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06/15/19 We leave for Colorado in 6 days. The car is nowhere near done, although it's functional. We tested Wednesday and Thursday at ORP. Still evaluating major systems but the car is a bit more complete every time. On the one hand the performance is insane, on the other we always want more. There is a lot that has to come together to make a fast car. We certainly have the power. The chassis is up to putting it down. Now come all the other bits.
The nose piece is now on, there are more aero bits in place, a whole lot of electric systems and control software tuning. There is definitely progress. One item we installed before the test is carbon brakes from RPS - not only do they save about 8 lbs per corner, but at our high power and higher-than-hoped-for-weight they work a lot better than the steel rotors they replace. Definitely a track-only setup due to the need to get heat into them, but once up to temp the brakes are awesome.
Bodywork and aero are the last frontier. We've been working like mad to design molds, make them, and make the parts. Some examples: Rear diffuser. Total time from start to part 4.5 days.
Front dive planes. Start to part 8 days.
Other miscellaneous molds in progress, like ones for the 'barge boards' and the canopy joint reinforcement. Note that each mold is made by a different technique. We just pick whatever is going to be the most efficient for the particular job.
Also installing Wheeler vortex generators on front and rear wing. Since we'll be running pretty aggressive lift coeffiients, the VGs allow higher angles of attack without stalling.
Also fitting the rest of the bodywork in stages. Still lots to do, and very little time left.
The rear bodywork dictates different wing mounts of course. So working on those as well.
I'm sure we'll be working on the car the entire race week. June 30th is when we find out how we did. Wish us luck.
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