As busy as everyday life gets it has been difficult finding time and resources for the SRZero. She survived the 26,500km journey from Alaska to Argentina majestically but, as those who have watched the documentary will know, she went through a hell of a lot! I remember one of the main observations from people when we were building the car was that we would never complete our journey with a ground clearance of 8cm. Well we proved them wrong but you can imagine what a beating she took – 100’s of kilometres of gravel stretches, entering numerous underground garages, on and off ferries, Central and South American monster speed bumps; not to mention the full on crash in Quito, altercation with a truck in Lima and the list goes on. Nevertheless she still drove wonderfully after getting back to the UK. However, it was clear to us that we would have to put in some serious time and money to replace the parts that had been fixed in a hurry on the trip. We were getting lots of enquiries to show and tell the car and story, so it was imperative to make sure she looked the part! So that is what we have been doing over the last few weeks and she is now looking nearly good as new although we have left some of the tell-tale scars to prove what she has been through!

The SRZero is now on her way to a large, 9 day exhibition in Hanover, Germany called the “Ideas Exposition”. It’s all about getting young people enthused about Science and Technology and showing them what is possible with it. As you no doubt know this fits in perfectly with our ideals: Sustainability, Education and Adventure. It will be a pleasure to show people what we have achieved and share some exciting stories from our own adventure!

So if you are around in the vicinity of North Germany, please come along to the “IdeenExpo” (www.ideenexpo.de). It starts 25^th August and is on for 9 days until 4^th September. Entry is free, so there can be no excuses!

If this was safely completed, we would then need to traverse over 100km of unpaved, gravel roads, and if the car survived this, we would reenter Argentina, and drive 80km into Rio Grande. Could this all be completed in one day though, and would the SRZero be able to survive the inhospitable roads of the Land of Fire? Or, would we end up stranded with a broken car in one of the world’s most isolated locations? There was only one way to find out…

As the team were sleeping over in the Sanchez family farmhouse some 150km away from Rio Gallegos which is where the car was being held, we had to get up very early to ensure we could drive back to the city, pick up the car, and make our way south before it got too late. So, at 5.30am, the team was up and getting ready, and after a quick breakfast of coffee and bread with Gonzalo, we said our goodbyes and thank you’s, and headed off east into the rising sun.

At 8am we arrived at the race track to pick up the car and to meet with Chris and Cynthia. They had been up until 4am that morning getting the bike fixed, and how they had managed to succeed and be at the rendezvous on time and awake is a real testament to their resolve to see the trip through. We thank them for this because without them, Claudio would be unable to capture some of the incredible shots that he does.

With everyone assembled, we started the day’s drive, and I don’t mind admitting that I was feeling pretty nervous. I had a feeling that something bad was going to happen today; there was just so much that could go wrong what with the crossing of 4 border posts, a ferry across very turbulent waters, and a huge length of gravel road which we had been told would be uncrossable with the SRZero.

With the finish line so near, and all that we have worked for over nearly 2 years in the balance, there was so much to lose. We could afford no slip ups or mistakes. There was no safety net, and there were no second chances. Today required the utmost concentration and dedication from everybody. Despite all this, we were ready, we were focussed, and we were determined.

The first 60km to the Chilean border was quick and smooth, and there was nothing much to report here. However, despite being told that the border crossings down here should be fast and easy, we quickly found ourselves sorely disappointed. Huge queues to get our passports and paperwork stamped awaited us, and there was nothing we could do other than stand in line and twiddle our thumbs. With every second counting to ensure that we were not driving those gravel roads in the dark, this was not the best start to the day!

Finally we made it to the desk where a bunch of what looked like fresh new recruits where messing around and trying to flex their newly acquired power. For some reason, it took nearly an hour to certify that we, and the vehicles we were travelling in, were leaving the country despite this only requiring one stamp in each of our passports. Fortunately, when it came to dealing the with the vehicle paperwork, we were greeted by a very friendly woman who completed all the paperwork in a matter of seconds. With all the papers signed and stamped, we ran back to the vehicles and again continued south.

