00:00It was one of the most special five days of my life. It was incredibly exhilarating.
00:06I'm so glad we finally made it. And I think I'll remember that for the rest of my life.
00:12I hear that maybe you've still got a bit of an aroma of champagne. You're still covered in
00:17champagne after the finish. I definitely have a lot of aromas. I'm sure I don't smell great
00:22from the outback either, but certainly, certainly, yeah, there was a lot of celebration and we dove
00:28in the fountain in Adelaide. So we're all just incredibly excited and proud to have gotten
00:33the job done. Cool. So your car seemed to have some pretty unique high tech features, even
00:39in this field. Take us through them. And in the end, because you've kind of been nerding out
00:45through this whole thing with all your mates, what's your assessment of how those high tech
00:49features went? Yeah, so we had two really high tech features. Of course, we had the wing,
00:54this vertically mounted, like sail almost, sort of like a sail on a sailboat that propels
00:59us through the wind. We collected a lot of data on that during the journey and we found
01:02that it actually helped the performance of our vehicle a lot, especially in those high,
01:06harsh crosswinds of the outback. And then we're also trying out a new solar cell balancing system
01:11where we're tapping into every single cell on your solar array in a unique way. And I think
01:17that actually has the potential to really break into the broader world and make all of our solar
01:21panels more efficient. So we're really excited about this new technology and it definitely
01:24made a big difference to us in the race. Yeah, I think I, yeah, that's your car there, isn't
01:29it? So can you go into a bit more detail for us? Yeah, so the car is all handmade by students
01:35and it's super light. It weighed in at 190 kilograms. Wow. Its top speed is up to 180 kilometers an
01:41hour, even though. 180? That's right. Holy dewy. Yep. Yep. Yep. We, we, um, we have a battery in
01:50there that's big enough to power your toaster oven for just about two hours. So we're really
01:55running on the sun for the entire time. Um, we're cruising up to 60, 60, uh, miles an hour. Sorry,
02:02I'm American. That'd be like 90, 100 KPH. And then, uh, we hit up to 130, the, the, the, you know,
02:08uh, Northern Territory speed limit. So the thing can definitely scream and it's a lot of fun to drive.
02:13Uh, I bet you didn't do much driving. Did you, you were kind of behind the scenes?
02:18No, I certainly would have liked to have had the simplicity of just pointing it straight
02:23down the Stuart highway. But yeah, I was managing a lot of stuff behind the scenes. It's incredibly
02:27complex operation. And we learn a ton about everything from, uh, you know, how to get a
02:32semi-trailer down the Stuart highway to, uh, you know, how to keep everybody fueled and happy.
02:37And what about those Australian roads? What's your verdict on the Australian roads?
02:41Uh, they're certainly far better than the roads in my home state. Uh, I, I have no complaints.
02:47The biggest pothole was no problem at all. Okay. So Michigan has a really proud history
02:51in solar races. Uh, why does it place so much importance on them? Because they're a big investment.
02:58Yeah, I think ultimately it comes down to the people. We know that, uh, this event cultivates
03:03really bright people year after year, and we've, we've seen them go on to do amazing things and
03:07it attracts people to come join the team. So the solar racing is a big part of the
03:11University of Michigan. And, uh, it's a big part of my life. Uh, it's, it's really at
03:15the end of the day, it comes back to the people.
03:17Yeah. And how are your people on the, the, over the last five days during the 3000 Ks and
03:22give us an insight into as to how full on it is in the cockpit. Um, where does it get
03:28pretty hot and bumpy?
03:29Oh yeah. I, I wouldn't say a solar car is a comfortable vehicle by any stretch. Uh, it
03:35can definitely get up to 50 C in there. We were, we were relieved to do some driving
03:39in the Australian winter. Um, but the bumps, yeah, the suspension is pretty minimal at best.
03:44So those, those road trains can really, really hurt the driver's bum, but, uh, our drivers
03:49are tough and they hang in there.
03:50Good stuff. And what, what is it like, uh, with the team element to this? What was it
03:55like working with your team, uh, over the last five days? Uh, no doubt there was some
04:01kind of, were there any disagreements over things or you were able to kind of handle it
04:04all pretty well?
04:05Well, more than anything, you know, it's a competition of solar cars, sure, but it's
04:09a competition of teams. And this is a really bright team at the University of Michigan.
04:14I'll tell you, every morning we had something go wrong where, where we thought to ourselves,
04:17okay, if we don't fix this in the next 30 minutes, like we're not driving today, but
04:21we had an army of people do their job, you know, work together. Well, sure we disagree,
04:26but we're always moving towards our goal, which is to get to the finish line as fast as possible.
04:30I think that that's probably the most special part of those five days for me is just the
04:33people.
04:34And when's your next solar race?
04:36Oh, I, I'm not sure. Uh, I, solar, solar car is definitely an addiction. I could be back,
04:42but, but we'll see.
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