Live Reports from the 2005 Darpa Grand Challenge

Race Update

10-08-05 11:55am PDT


Caltech's Alice caused the first tow truck-worthy wreck today, plowing over concrete barricades (k-rails) and driving up the observation hill where dozens of media members were reporting on the race. The wreck occurred around 9:40 am in the corridor that loops back near the grandstand, about 8 miles into the race.

"We won't know why this happened until we look at the log," said Caltech team member Lars Cremean. "She probably saw an object that wasn't really there, causing her to go off the road. The exact same thing happened yesterday on the practice run. She did a jog around a couple objects that weren't there. It's probably a problem with her radar."

It has been an exceptionally windy day here in Primm, and the dust clouds trailing the vehicles are nothing compared to what the gusts are kicking up. It could be one of these dust clouds, Cremean suggested, that caused Alice to think she needed to dodge an object on the road.

Initially, Cremean felt optimistic about Alice's chances of returning to the race. "If they unpause her, then she'll go forward until she realizes she can't go any further, and then she'll reverse. Then she'll probably skirt along the birm until she finds a gap in the k-rails. If she could get alongside a k-rail, she could power through it."

But even as spectators started chanting "Alice, Alice, Alice," word that her steering was shot and that she was leaking "dangerous fluids" began to ripple through the crowd, a tow truck showed up, and Alice was officially pulled out of the race.

Alice's wreck shut down the corridor, and as the rescue crew loaded Alice onto a flat bed truck and a bulldozer reset the k-rail, TerraMax grumbled impatiently a few hundred yards back. TerraMax barely waited for the bulldozer to get out of the way before rumbled back to life and chugged down the road.

-Bjorn

Race Update

10-08-05 09:43am PDT


8:44 am - Golem 2 has joined the list of eliminated vehicles, coming to a halt after 22.4 miles.

9:21 am - Team TerraMax, one of the crowd favorites because of its immense size and lime green paintjob, takes off into the desert. TerraMax plans to muscle its way over the rocky roads and is one of the favorites to complete the course.

9:35 am - H1ghlander continues to push along - running at about 25 mph, it has covered 73 miles.

But Stanley and Sandstorm aren't far behind, having traveled 69 and 66 miles respectively.

Spirit and Team Ensco round out the top five in terms of distance at 45 and 44 miles respectively.

9:36 am - Team Caltech's Alice has wedged herself between to cement pilings about 8 miles into the course. It is not officially eliminated, but its chances of returning to the race are not good.

-Bjorn

Elimination Update

10-08-05 08:41am PDT

8:34 am - Princeton is no longer running (22.2 miles)

8:34 am - MonsterMoto is no longer running (7.2 miles)

8:37 am - Team DAD is no longer running (26.2 miles) - Rotating sensor on roof stopped spinning - couldn't recover or restart.

-Bjorn