Before entering Chile, you have to pass through the Chilean border post, and alongside getting your passport stamped, you also have to reregister the vehicles despite having been in the country just a week earlier! Fortunately, this border post was exceptionally efficient, and we were in and out within about 20 minutes. This enabled us to quickly move on towards the coast and to hopefully be in time for the 1pm ferry.

Arriving at the ferry with 25 minutes to spare, we joined the back of the short queue, and went to pay for our tickets. With this done and a few more minutes to spare, we drove the van back up the road to check some signs that we had seen, but could hardly believe. On both sides of the road, for several kilometres, big red signs warned people not to step off the road and into the fields as there were still active mines peppering the farmland. Apparently this area is still hotly disputed between Chile and Argentina and hence the minefields. We were tempted to throw stones into the field in the attempt to cause some sort of explosion, but we didn’t want to miss the ferry so we headed back!

At 1pm bang on time, the ferry arrived and lowered its ramp to allow the cars and trucks on board. This was not a massive Calais/Dover style operation with harbours, big modern ferries and huge ramps; this was just a normal slipway and a small ferry large enough for perhaps 40 vehicles.

As the SRZero lined up to drive up the ramp and onto the deck, I was not feeling particularly confident. Despite the ferry having its ramp resting on the ground, it was swaying wildly left and right in the fast waters of the Magellan Straits, and how the car was to board mere centimetres above the water and with the ship swaying to and fro was, at the time, a mystery.

However, the captain managed to hold the boat steady just long enough for us to drive up the ramp and onto the ferry, and we all breathed a huge sigh of relief when the SRZero made it safely aboard. The efficient operators of the ship promptly loaded up the rest of the vehicles, and within minutes we set sail. The wind was strong but the waters remained relatively calm as we made our way across the short channel, and within 15 minutes we had reached the other side and unloading could begin.

Getting down the ramp was more of a problem than getting up because the angle was steeper and our long front splitter was grounding out as we tried to get off. However, with the help of the ship’s operators and some handy wooden planks, we got the car off without a scratch! We were all exceptionally chuffed! For some reason, the crossing of the Magellan Straits was a big deal despite its quite small physical stature. This was the point where, nearly 500 years ago, the first sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans was discovered which completely revolutionised world sea trade until the opening of the Panama Canal over 350 years later.

Anyway, with the ferry complete and one less thing to worry about, we preceded towards Cerro Sombrero; the last village before the gravel roads began. We thought it best to eat here as we didn’t know when we would be able to eat again, and after an initial struggle to even find a restaurant in this village of only 900 inhabitants, we found a place to eat. The food took quite a while to arrive and so we ended up leaving somewhat later than anticipated, but by 4.30pm we were driving again, and the surfaced roads had well and truly run out…

We were lucky in some ways as the weather was good and daylight was scheduled to last for another 6 hours, but the roads were not as kind. The gravel was very bumpy in places, and the air was extremely dusty, especially so when some of the heavy trucks rolled past. From the van we could see the SRZero bouncing around, and we were hoping with all our might that we wouldn’t have another shock absorber failure!

Meanwhile, Andy and Toby in the car were just praying that the car (and themselves!) would stay in one piece after hours upon hours of constant battering! For nearly 6 hours we pushed and pushed, constantly staring at the odometer to see how much torture we still had left to endure. Each of us had driven gravel roads before, but nothing anywhere near as long as we had today. Each of us knew how tiring it is, and as time ticked on we were becoming more and more impressed with the way Andy manoeuvred the SRZero along the best possible line on the road without making any mistakes. Here is a fantastic reason as to why the word “Endurance” is etched into our name and ethos!

Before the gravel road ended, we had to exit Chile and we were keen to make this a fast process. Fortunately, the guards took great interest in the car, and when it came to sorting out all our paperwork, they sped it through and we were on our way very quickly. However, by now the sun was getting very low in the sky, and long shadows were being cast over the road making it very difficult to spot bumps and potholes. These last 14km were probably amongst our slowest, and we were pushing it as fast as we could to ensure that we were off the road before nightfall.

