While the jury was deliberating, we completed a series of accelerations on the track. Unfortunately, we wound up in 41st place -- behind teams from Sherbrooke, Laval and Toronto universities. Of course, this was somewhat expected as the car does not rely on a powerful engine. The focus of ETS students was more on sharp handling than pure power.
Everyone knew we would fare much better in the next challenge: the skidpad. Here, the car must complete four laps on a small, ultra-tight "Figure 8" kind of track (two laps in the first oval and two more in the second oval). During his first try, Sébastien got familiar with the unique course. In his second attempt, he really pushed the car to the limits. The machine looked extremely quick, nimble and stable. Sébastien was well on his way to earn one of the fastest times of the day but, he hit a pylon during the final lap and his performance was not recorded. Therefore, officials went with our second-best time (performed by Alexandre), which was a bit slower.
Team captain Jude would not let his team get discouraged. He remained very confident for the following test: the autocross. Each team delegates two participants to drive the car around a challenging course bordered by orange cones. Two laps are clocked but only the best time is recorded. Ours was 49.690 seconds -- about three seconds behind the fastest car in the competition.
Obviously, the team was pretty disappointed. We knew what the car was capable of, but it had yet to live up to its full potential. However, we still had a few opportunities to shine, like the endurance test. We could not afford any more mistakes.
In the meantime, we received some excellent news: ETS was selected to take part in the finals of the design contest, which was scheduled for the very last day of the event.
The endurance test is a big part of the competition. Actually, it's the most important part as it accounts for 400 points. If the car does not cross the finish line, the team gets zero points... and zero chances of winning the overall title.
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Everyone knew we would fare much better in the next challenge: the skidpad. Here, the car must complete four laps on a small, ultra-tight "Figure 8" kind of track (two laps in the first oval and two more in the second oval). During his first try, Sébastien got familiar with the unique course. In his second attempt, he really pushed the car to the limits. The machine looked extremely quick, nimble and stable. Sébastien was well on his way to earn one of the fastest times of the day but, he hit a pylon during the final lap and his performance was not recorded. Therefore, officials went with our second-best time (performed by Alexandre), which was a bit slower.
Team captain Jude would not let his team get discouraged. He remained very confident for the following test: the autocross. Each team delegates two participants to drive the car around a challenging course bordered by orange cones. Two laps are clocked but only the best time is recorded. Ours was 49.690 seconds -- about three seconds behind the fastest car in the competition.
Obviously, the team was pretty disappointed. We knew what the car was capable of, but it had yet to live up to its full potential. However, we still had a few opportunities to shine, like the endurance test. We could not afford any more mistakes.
In the meantime, we received some excellent news: ETS was selected to take part in the finals of the design contest, which was scheduled for the very last day of the event.
The endurance test is a big part of the competition. Actually, it's the most important part as it accounts for 400 points. If the car does not cross the finish line, the team gets zero points... and zero chances of winning the overall title.
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