The BIG DAY!!!

Alright, the real reaso nwe came here - THE INTERNATIONAL CHEM E CAR COMPETITION!!!!!

Well, the day started off nice and early - we were prepared to be there as early as possible so that we could make the batteries - as they take an hour to make.

We were told the venue will be open fomr 8.30, so we gort there by 8.15. Being 15 mins early rather than late is no mean feat for me!

Alas, we waited and waited and they finally openend the place at 9!! I skipped breakfast to be there on time!

So, after a late start, we prepared all the batteries and were very please when the distance was revealed to be 16.5 metres - nice and short.

The comp was held on carpet, but a lot of teams got a shock and complained that they weren't told. We'd all assumed it would be on tiles as that was what they had last time.

So, a lot of the cars didn't move. we were chuffed as our car moved quite well (as we have known for over a week that it would be on carpet).

Fearing an angry backlash from the unruly mob, the judges decided to change the venue to concrete- we had lost our advantage!!!!!

Never to fear, we quickly modified the car to run on concrete - but then DISASTER!!!

Ten mins before the comp, our car did not turn on!!! This was very weird as we had 8 batteries (we'd always only had 6) so there should have been plenty of power!! As we hithered and dithered Cangie found the problem - one wire was connected incorrectly and hence the baterries were actully working against each other - effectively cancelling them out!

After a quick wire change we were ready - heaving sighs of relief. Our car was drawn as the first - so we set down our car and turned it on. The car started slowly........and moved a bit faster.....and faster......over the small hump on the course....and down the slope speeding away faster than any Evo and finally went.........................................................................................................
OUT OF BOUNDS!

"Disqualified!" yelled the commentator!

Luckily, out of the 11 teams, 4 others went out of bounds and were disqualified. The other Monash team could not get their car to start.

Alright, we still had one more run. We quickly changed some tests, and decided we had too much power. So we removed a battery and changed the plating time (which controls distance).

This time the car started slowly, picked up speed and then.........stopped short of the finish line by 6 metres!

Overall, we came 7th out of the 11 teams - a wee bit disappointing but we had fun! I hope Monash does not make us pay back the cost of the trip.

For the record, the comp was won by the Uni of Tulsa, from Oklahoma, USA. The runners up were from AUT in Iran and had the best car... it revved up the engines, then released oxygen vapour and finally sped off with a zoom. They stopped just 38 cm away from the finish line, but were bbeaten by the fuel cell pwered car from Tulsa. This was a really good car - slow and steady - but successful!

Anyway, the weather here is unchracteristically hot - 26 C today! This is very warm for Glasgow - and most places are built for the winter and so store the heat. Most don't have AC as they don't expect this weather - supposedly it's meant to rain every day and this is one of their heat waves.

I'm absolutely amazed by how long the sun is out here - it feels like 10 am when it is actually 10.30 pm!!! Even at 11.30 pm there's still a wee bit of light left. (Like my Scottish slang???). Supposedly the sun rises at 5 am - though I've not been awake to notice!

Gotta run, I'm at a library and my time is nearly up!

From Glasgow!!!

Hi All (or Maybe just John!!!)

We are now all safely in Glasgow ...away from the madness in London. For your questions john, we did not change our plans as that was the second last day in london anyway. Luckily most of the transport was up the next day so that we could get to the airport without too much trouble.

So here we are. Tomorrow is the BIG DAY for which all this trip has been for. I can actually see the venue from my hotel room - I'm on the 12th floor with a good view! We arrived here ysterday night and caught up with Trevose from the other team. Christian and Damir are due today. So we've got tonight to iron out the poster (it got creased on the flight) and make sure the car goes straight. Then tomorrow morning its go go go with the event!! Hopefully we'll do better than that day at uni! Cangie (note spelling John...) and Jase are fine too.

Thanks Lindsey for you prayers! And I hope all the ski trip people have arrived back safe and sound without too many bumps and bruises!

Whose going to the fencing comp in Sydney? Remember Feng? UNSW guy? Well he messaged me the other day asking whether I was coming or not. Say hi to him for me if you are going!

Finally, Dave and Ti, I hope you interstate trip went/is going/will go well!

Seeya,
Sandeep

Breaking News!!!

Well - today was totally out of the blue!!!! Last night we had a late night because we went to Hard Rock Cafe.