Finally, we could see the lights from the the Argentine border post twinkling in the distance, and this signified the end of the gravel road. Before long we had made it, and for the first time in 6 hours, the SRZero felt smooth tarmac under its wheels! We were absolutely delighted; the car had conquered the most challenging road yet without missing a step, and Andy had done a fantastic job driving it! Both Andy and Toby jumped out of the car and collapsed onto the road, stroking and kissing it with joy! The pictures and videos will not show how tough and draining this road was for the SRZero and her occupants, but take it from me, it was a massive achievement and the boys deserve every credit for sticking it through nonstop and without a word of complaint!

Fortunately, to help with our progress, the Argentine border guards were quick to help with the paperwork, and again, we were through the border without much hassle; 3 quick borders out of 4 in a day is not bad going! Next to the last 100km, the following 80km, which were on perfectly smooth road, are literally not worth talking about, and despite the night driving which is always slower than driving during the day, we arrived in Rio Grande just 1 hour later.

We were now just 210km away from Ushuaia, the object of our dreams for so so long! Despite being on the road for 17 hours in total, we were pumped with energy and so excited to be here! The feeling was fantastic! What was not so fantastic however, was the hotel we had booked; it turned out to be dingy and pretty unsafe-looking. We were not about to keep the precious little SRZero and our van full of equipment in such a place, so we made our way to the best looking hotel we could find, strolled in, and made a deal.

We managed to get 50% of the cost of our rooms which brought it well within our budget, and given the quality of the hotel and rooms, this was an absolute steal! It reminded us of Las Vegas where we did something very similar. So, after checking in and having a quick shower, we met back downstairs for some food and a very excited chat over how well the day had gone.

After dinner, which finished at 2am, we were all utterly exhausted! The day had been tough on so many levels, and the team and car had come through absolutely fantastically. Despite some high stress situations, we worked as a team through it all, and that’s the main reason why we now find ourselves here at the bottom of the world with just 210km to the finish line! I am very proud of the team as well as Claudio, Paul, Chris and Cynthia who have also pushed themselves to the limit in order to get here…well done guys; just one last stretch to go!

All this being said, we are not celebrating yet. There is still one last drive where anything can happen, and all our focus and attention is on that. For Sunday and Monday we will be staying in Rio Grande organising the last few things in Ushuaia as well as a lot of things to come afterwards; the work isn’t over yet. As such, the next blog post you read will hopefully be once we’ve reached Ushuaia…please keep your fingers crossed!

As can be expected now, the team was up at 6am and before long the van was packed, we bolted down a quick breakfast, and headed over to the cultural museum where the car was waiting to be picked up. From here we rejoined the main road and continued south east for 150km until reaching Comodorro. An interesting point arises from this actually; remember the range issue I was talking about a few weeks ago, and how the starting temperature of the car drastically effects how the first 15% of energy is used?

Well, here we had a perfect test because for the first time in a long time, the car was charged overnight inside a warm building, and not outside in the freezing cold. As such, the theory should predict that the car has a normal energy consumption straight from the word go, and fortunately, this is exactly what we experienced. As such, for the 150km to Comodoro, we only used 25% of the battery pack and so our intermediate charging time was subsequently less than it would have been. This proved our theory to be correct.

However, we were in a rush to charge up and get back on the road if we were to get to San Julian on time, so every minute counted. Upon reaching the outskirts of Comodoro, we realised that we would waste a huge amount of time driving into the city to our prearranged charging point, so we were keen to come up with a new plan.

Looking back to our previous experiences for inspiration, we remembered that we had a very successful intermediate charge at a Toyota garage on our journey between Quito and Machala. Coincidentally, as we were discussing this, we found ourselves driving past a whole row of car dealerships. This was a chance to charge up quickly without having to get into the city centre, but also a time gamble because if we did not succeed in securing a charging spot we would end up wasting our time.

The nearest dealership was a Mercedes Benz one, so the convoy pulled off the main road and came to a halt outside the smart building. Toby and I strolled inside and managed to convince a manager to come out and take a look at the car. They immediately agreed to help, and within minutes we had located a suitable charging spot, and the car was inside the garage sucking up billions upon trillions of tiny electrons! Actually, just to clarify, no electrons are sucked up from anywhere; the energy from them is merely used to reverse the chemical reaction in the batteries to restore the chemical potential, and the electrons are returned to the grid.

