This weekend, we got a special surprise as Dan Cornew, one of our team’s recent alumni, came to visit. Dan is part of the Northwestern Class of 2011, and was a key member of the solar car team while he was here. Dan’s folks live a few miles north of NU, so it isn’t much trouble for him to visit at the same time he goes home.

Anyways, Dan came to take a look at the new car, and offer some advice for getting it up and running. Dan is a treasure trove of solar energy and composites material knowledge, knowledge he currently uses at his job building solar-powered UAVs. He actually fits inside our current car, SC6, which is a major development as that was not remotely possible in good old SC5.

Overall, the team has been making solid progress lately. We should be receiving some samples of carbon fiber material soon so we can do some mechanical testing on them and decide what’s suitable for our car. Also, we have been designing an improved rollcage, as well as more reliable suspension components, in CAD software. The electrical team is currently working on splitting up some of our circuits, as well as creating a new car telemetry system.

Thanksgiving is this Thursday, which means a chance to catch up with old friends from home, and a well deserved break (not taking into account the midterm and 2 papers I have due the week after, of course).