DEVISING OUR STRATEGY
ERIC THOMASSEN
Purpose of strategy
Now we are working on the details to get our car in top-shape, the next thing to do is to maximize our score during the Challenge. To get the best out of our car, are Michael and I busy to figure out a strategy which will lead to the best possible score.
During the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge, we will be judged on a combination of 4 factors: velocity, person kilometers, external energy consumption and an adjudication about the practical use of our car. The consideration we have to make constantly is if we have drive with additional persons in the car or not; more persons makes us slower, but then we score more points for person kilometers. To make it even more complex does the overall score depend on the performances of our competitors.
Driving
To get the maximal performance of our car, we strive to drive the battery completely empty at the moment we cross the finish. We could have driven faster is we pass the finish line with energy left in our battery.
During the Challenge we are constantly calculating the speed of Stella Lux. Calculating this speed is a complex task, because it depends heavily on the solar irradiation. In order to get the most up-to-date weather predictions is our strategy van equipped with multiple antennas. Those enable us to have internet access throughout the entire outback.
We also have the ability to monitor the current status of Lux and use the latest status in our calculations. This information is wirelessly sent to our strategy van. In this way, we can check if the consumption of our car is as we expect it to be or if there is something wrong.
All these activities must lead to our ideal strategy during the Challenge and therefore maximizing our score. Even with all these data, we still do not know if we have won once we crossed the finish line. After the practicality judgement we know if our score is high enough to prolong our world championship.
|