Anyway, seeing as the car was now charging for a couple of hours, we had some time to do something extremely crucial; fix the broken shock absorbers. We needed to be 100% sure that even if we had another shock absorber failure in the next 1,200km, we would be able to keep on moving, and seeing as we had now used up all our spares and there was no chance of getting new ones, fixing the broken ones was our best alternative. We had done this before in Texas and Mexico to great success, so we were inclined to do it again.

So, while Nik, Toby and Sebastian went to a workshop with Gustavo from Mercedes, Andy, Claudio and I showed some of the Mercedes staff some videos and photos from the project; they loved it and we quickly became amigos! After the shock absorbers had been fixed we went to a local restaurant for a lunch of meat, meat and more meat, and after this, we went back to the dealership. Before we took the car off charge, we quickly replaced the front shock absorber which hadn’t broken as we suspected that it was near to failure too.

With this done, we took the car off charge and after thanking the Mercedes staff profusely, we rejoined the main road and begun the 440km leg south to San Julian. Contrary to previous advice, the road was actually very bad to begin with and we had serious concerns about making our destination before midnight! However, the road soon improved to a very good standard, and we were able to pick up the speed.

Stopping only once for a quick bite to eat, we pushed on through the wilderness. The isolation was incredible; rarely did you see another car, and a huge variety of wildlife including llamas, ostriches, sheep, snakes, and a large cat even (we suspect a puma) roamed the wide, flat spaces which spread far into the horizon. The vegetation seemed to be just more than a desert with no trees at all, but a constant amount of low level grasses and bushes. It was simple, and it was beautiful.

As the sun set to our right, and darkness encroached upon the southern Argentinian plains, you couldn’t help but feel that we were approaching the end of the world. The sky seemed bigger, the clouds different somehow, and it felt like you might just fall off the edge of the world upon reaching the horizon!

Just after nightfall, we arrived in the small town of Puerto San Julian, and we quickly located the hotel where we were to stay. While Toby and Sebastian took the car to a local garage to charge, the rest of us unpacked the van, and after a bit of work, we headed straight to bed!

Just 2 days awaited us now until Ushuaia, and we were buzzing with excitement after such a successful day’s drive!

However, not a bunch of people to shy away from challenges, the entire team was up, packed, and ready to go at 6am despite the dark and cold conditions. Nonetheless, we were all yearning to hit road again, and with the van packed and just about to leave the car park, Andy and I jumped into the SRZero in order to follow. But this is where the day’s plan first began to unravel; the car would not start!

The standard procedure in such scenarios is to call Toby, who promptly emerged from the van with the laptop and Ethernet cable to allow him to connect to the car’s inboard computer and diagnose the problem. However, this didn’t seem to help either; the car remained lifeless, and the only thing he could glean from the diagnosis was a very strange error code concerning the way in which the computer handles its database. With none of us having the slightest clue as to how to fix this problem, we had only one option available; call for help!

Now, who do you call at 7 in the morning in order to help you fix a problem with a CompactRio controller? The answer is National Instruments, one of our most dedicated sponsors, who immediately responded to our call and went away to search their database to see if anyone had experienced a similar problem and the method they used to fix it. They had promised to call us back with an answer asap, so in the meantime we went and stood outside the cafe I mentioned yesterday, and pleaded with the cleaner to let us into the warm and comfortable interior!

Fortunately, our luck with National Instruments was better than with the cleaner (she wouldn’t let us in!) as they called us back very quickly indeed. They suggested that Toby do a complicated reintroduction of the database, and that this should work with luck. What this actually means, I don’t know, and if you have a burning curiosity to find out, I suggest you email Toby! But after completing the steps they mentioned, we were able to start the car as normal, and this was a big relief! Visions had been running through our head of being stranded and having to ship in our spare cRIO which is currently in Belgium…this would have delayed us for weeks!

