Author Archives: Roger

Validation Stage begins at Argonne National Laboratory

Having spent a whole week doing more or less nothing except sleeping and eating at Jim Lorimer’s house in Richmond, VA, I flew to Chicago on Sunday the 8th of August. Monday the 9th I found my way into ANL … Continue reading

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E-Tracers complete coastdown testing at Chrysler’s Chelsea Proving Grounds

The last three days of the finals of the PIAXP took place at the Chrysler Proving Grounds in Chelsea, MI and represented the first part of the validation phase.  The results of the coastdown runs are the basis for the load-settings … Continue reading

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Monday’s X PRIZE Dynamic Testing

Monday was Dynamic Testing Day and we smoothly executed the 0-60 mph acceleration and 60-0 emergency braking tests as well as the 45 mph double lane change tests.  Felix in E-Tracer #72 needed two attemps on the braking because he … Continue reading

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Friday’s X PRIZE Finals Stage Range Event

Both E-tracers completed the 100 mile Range Event.  The AC Propulsion powered E-Tracer #79 ran in the afternoon and had to do 1 additional penalty lap (as all the other vehicles in the same run) due to cabin temperatures above … Continue reading

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Thursday’s Finals Stage 90mi Efficiency Test

Today we competed in the third part of the X PRIZE Finals efficiency test, the 90 mile highway portion.  All went well and I stuck to the minimum trace speed staying behind 5-times-Le-Mans-winner Emanuele Pirro in his Edison2 Very Light … Continue reading

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The Automotive X PRIZE competition continues…

The X-Tracer Team arrived on Friday, July 16th for the Finals Stage.  We picked up both E-Tracers on Saturday at National Cycle.  On Sunday we drove to Michigan International Speedway (MIS) and checked in.  Vehicle technical inspections were held Monday … Continue reading

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Results of Urban, City, & Highway Efficiency

Last week we completed the Urban and City efficiency tests on June 23rd, and the Highway efficiency test on June 24th.  The Urban efficiency test comprised 8 laps (16mi), 6 stops per lap, while maintaining an average of 22mph.  The … Continue reading

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Both X-Tracers passed Technical Inspection

We got both vehicles nicely through tech inspections, so our work back in Chicago was successful.  We did not like the ballast weights we were assigned to carry, but it won’t hamper performance by a lot since there is no … Continue reading

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All work done and loading the truck

Lewis & Clark (the two guys who where sent off by Jefferson to explore the West) aka Frankie and me have more or less made the two X-Tracers race-ready during the last 4 days and we couldn’t have done it … Continue reading

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Back in the US and some work to do

Frank Loacker, chief engineer from our “b” team www.zerotracer.com (they don’t like to hear that… 😉 )  and I got to Chicago yesterday and will start working on the two X-Tracers today.  We have only minor repairs and improvements to make … Continue reading

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