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Comment: Add testing info from talks with Minnesota's team


Classcruiser
Length x Width x Height5.00 m x 1.90 m x 1.30 m
Weight380 kg
Array1000 W Silicon
Battery
Motor2 custom
Wheels4 custom 16"
Chassiscarbon fiber monocoque

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One of our observers during ASC 2018 (Spencer Berglund) had been on Minnesota, and had been working on some code for their strategy team as an alumni. We also talked to him in the Chase Car during the competition about strategy.

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They have a center console, and an instrument cluster behind the wheel.

Composites

They use carbon fiber and Nomex honeycomb.

Testing

At ASC 2018, we talked to some of their team about how they typically perform testing and race preparation.

Test days are actually a full-day affair for Minnesota. They'd pack everything ahead of time (usually the night before), so that in the morning, they'd just grab all their stuff and toss them into their convoy. Then in the morning, they'd review their goals for the day and everyone's roles/responsibilities, and then head out. At the end of the day, they'd do a team debrief before heading back (ie. were we missing any tools, any problems that need to be addressed, etc.).

They basically had 3 types of test days:

  1. Driver Training/Roadside Stop "bootcamp"
  2. Rayce
  3. Strategy

Driver Training and Roadside Stop "bootcamp" were days where the race crew would practice performing replacements of various parts of the car, and allow drivers to get used to driving their car. One interesting thing is that everyone learned how to do everything—people who typically do Electrical work learn to change tires, and so on. They kind of make it into a competition, and time how long it takes people to perform these tasks. The goal is to spread around the knowledge so that there isn't a Single Point of Failure if that person isn't available. They have pretty big parking lots and test facilities that they could use if they wanted to drive at higher speeds.

Rayce days are days where they would drive a route, and practice the roles that they'd perform in the convoy at ASC/WSC. They did something like this with PrISUm this summer. They created route books that they could use, similar to what ASC gives you, so that they get used to reading turn-by-turn directions. They would also use the opportunity to do roadside stops and practice driver swaps as well. This also allows the car to drive in conditions similar to ASC.

Strategy days were basically when they'd perform car characterization, and drive it at constant speed in order to gather data or perform roll-down tests for their model.