Having now been delayed by an hour and a half, we thought we may as well have breakfast now, so we headed back to the cafe, indulged in coffee, waffles, and ham and cheese sandwiches, and headed off back into the Pampas. Despite the delay of around 2 hours, we were far from worried; the weather was absolutely perfect with not a cloud in the sky, and we had plenty of time to reach Sarmiento, charge, and carry on to Comodoro. In fact, the only slight worry was the remoteness of the journey; we were completing a 250km stretch of road without even a fuel station existing, so we had to stock up on jerry cans for the motorbike which has quite a limited range.

The drive began very smoothly with fantastic roads and spectacular scenery, and we were making excellent progress. However, for the second time in one day, we had something delay us and on this occasion the outcome could have been far more serious. I was driving with Andy at the time, and all of a sudden, I observed a large fracture in the road ahead, and I took action to prevent any damage this may cause to the car. Very smoothly, I applied a little bit of braking, and moved over to the right to avoid the obstacle…

Suddenly, just after passing the obstacle, the front of the car spun to the left, quickly followed by the back, which caused the car to end up going backwards off the road! Despite how surprising this was, instinct took hold, and I firmly pumped the breaks to slow the car, and managed the steering wheel to stop any further spinning. Fortunately, the car came safely to a stop on a slight slope of soft soil on the side of the road, and both myself and Andy were completely unharmed. I had no idea how this could have happened, especially as we were only travelling at around 35-40mph when the spin occurred, but the priority was to check that everything was still working, and to get the car driving again.

When I was in the car during the event I actually felt very calm, and it was only upon exiting the vehicle that I realised I was in shock somewhat as my legs were shaking! However, everyone was safe, the car wasn’t smashed (as it could have been if it had gone much further) so I put my thoughts to one side and, alongside the team who came rushing out the van to see what had happened, worked out a plan to get the car driving again.

The first priority was to get the car out of the soft soil, so we hooked up a tow rope between the front of the car and the van, and we hauled it back onto the hard shoulder. It was exceptionally fortunate that there was no traffic as this would have made the situation somewhat more precarious, but with the car back on a flat surface, we could assess the damage.

Firstly, we hooked up the laptop to run a diagnostic on the electronic systems, and we were pleased to see that everything worked perfectly normally, which is what we were expecting given the very soft stop. Next up we removed the front and rear body work, and we discovered that both the front and rear right shock absorbers had failed. This was hardly surprising given that it was about time for them to fail by our calculations, but what was surprising is the effect it had on the car; on both previous failures the car had continued driving perfectly straight.

Further inspection of the car revealed no other damage, so we got out our spare shock absorbers, and replaced the broken ones. Interestingly, they had failed in the exact same place and manner as the previous 2, so clearly there is a design flaw here which needs to be addressed by the manufacturer. With the suspension fixed again, we checked the alignment and ride height setup of the car, and did a few test runs up and down the road to see how it handled. The car felt completely back to it’s normal self, so we pointed our wheels in the right direction, and headed off!

The team had done a fantastic job in working together to get the car driving again, and our spirits had not been dampened. The whole experience had served to remind us of the dangers of driving in general, and we remained resolved to continue to drive carefully and to keep our focus up until the finish. It should be noted that we do actually drive very safely on the road at all times, and aside from this occasion and the light brush with the truck in Lima, both of which were not driver errors, we have had an incident free traversing of the Pan-American Highway…may it continue all the way to the end!

The delay did mean that we would not have enough time to have a top up charge in Sarmiento and then make Comodoro in good time, so we set a steady pace to Sarmiento without the added pressure of needing to get there faster. This turned out to be to our benefit as the road condition deteriorated rapidly, and our average speed was drastically reduced. Nonetheless, we avoided any big impacts, and arrived in the small town of Sarmiento with the strong evening sun on our faces.

Awaiting for us as we entered the town was a huge group of people eagerly anticipating the car’s arrival. This was organised by the town’s tourist office as this was the first electric car ever to pass through, and their keenness to see what it was all about was palpable! Interestingly, we came to a stop right by a monument of 2 horses which commemorated a Swiss man riding these horses all the way from Buenos Aires up to New York between 1925 and 1928; now this was a true adventure!

