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Saturday, May 31, 2008

Mock Race Update: Arrival in Dallas

After nearly two full days of driving covering nearly 1200 miles, the team arrived last night in Dallas, Texas, the start of our Mock Race. While Continuum left for Dallas in our trailer on Wednesday evening, the rest of the team departed Thursday afternoon following a day of race preparations. Driving in our race fleet from General Motors, we reached Effingham, Illinois on Thursday evening. Special thanks to the Hilton Garden Inn of Effingham for their generous support, donating rooms to the team for the night. Their wonderful facilities were a great comfort to us all, allowing us to prepare for a long day of driving on Friday.

Three of the four members of our fleet donated by General Motors, prior to leaving on Thursday.


Friday's itinerary saw the team travel south through Illinois and Missouri before heading west through Little Rock, Arkansas, and into Texas through Texarkana. The scenes of the Midwest and the South were a distinct change from the Australian Outback, and had many sights of their own.

Our green fleet against a backdrop of Arkansas's green fields.


We were not the only spectacle of alternative energy on the road--being passed by a truck carrying a windmill blade.


The team arrived in Dallas shortly before 10:00 PM, Central Time, meeting Continuum at the Embassy Suites Dallas Love Field. The Embassy Suites have graciously sponsored the team's 2-night stay in Dallas and have allowed us to work on Continuum in their parking lot. In addition, they have offered our team two more nights in Dallas prior to the start of the race in July. The hotel staff kindly greeted us as we arrived, and after a brief meeting in the hotel lounge, team members relaxed and prepared for the next day.

Some took the evening to explore the hotel lobby.


After a night's rest, the team woke up to the hotel's complimentary breakfast and then set up working in the hotel parking lot. Our engineers are performing checks on Continuum, while our strategists are making final revisions to code and studying the weather for the days ahead. The operations crew has been shuttling around Dallas to ensure that the whole team is ready to race tomorrow.

Engineers performing checks on Continuum.


Other tasks included a run to the airport.


Continuum set up in front of the Embassy Suites Dallas Love Field.


We are all looking forward to the road ahead, be sure to check back soon for updates.

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9 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Those hybrid trucks are awesome! Best of luck on your testing, this is another important step towards a successful race. Go Blue!

May 31, 2008 at 7:49 PM  
Blogger Roxanna Vigil said...

The caravan is looking sharp!

June 1, 2008 at 1:18 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'd say its the best looking team every produced by U of M with the hybrid trucks

June 1, 2008 at 2:10 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hm, ok... well, it can do. :f

August 16, 2008 at 4:07 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

good projek

August 18, 2008 at 5:10 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

its look great

August 19, 2008 at 6:57 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

nice article ..

October 17, 2008 at 2:44 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

congrat for this effort. hope still continued at this time even oil prices lowest.

November 22, 2008 at 1:48 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's great that GM donated 3 Tahoe's to the project. I'm sure they are hard pressed to find green idea's for the future. Hopefully they will be able to learn from all your hard work and apply it to mass production vehicles.

Keep up the great work!

December 3, 2008 at 7:39 PM  

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