The day started on a high note. After encouraging each other up last night, we were all hopeful. In addition, earlier on, we overtook Neumann, only to hear that they were struggling with motor problems, which we unfortunately could not help with. Spirits were up and, with bad weather waiting in Adelaide, we focused on conserving energy while still holding a strong and steady pace.
Just before reaching the Port Augusta control stop, things took a turn. Green Falcon suddenly shut off on the road. We swapped out the rotor, hoping that would fix it, but moments later, the car turned off again. We managed to roll into a nearby truck parking lot and began checking everything we could. System by system, we searched for the fault. Eventually, we narrowed it down to the low-voltage electrical system, which was causing short interruptions. Each time, the car’s PCBs, including those of the crucial battery management system (BMS as we call it for short), would momentarily lose power, forcing the whole system to restart.
We replaced the PCB, ran test loops, and thought we’d solved it. And just when things seemed back on track, Green Falcon shut off again. By the time we made it to the Port Augusta control stop, we had lost our 10th position and slipped down to 14th as other teams passed. No one on the team really dwelled on the ranking, all that mattered was finding the fault and getting the car running reliably again.
After one more unexpected stop, we had no choice but to trailer the car to camp. Once set up, our electrical engineers went straight back to work. The leading theory: a worn cable could have caused the interruptions all along. With a fix in place, all we can do is wait until tomorrow to see if we’ve finally solved the mystery.
If you have been following our journey, you might have noticed one thing about our team, no matter the obstacle, we keep pushing through and overcoming it! This is exactly what we are planning to do, because once again, we are not beaten yet!
Want to hear more straight from the team? Catch up with our livestream at 13:30 CEST / 21:00 ACST through this link, and don’t forget to check our socials for real-time updates along the road.
One day down, about 350 kilometres to go. We'll keep persisting until the end.