Anyway, as always, the car had to be attended to, so we were shown to our charging location which, amazingly, was inside the town’s cultural museum. This was a perfect place to charge, and the town had kindly organised for a guard to be stationed by the car overnight to ensure everything was alright. With this done, the tourist office was very keen to show us to their pride and joy; a park filled with life-sized dinosaur replicas! Apparently this area is famous for dinosaur fossils, and it does not take a big stretch to imagine these ancient creatures roaming the Argentinian plains.

This was very enjoyable, but before long we were in desperate need of food given our quite vigorous day, and so we were shown to a local steakhouse where we enjoyed a delicious grill of mixed meats. After this, we headed back to the hotel for a few hours of sleep before the next day which also required another early start!

Despite the topsy turvy nature of the day, the team was so excited! We only had 4 days left of driving until we reached Ushuaia, and we were more focussed than ever! We had had a close shave today, but everyone was still safe, the car was driving perfectly again, and the dream was still very much alive!

Today was set to be a long drive of 300 miles, and while this should be within our range, our recent observations seemed to suggest otherwise, so we opted for a short intermediate charge in Moquegue, around 150km north of Tacna. Talking of the range problem, we do now have a theory which seems to fit all of our data, although it is not a certainty yet so please bear with me if it changes upon further investigation!

Essentially, we have noticed a range decrease since Quito amounting to somewhere around 10%. After looking at how the state of charge (SoC) decreases, which is akin to looking how the petrol needle in your car goes down as you drive, we have noticed that the fastest drop occurs in the first 15% of the battery life. So, upon leaving a destination, the SoC plummets rapidly to around 85%, and thereafter steadies out to a normal rate of decrease. In those first 15%, our projected range can be as low as 300km after which it steadies out to around 450km, still 50km short of our normal range under good driving conditions. So, what could be causing such behaviour?

The first thing that would affect our overall range is driving style and terrain. In North America, the roads were typically very gentle and well paved, and we could pretty much cruise at 60mph for hours on end without stopping. In addition, we were very carefully watching our speed, not just for energy reasons, but also to avoid being pulled over by the strict American and Canadian police!

In contrast, our driving since Quito has been on very mountainous terrain and as the roads have been generally good (and the policing is lax on occasion), we have taken to driving and accelerating a little faster than before! Why did we not notice this in Central America though? This can be attributed to much lower average driving speeds due to the rain, potholed roads, and of course the fact that we were doing shorter legs typically so we were never concerned about our range.

However, while this may make a difference, it doesn’t explain why the first 15% drops so rapidly or why it’s got apparently worse since Quito. We have looked at all the log files of previous data, but these are inconclusive as you can never have 2 identical drives without driving the same road, so a direct comparison is actually very difficult. Furthermore, we have stripped the car down to its bare components and we can find absolutely nothing which could cause such behaviour, so what could be happening at the beginning of all these drives?

To answer this, you need to really look at the fundamentals of what we are doing each day, and what environment we are in. You also need to know a little about how batteries work, so let’s start from the beginning! Essentially, batteries store energy as a chemical potential, and when a current is requested from the battery, the molecules inside undergo a chemical reaction which releases energy in the form of electricity.

Because all batteries have an internal resistance, as current flows through the cells, a very small but not insignificant amount of energy is converted into heat. Another crucial point to note is that this chemical reaction is greatly affected by temperature; it’s slow at low temperatures, and faster at high temperatures. This means that when your batteries are cold, the internal resistance is higher which means to get the same power out of your batteries, you draw a higher current due to the higher internal resistance, and so you suck more power. This is why in cold conditions, your petrol car has difficulty starting because the battery inside just does not have enough power to crank the engine. If you have an electric car, then this is why you see a range reduction during cold weather. So far so good I hope!

Now, up until Quito, we have been charging the car in fairly warm conditions outside, or in a garage. However, in Quito, the nights get cold, as is also the case in the deserts which we have been passing through since Quito. Our suspicion is that, even though the batteries are charging overnight which releases small amounts of heat, albeit very minimal, they are actually getting colder than at any other point we have experienced.

