FoxFury to Illuminate UMsolar in Australian Outback during 2011 Word Solar Challenge

FoxFury Lighting Solutions, the official lighting partner of the University of Michigan Solar Car team (UMsolar), will illuminate UMsolar's race crew and Quantum solar car in the Australian Outback during the 2011 World Solar Challenge. This grueling 1,800 mile four-day biennial race across the desert begins Sunday October 16 in Darwin. Proper lighting will be vital in keeping UMsolar's race crew safe and Quantum well maintained.    "The Outback is very dangerous given the extreme temperature swings, lack of communication, infrastructure, and water. Top that off with not having adequate lighting, and it is easy to find yourself in trouble very quickly," said Rachel Kramer, UMsolar Team Lead. UMsolar performed a mock race earlier this month in the Outback and benefited from FoxFury's portable LED lighting. The race crew utilized FoxFury's wide angle LED headlamps, compact LED flashlights and portable rechargeable LED area lights to perform maintenance on Quantum. "During our 3000 km drive across the Outback, many times we used the FoxFury equipment to flag in our vehicles to the proper camp sight," said Ethan Lardner, UMsolar Global Operations Director.    UMsolar will be competing against 36 teams. All teams are required to be self-sufficient and must set up camp at night in order to inspect and maintain their vehicles. FoxFury's lights will help increase UMsolar's efficiency and enable them to quickly and safely set up camp in the dark. UMsolar Strategist, AJ Trublowski states, "I could see the strobe feature of the FoxFury Rook flashlight several minutes before I was even in radio range!" If UMsolar wins this race, they will be the first American Student Team to win the World Solar Challenge. Be sure to visit the UMsolar website for updates before and during the race.

Michigan Solar Car and FoxFury

About UMsolar:
UMsolar is an entirely student-run organization that designs and builds solar electric vehicles. The team races both nationally and internationally. Since its establishment in 1990, the team has built 10 vehicles, won the American Solar Challenge six times, and placed third in the World Solar Challenge four times. The team is recognized as the most successful team in North America.

World Solar Challenge, Outback style

 

An example of the open land found in the Outback that is suitable when finding a campsite.

After a long day of racing, there comes the time in which the team needs to find a place set up camp for the night. However, it isn’t as easy as picking a spot on the side of the road. There are many factors that affect our decisions on where to camp.
When there are just ten minutes left of racing left for the day, the Weather and Scout vehicles have those ten minutes to find and set up a place for the team to stay for the night. Weather and Scout look for a plot of land that is large enough to park all the vehicles in our caravan, set up large tents, and is easy enough for the solar car to drive off and onto.
There are a few differences when racing in WSC versus in ASC. During ASC, finding a campsite is challenging due to the fact that there is less open land and the land is usually owned by an individual or company. In the case of ASC, the Weather and Scout vehicles are responsible for asking the individuals who own the property if we would be able to spend the night and set up camp. In contrast, during WSC finding camp is generally easier due to the fact that the area we race through is open land and we can stop almost anywhere.

The 2010 ASC team working together to set up the Base-X

The Base-X tent all set up in the outback.

Once the campsite has been decided upon, the Weather and Scout vehicles need to set up the Base-X tents and array stand. By doing so, when the solar car arrives to the site moments later, the team can quickly remove the array from the lower and angle it towards the sun – allowing for maximum charging time. Two Base-X tents are set up as they are essential for the team: one to house the team and another to use as a “garage” to repair and work on the car. At this point, operations will start cooking dinner, the engineers perform nightly checks on the car, strategy and weather analyze the data collected and plan for the next day of racing, and media captures and updates footage.
During WSC, we are entirely dependent on what we bring to the outback, completely away from civilization. Conditions can be hostile in the Australian outback, so it is important that the team has a few basic items that are necessary to survival. For example, wind speeds reach up to 60 mph, there could be torrential rain, deadly animals or insects, or extreme heat or cold temperatures. A few of the most important items that we keep on hand are reliable pocket knifes and flashlights. Having high quality and reliable knives, like the ones that were donated by Benchmade are useful when needing to prepare meals, cutting electrical tape for fixing wires, and just keeping with the general maintenance of the car.

Benchmade sponsored some beautiful and highly useful knives for the race crew.

In order to work on the car at night, the team requires high performance lighting such as the ones provided by our official lighting sponsor, FoxFury, who donated a team set of flashlights as well as Nomad area floodlights that will help light up the area the team works within.

FoxFury sponsored a collection of (clockwise from bottom) Rook, Command, Scout, and Nomad (not pictured) lighting solutions.

As a whole, the camping aspect is not only a part of the solar car experience, it also allows the team to bond and practice.  The team will have a chance to get a feel for the camping procedures this weekend during our Mock Race, providing experience that will be critical to success during the World Solar Challenge.


We would like to extend a thank you to Benchmade, FoxFury, and HDT (sponsors of the Base-X tents) for their generous donations to aiding the team in our quest to win the 2011 World Solar Challenge.
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Taken in it's entirty from
The University of Michigan Solar Car blog