American Solar Challenge 2003 - July 16th

OK in Oklahoma

Currently, our solar car convoy is in Tulsa, OK (11:30 AM). We were a bit unfortunate to have clouds yesterday evening and this morning, so we started out at 8:00am today with 52% battery. Our average speed today has been around 25 mph (due to clouds and our battery's state of charge), and we should be entering the Edmond, OK checkpoint late this afternoon.

I'm in the chase van with Vince, Jeff, Dr. Bhavnani, and our ASC official observer. Matt, Rory, Brooke, Siddhi, and Joe are in the lead van while Joyner and Dr. Williams are scouting out the route several miles ahead. Vickie and Daniel are nearby with the trailer. Rob is in the hot seat in the solar car.

According to ASC we're currently in 10th place. Reliability is our main advantage over other cars. The lead solar car, Missouri-Rolla, entered Edmond around 11:00 AM today.

This evening we stopped near El Reno, OK. We traveled about 230 miles today off of moderately sunny skies and a half-drained battery pack. We entered the Edmond, OK checkpoint around 4:45 and then proceeded westward. Rob and I drove today, and Matt and Vince will drive tomorrow to Amarillo, TX. I think the ASC Web page (www.americansolarchallenge.org) lists us as 12th as of this evening.

Photos in Oklahoma