England

10 Months of my life went into this project. I pushed back my thesis, cut down the social life, shortened the world travels and even lost sleep. You would think I would know by now the amount of work a project like this takes...and I did. This is the 3rd time I have done a university car project! I guess I know what I like to do.

My role on the team was a "technical communicator" but my duties were pretty much project management. I worked with planning, technical documentation, the overal design, testing, and tons of other things. I had my hand in most things since I was the only one on the team to build something like this before.

In 10 months 27 of us designed and built a race car. We took it to England and competed against 69 other teams from all over the world. We placed 12th and came home happy. It was an intense competition and a great end to a year.

Check out our website for more details: http://web.student.chalmers.se/groups/formula/joomla/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

Here are some pics.

We did lots of testing in the month leading up to the competition. I hate electrical gremlins.

To get to England we took an overnight ferry. Lots of fun on the super windy deck.

We redefined the meaning of car camping.

Part of the competition is an acceleration event. Here is Kris lined up for the start.

With cold tires and excessive wheel spin he still put in a 10th place run hitting over 60 mph in 4 seconds.

I got to drive in part of the competition. I drove in qualifying but not the final race.

This is the start of qualifying. You get 2 shots to set a fast lap on a track you have never driven before. Here is our other driver after his run returning to the pits. I was up next.

My buddy Ciaran was there and he snapped this picture of me driving back to the pits.

We finished all the events and were happy with our 12th place overall finish. We were the highest finishing scandinavian team and E85 fuelled car. Go team!

Now I'm locked in my room finishing my thesis

I flew from Sevilla to London to see my friend Erin. She is an engineer from San Francisco but currently is working on a project in London. The directions to her apartment were simple and I found it quickly. Luckily I have been to London before but what makes getting around easy is that everything is in ENGLISH! That is nice for a change sometimes. I got to her place but she was not home. Oops, miscommunication somewhere. No problem, she texts me where to meet her. I get back on the tube and 2 HOURS LATER I'm back on the surface like a mile away. There was a ton of construction on the lines so many routes were stoped or changed. I got on, off and turned upside down so many times i felt like I was in some horrible video game level you can't beat. Once again I was very thankful that I packed so light.

I finally met up with her and we took a walk through Hyde park. Here is an old couple out for their evening metal detector walk.

Erin had a sweeeeeeet company apartment in central London. I'm sure it would cost thousands to rent but Accenture hooks it up. I actually didn't get to spend much time with Erin since I was only there two days and she is a busy busy girl. She is a great cook and has a soft couch. Thanks Erin, You Rock!

I spent my one touristy day in London walking around and visited two of my favorite museums ever: The Inperial War Museum and the Tate Museum of Modern Art. On the way to the museums I passed Big Ben and the London Eye:

This thing is awesome!

I like the war museum not because I like war but because I like the rich history and amazing technology. Tanks also work as back scratchers.

Then it was on to the Tate. You cant take pictures inside the showrooms but you can in the main hall. The featured piece was a towering set of tube slides!!! I rode the top one!! It was fast!! I want one!!!

Randomly in the Museum I ran into an English friend of mine who studies in Sweden. Weird! We then walked along the Thames river to tower bridge. No this is not London Bridge!

We went our seperate ways and I was on a plane back to Sweden the next day.

Overall during my month long trip I spent only $850. That included all flights and food and housing and...everything. Thank you sooooo much to those who helped, housed, fed, or otherwise made my trip kick ass. I owe you big time!

Over and out,

Mike