Yeah we tested the Black Magic twice as you know and it worked quite well.

We tried the buzzer too on Saturday but there was not enough light to make the system work.

Thanks for letting us try your new gadgets out!

TonyB wrote:Lol your teacher Emil loves new gadgets .

Very true

TonyB wrote:Moorebank ended up using the easymax unit.

Black Magic or EasyMax III ?

TonyB wrote:They used the Easymax 3 for all their races.

Ok fair enough. Do you know what kind of gear ratio they were using? and were they changing it? because the car was fast no-matter what the light did.

Yes, the Box Hill unit and the Black Magic unit performed very similarly with the test car.

With the Box Hill unit the test car ran a 16.11 second lap at 91% sun (sunlight is averaged over the entire lap). 5 minutes later and with the Black Magic unit in place the car ran a 16.25 second lap in 89.5% sun. The panel had also been gradually heating up in the sun.

Once the panel had cooled down a bit again it was given another go and this time the Black Magic unit recorded a 16.43 second lap at 79.3% sun. This was the fastest time of the three listed here per unit sunlight and using the seeding formula is predicted to run a 14.98 second lap at 120% sun.

miseli

TonyB wrote:I might even integrate the gear change buzzer into it as well .

yes please do!

But what is the story with the 2010 rules? I have heard that there may be an advantage in not using an optimiser due to a new weight penalty system, can Marc shed any light here?

Hmm... yeah that it fair enough.

If the rules don't swing in the order of not using electronics you can expect an order from Aquinas

Well, what's probably going to happen for starters is that the extra 20% added weight for using electronics will be removed. Those cars without electronics will however then have their weight reduced instead. This makes cars without electronics lighter and will give them a better chance in the lower sunlights.

The formula for electronics will most probably go back to what it was before this year. I don't know what the exact figure of reduction is then going to be for those without electronics, but I think it might be set up to maybe give the advantage to one or the other depending on the level of sunlight. Although it would be nice to have, I doubt teams will be allowed to interchange between the two during the competition. In other words, teams might have a choice to make depending on what the day is looking like.

Electronics will therefore still certainly be worth having.

Because the advantage without electronics will only exist if you have your car set up to meet the conditions, many teams will probably just stick with electronics and the one gear ratio anyway for the convenience.

How is the Black Magic maximiser going? I was thinking of trying to get one for this year's challenge. An update on it's status would be appreciated