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Post by Christian Challiner on May 26, 2015 8:56:57 GMT -5
So we only managed 6/10 laps before running out of hydrogen but it is still the best result the university has ever had which was nice anyway, here are some photos of the week. i am the guy with the long hair and crap beard in the black racesuit and yellow t-shirt! My favorite comment all week was from one of the organizers who was passing by our tent whilst I was working on the car who commented "So you are the driver AND the mechanic also!" I was quite surprised how many teams had dedicated drivers who literally did nothing but sit in the tent all weekend looking bored.
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Post by Christian Challiner on May 26, 2015 8:58:44 GMT -5
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Post by Christian Challiner on May 26, 2015 8:59:39 GMT -5
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Post by Stephan Spantig on May 26, 2015 12:31:07 GMT -5
So, you are the guy kneeling on front of the car (referring to your first post)? (edit says: doh, should've read the first post, not just looking at pictures like a 3-year-old ) Tbh, I expected a whole different appearance of the car. But it looks definitively more like a car than the others on the pictures. Interesting work! And now the real question: Where are the French chicks?
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Tommy Vandergucht
Global Moderator
"Gotta work on the nut behind the wheel before you start fixing bolts on the car".
Posts: 1,506
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Post by Tommy Vandergucht on May 26, 2015 12:47:28 GMT -5
Awesome Christian! Could you give me a bit more background about the race. Are all cars hydrogen powered? I personally think hydrogen is the best replacement for the power plants and fuel we have now. But the current economy relies so much on oil that they (governments, companies) can control us (civilians) by having oil so I'm pretty sure hydrogen will not get too big in the next 20 to 30 years, or as long as oil is still affordable. I do however think it is the future and you are just starting to develop it. Please invent something super clever and you could get super rich in the future.
Stephan Spantig the hot French chicks are in Bordeaux. Every time I fly there the plane is full of them!
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Post by Christian Challiner on May 26, 2015 12:49:42 GMT -5
That would be me yeah Yeah, our car enters the 'urban concept' category which basically means you have to actually make it look and function like a car as opposed to being a rolling coffin like the prototypes. What's funny is that 95% of the car is wood and yet we use a hydrogen fuel cell to power it, so it really is a rolling bomb which is why I was very conscious about wearing all my fireproofs just in case! If we want to be competitive though we need to move towards a more aero friendly shape and improve our bearing carrier design massively along with using a more efficient drive mechanism. It was very demanding but very good fun, reminded me why I was doing my degree again And in keeping up the BAM reputation, the car was dog slow on the straights and everyone was flying past me but I held the throttle flat through every corner even the hairpin and was overtaking people in the corners Those kinds of pictures would probably be unsuitable Stephan EDIT: Tommy, just saw your post! To answer your question, no not all cars are hydrogen powered, pretty much everything is catered for as there are categories for: battery electric, gasoline, diesel, LPG, CNG, bioethanol and hydrogen. Each team is given the equivalent of 1 litre of gasoline for the 10 laps. After which, the fuel mileage is calculated and extrapolated out in order to find the theoretical fuel efficiency, the class winner for urban concept hydrogen had a score of something like 370km per cubic meter of hydrogen (coincidentally the french girls team who were next door to us). From experience the big problem with hydrogen is that it's such a pain right from production through to usage. The production is uneconomical currently and I can tell you that checking a system for leaks is an absolute nightmare as the stuff is nearly impossible to seal completely. Similarly, it's actually not very efficient when compared to the other categories right now. But, that will change soon, for example, our current fuel cell produces 1 kW of power and is roughly the size of a large motorcycle radiator (approx 250 mm x 250 mm x 40 mm) compare this to the cell we used 3 years ago which produced the same power but was literally 4 times the size. The technology is coming a long way and once it can be produced on a large enough scale with the current safety and sealing problems solved I think it will be something to look out for. It does produce an almost silent driving experience though which was quite odd but you get used to it pretty fast and you notice a lot of mechanical noises you would otherwise miss! The competition moves to London next year so fingers crossed we will enter with two cars, although I think I will be with an aluminium based Hydrogen powered coffin car rather than the urban concept. I drove this year since I was under the minimum weight of 70 kg (I was 68.6 with helmet, suit, gloves, shoes, etc) but the minimum is 50 kg for a prototype and I'm pretty sure I would die if I somehow got under 50 kg with all my gear!
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Tommy Vandergucht
Global Moderator
"Gotta work on the nut behind the wheel before you start fixing bolts on the car".
Posts: 1,506
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Post by Tommy Vandergucht on May 26, 2015 13:01:51 GMT -5
Are the prototype drivers assholes in real life as well?
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Post by Christian Challiner on May 26, 2015 13:44:27 GMT -5
Haha! No they're not as bad, they're mostly girls in this competition since it's rather tricky to find a male driver under 50 kg!
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Post by Oliver "King of the Mountain" on May 27, 2015 1:13:10 GMT -5
Awesome photos and good results. are you as quick in real life as on the sim?
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Post by Christian Challiner on May 27, 2015 3:02:43 GMT -5
Well no one was faster in the corners so maybe
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Post by Joseph Cardamone on May 27, 2015 3:18:21 GMT -5
Christian can you post some french girl photos please
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Post by Christian Challiner on May 27, 2015 4:28:49 GMT -5
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Post by Joseph Cardamone on May 27, 2015 4:31:32 GMT -5
share with your mates lol
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Tommy Vandergucht
Global Moderator
"Gotta work on the nut behind the wheel before you start fixing bolts on the car".
Posts: 1,506
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Post by Tommy Vandergucht on May 27, 2015 9:39:15 GMT -5
This came by in my youtube subscription. it's in Dutch but you might like it.
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Post by Christian Challiner on Jun 2, 2015 17:07:02 GMT -5
The 614 car from Twente was a few tents down from us, they're a great group and made us feel very welcome, they also leant us the battery we needed to start our systems externally (an odd rules requirement) after we had accidently given away all of our batteries to another uk team who were struggling and converted to a battery electric car right at the end. I miss holland and the competition, i want to go back
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Post by Joseph Cardamone on Jun 2, 2015 18:15:17 GMT -5
The 614 car from Twente was a few tents down from us, they're a great group and made us feel very welcome, they also leant us the battery we needed to start our systems externally (an odd rules requirement) after we had accidently given away all of our batteries to another uk team who were struggling and converted to a battery electric car right at the end. I miss holland and the competition, i want to go back You miss Holland or France lol
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Post by Christian Challiner on Jun 2, 2015 19:36:14 GMT -5
Both!
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Post by Joseph Cardamone on Jun 2, 2015 21:34:58 GMT -5
Both! Ohhhh Christians heart broken
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