The spring '09 competition season has all but wound down, with only S&T's highly-regarded Formula SAE team still on the road. Literally.
The Miners left early Monday morning for their third top-level race of the year and just as they crossed the California state line the automotive pit crew ran into some trouble on the highway. An out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere-kind-of-highway.
First, they started getting the dreaded "check engine" light, followed by an intermittent light that indicated a battery problem. Then the truck started to slow (did we mention they are pulling a 28-ft racing trailer?) and finally ground to a complete halt on the shoulder about "a hundred miles from nowhere", according to team leader Aaron Young.
The team's best guess was a bad alternator, but they had some extra batteries on hand that they hoped would get them to an auto parts shop. That apparently didn't work so they stole a page from (extremely resourceful secret agent) Angus MacGyver's play book.
We probably wouldn't post any photos even if we had them, but imagine this:
Put the team's generator in the truck bed.
Run a 110v extension cord toward the front of the truck.
Plug in a battery charger.
Connect the charger to the battery.
Start the truck.
Drive all the way to the race track at Fontana, California.
Check into the hotel.
Go find an auto parts store and buy an alternator.
Is this the world's first one-ton Ford hybrid diesel pick-up truck?
If they can handle this situation with such panache then handling any track-side breakdowns won't even justify a second glance.
More reports from Cali as the week goes on.
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