It was pretty good - but we had to wait sooo long. But you know that already - however it is important for the rest of the story. This morning we woke up late due to last night. So at ten we were going to leave the hotel, when we were told to go back in, and were not allowed to leave!

So we went back in - a bit puzzled. Then we heard the news. Supposedly there had been 7 bomb blasts in the city on the buses and trains! The worst thing was that 2 of them were around 5 to 10 mins away from our hotel!!! Imagine that! So here we are, stuck in the hotel, not allowed to go out.

But even if we did go out, there would be nothing to do! The entire underground system, and buses have been stopped. And it would be imposssible to get a taxi as EVERYONE would be trying to get one!!!

Luckily we did not have an early start - otherwise we would have been stranded in the city with no way of coming back home!!!

And for John's question: We weren't in London yesterday so we didn't see the celebrations of the olympics. But I don't think there'll be much celebration tonight.

Anyway, our phones don't really have reception, so if you try to message you may not get through. Janahan, I did get your message, but can't reply for some reason! But thanks for your concern!

Okay, we are going to see what we can do - there's not much to do - just watching the news, seeing when they'll allow us to go out and when the city will get back to normal.

Check out BBC or CNN for info about the bomb blasts - I'm pretty sure it will be all over the Australian news too.

Bath and Stonehenge

Hey! Today was our first trip out of London - and we went to Bath, Stonehenge and Salisbury Cathedral! Let me just tell you that the trip was amazing!!!!! Stonehenge was great and mysterious - no one could tell us why the people spent so long dragging stones from far away, shipping them over by rafts, and then rollong them over on rollers, and finally placing them in a coircle! The amazing thing is that they actually removed some of the stones after all this hard work!!


Salisbury cathedral was very beautiful - i just loved the architecture. Started in 1226, and taking 38 years to build, the cathedral houses some of Britains great history. For those who know British history - the principal witness of the signing of the Magna Carta (forgotten his name!!) is buried here. There is also a beautiful copy of the Magna Carta in the building. The Magna Carta is a very important document - the first such official document which gave a list of human rights, and laws for society.

Then Bath was one of the most beautiful cities I've seen. The entire city is Georgian, and boasts wonderful architecture. Also has the original Roman Baths at over 2000 years old.

After coming back to London, we headed over to Hyde Park - which was great, and saw the Diana memorial - which I must admit was a bit disappointing. Cangie described it as a sewer - and I don't think she was far off the mark.

i then had the BIGGEST DINNER EVER at the Hardrock Cafe - the largest bowl of Nachos ever seen! Jason and Cangie were so sure I would not be able to finish - but with sheer determination, and an iron stomach I managed to eat the entire thing! The ironic thing was that the only reason we went there was to eat the free dessert (we had a voucher for that). But I was sooooo full after the main meal that I could not even touch the dessert - what a waste of a freeeeeee hot fudge sundae!!!!!!!

okay gotta gfo!

London!!!

Today we just spent our whole day in London! It was great! (But we are all extremely tired now!!)

We got here at 5 am, and after check out etc, reached our hotel by 7. As check in was not till 2 pm, we put our stuff in a locker, then had showers, and were off to explore!

We saw a lot of interesting places - Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, St James Palace (which looked really drab compared to Buckingham), Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, Picadilly Circus, Tower Bridge, London Bridge (which is really plain compared to Tower Bridge), Downing Street (Tony Blair's House), Millennium Wheel, etc etc

The weather was just as unpredictable as Melbourne, being really warm and sunny once, then really cold and rainy the next! Poor cangie did not bring a jumper and had to end up buying one!

Something I really noticed was the number of Indians present here. Every second shop seems to be run by an Indian/Pakistani - especially the souvenir shops! ( I think they are the equivalent of the Asians ownming souv shops in Australia!!!!)

Anyway, I've finished my battery taping the days events, and Jase finished his too! Tomorrow we plan to go into the Tower of London, and then check out the scary 'London Dungeons'.

Only 4 mins left to go on in internet (at £ 1 / 20 mins) - so rest in next!!

Enjoy the ski trip for thosse who are going from fencing!

Sandeep

Sydney Airport

I am Sydney Airport right now! Just about to board the plane to Bangkok! Jase and Cangie are waiting impatiently - so I better run!!!