spent setting up suspension. The car ran well in the morning when we had to pass the brakes and noise check. All wheels must lock up and skid in order to pass the brake check. However, during the brake check, a linkage buckled and had to be repaired. With that repair, we were quickly able to pass the test.

Unfortunately, all the problems encountered in the morning took a lot of precious time to correct. We came just barely short of time in the morning to make it to the acceleration and skidpad events so we had to forfeit the event scores. The team worked well and efficiently but too many problems needed correction and time ran out. It is unfortunate because a top 10 finish in acceleration was very possible and a good score in skidpad was within reach.

In the afternoon, suspension was set up for autocross. The car was at the starting line when the motor quit and could not be started again. Troubleshooting the problem revealed that there was a fuel system issue. A fuel line was used that was not rated correctly and it failed. Since time was running out in the day, a very quick fix was implemented that was supposed just get the car around the track and get a score. Again, the engine quit on the starting line and would not start up. The time was running out at this point and the event was closing so we were not able to get a score for autocross either.

In summary, the team did not score any points in the three dynamic events held today but the team worked extremely efficiently and well together. There were many unforeseen problems encountered that just could not be corrected in time.

Tomorrow the endurance event will be held. The car is running well as of now and has the ability to make a strong finish. We will start at the end of the afternoon heat of cars. The team is planning on arriving very early in the morning in order to get plenty of time to tune and test beforehand. Confidence is high for the competition's final event tomorrow.