news

The ITP Group and Central Scanning visited us at the Engineering Department to carry out 3D scanning of Affinity. We now have a very detailed CAD model of the car's surface. This will now be used to produce a wind-tunnel model in order to continue aerodynamic analysis of our prototype car.

Testing of Affinity took place on Friday at Alconbury RAF airfield. Aerodynamic performance of the prototype vehicle was assessed using equipment from Chell Instruments, allowing on-board pressure measurements to be recorded. Overall system performance was also investigated using our Tritium motor controller and meteorological data was obtained using equipment from Prodata Weather Systems. The day's testing will assist in the design of our new vehicle, which is currently underway at the Engineering Department.
 
Many thanks to Cambridge Precision for supplying manpower and vehicles, and helping out with logistics for the day.

Sponsorship packages are now available for our new solar racing car, for the World Solar Challenge 2009. Details can be found in our Sponsorship Brochure.

As many of the 2007-08 team graduate and move on from Cambridge, a new team of students has taken over the running of CUER. Our thanks go to Martin and the rest of the team that built Affinity for getting the project off to a flying start. (A full list of Affinity press coverage is now available here)
 
The new team is made up of students who worked on Affinity and new students. Joint captains Anthony Law (Team Manager) and Charlie Watt (Technical Director) will run CUER until the World Solar Challenge 2009. Design of our next car is well underway, with five research projects running in the Engineering Department over the summer vacation.

Affinity and the team are currently on their way back to Cambridge, and will be driving the car through the City Centre back to the engineering department this afternoon, going through the centre at about 4pm.
 
Look out for coverage of the return on ITV Anglia News tonight.

Battling through the cold, wind, and rain, Affinity reached the finish line at John O'Groats at 17:00 on Sat 14th June, sparking celebrations from the CUER team and huge interest from everyone else in John O'Groats at the time.
 
CUER would like to thank all our sponsors and supporters for making this possible.
 
The team is currently on the road back to Cambridge, with a final stop planned in York City Centre this afternoon and an outreach event at Bootham School tomorrow morning. We're planning to drive Affinity through Cambridge City Centre tomorrow, around 4pm, and hope to see lots of people there.

Affinity is currently sitting in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle, catching the eye of shoppers and passers-by who have been very interested to see our car.
 
The trip so far has gone well; all our outreach and public appearances have been very successful and we've learnt a lot from our testing on public roads.
 
The CUER team is camping in Edinburgh tonight, with a school visit in Dundee and an appearance at the Grampian Transport Museum near Aberdeen tomorrow morning. On Saturday, we make the final push for John O'Groats, and expect to arrive at around 3pm.
 
Keep up with our progress on the End to End minisite.

Due to problems with the mobile internet connection, it has not been possible to post to the blog. This will be fixed shortly. EDIT: Has been fixed shortly.

The CUER team and Affinity are currently making their way from Cambridge to Land's End, with an ETA of about 5pm. Look out for our convoy, currently on the M5 heading South West. The End to End minisite will launch tonight in time for the official beginning of the trip tomorrow morning.

With a fresh white paint job and thorough cleaning of the solar cells, Affinity is nearly ready for End to End. Most of the equipment, promotional materials and support vehicles are prepared, and we'll be packing on Friday to leave for Land's End on Saturday morning. Look out for the End to End minisite with live map, blog and photo gallery launching soon.

As the various parts came together this week to a nearly completed car, Affinity was able to drive under its own power for the first time. Testing was confined to a few short runs in the Engineering Department, but it should become full scale track testing soon.

CUER ran a workshop in conjunction with the Cambridge Science Festival today, building and racing solar buggies with secondary school pupils. (With a chocolate solar car on offer for the winners!) We will also be appearing at the Cavendish Lab next Sunday, and expect to see a big crowd turn out.

After much debate over the past weeks and months, the team has voted the name of our first vehicle to be Affinity. Affinity will be the vehicle driven from Land's End to John O'Groats in June and from Victoria Falls to Cape Town in January 2009 as part of Zero Rally Africa.

The team has presented their final plans for the vehicle that will drive from Land's End to John O'Groats this summer. Present were the project supervisors, students from the engineering department, and even a two-time World Solar Challenge veteran. The next phase of the project will see the manufacture of the vehicle, leading up to a Single Vehicle Approval test (required to become road legal) in May.

Pilkington are the latest company to join CUER, with Platinum-level sponsorship. As well as a cash donation, they will be manufacturing a windscreen for our vehicle that will meet Single Vehicle Approval safety requirements. Pictured is JD Chen, Head of Sponsorship for CUER, receiving a cheque from Nick Shore, Managing Director of Pilkington's Solar Energy Business.

8th-14th June 2008 will see CUER embark on their first cross-country journey in its prototype vehicle, with planning well underway. If successful, we will have built the first road legal solar car in the UK, and the first to complete this historic route under solar power. The route and stops have been provisionally decided, and we'd love to hear from schools or other public institutions interested in having us visit on our way.