I don’t really want to put this in the leaving thread, because I’ll still be around. You can still reach me via PM or Discord DM or whatever, and I’ll be helping out with our next steps as a community over the next few months.
However, I will not be playing/hosting any games from here on out until November, and maybe later depending on how things shake out.
While I know this is incredibly inopportune timing considering recent events causing a bit of a leadership gap that I will be entirely unable to help fill, and considering our future plans as a community, I have to put my own prospects ahead of the forums.
And, for that reason, I am excited to announce that I have been selected to represent the University of Michigan and the United States of America at the World Solar Challenge 2019.
The World Solar Challenge is, as its name suggests, the single largest race exclusively for solar-powered vehicles in the world. The course stretches 3,000km across the Australian outback, spanning the entire continent. This year, it will begin on October 13th, and last approximately one week.
The University of Michigan Solar Car Team is, for all intents and purposes, Team USA. We came in 2nd place at WSC 2017, and this year we’re gunning to dethrone Vattenfall Solar Team (previously Nuon Solar Team) from the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, who took first place in 2017 and are unquestionably the world’s best. For now.
In order to prepare our upcoming car and our team for WSC 2019, I will be working 100 hours or more per week through the summer and into the fall, and will be travelling to Australia well ahead of the start of the race instead of taking classes next fall. This workload is the main reason I make this announcement today.
Obviously, working over 100 hours per week is quite the large commitment (a full-time job is usually somewhere in the ballpark of 40 hours per week, and they get paid). As such, my free time will be extremely limited, and it will not be possible for me to take part in any more games of FM or FoL from now through November.
In particular, it is incredibly likely that Divine Comedy FM will be delayed by well over an additional 6 months. Sorry about that. I promise I still really want to pull it together, but recent events have made other matters more pressing, as I’m sure you know.
All in all, however, I am excited to be able to represent my team and my country in Australia as we strive for the gold.
Thank you all for your support over the past two years on this site. I wish you all the best in my relative absence, and I can’t wait to be back in November.
Go Blue!
Sincerely,
Ian Stewart
University of Michigan Solar Car Team