Following this train of thought, we always leave early in the morning before the weather has really warmed up enough to warm the batteries, and our driving first thing in the morning is fairly stop/start as we get out of the city, and this is typically a big drain on the batteries even under normal conditions. However, as we drive, the batteries warm themselves up to a stable temperature and the range begins to improve.

So, there you have, in short, the RGE theory on why we were seeing a range decrease! In tomorrow’s blog I will explain a little more how we demonstrated that this was the case by doing a drive which exhibited an even better than normal range, but for now, back to today!

The drive was on perfect roads with spectacular weather, and breathtaking scenery. Really very similar to all our other driving in Peru; while all this coastal desert is much the same, it’s incredibly beautiful and I would recommend doing a drive in this part of the world if you can! However, the first 300km to Moquegue was very uneventful apart from an impromptu stop in the desert.

Why did we stop in the desert? Well, running parallel alongside the road, around 200m away, was a row of electricity pylons stretching off into the distance. We noticed that they didn’t have any cables running between them and were safe enough to climb. “Easy”, we thought, “they don’t look so big; let’s climb them!” so, after stopping on the side of the deserted road (no pun intended) we walked over to them, anticipating a great view a great view from the top.

However, reaching their base we realised that they were a lot taller than we had thought from the road, and a lot harder to climb! However, not to back out from a challenge, we did climb up a little bit; perhaps 10 metres or so, but that was enough for us! We quickly shimmied down, ran back to the car, and carried on with what we are good at; driving!

About 20km from the failed pylon attempt, we arrived in the surprisingly green town of Moquegue. We had a contact here from Salvador who had offered us a place to charge the car for an hour or so, but as it turned out, we couldn’t get hold of him! So, we had to make an impromptu decision as to where to charge.

The answer came as we were driving into town in the form of a big box, marked with a lightening bolt and a man being electrocuted, that was on the wall of a petrol station! For good reason, we are taught as kids to not go anywhere near these high voltage electricity boxes, however, for us these little boxes are sources of sweet electric nectar! If you know how to do it safely, which we do, you can draw lots of power to charge your car from these boxes, so we drove into the petrol station to see what we could organise.

The petrol station attendant, replete in grubby baseball cap and greasy overall was a little bewildered! The first source of confusion was why a car like the SRZero was in a place like Moquegue, and the second source of consternation was why on earth a car would need to plug into an electricity supply! So we explained to him that the car was electric and all the other missing pieces of the puzzle, and very quickly he was inviting us to plug in at our leisure!

As it so happened, we only needed a short charge, so while the car was drinking its juice, we were eating some rather bland local takeaway while sitting on the petrol forecourt. Whoever thought that RGE was all about fast cars and luxury, think again! We are just as happy sitting and eating on the floor of a petrol station which smells of manure as we are eating canapes in the home if the British Ambassador!

Anyway, with us having finished our food, we took the car off charge and headed back on our journey. The drive into Tacna went very quickly as we drove fairly fast into the slowly fading daylight. We arrived at a very reasonable time, and we were soon able to call our contact here to give us directions to his hotel.

But for the second time in one day, and only the third on the entire trip, our contact was unreachable. However, with Peru running off the higher power 220 volt electricity standard, finding a suitable place to charge, unlike the northern part of our trip, is actually very easy. So, all we did was follow a cab to an alright looking hotel, book some cheap rooms, and ask the manager if we could charge the car. They were more than happy to help, even giving us a discount on our rooms, and before long the car was charging once more! As it turned out, we didn’t actually need the intermediate charge as we had enough energy to travel the entire distance, which was a good thing as it further reenforced our suspicion that there is in fact nothing wrong with the car!

As is usual nowadays, we were fairly exhausted after dinner, and it was around 9.30pm that consciousness slipped away! That being said, we were looking forward to our early start and our entry into Chile the following day…the penultimate country of the RGE adventure!

Unfortunately, there is very little for me to report from today aside from the road turning a little sour for a small section of the drive, but other than this, it was as smooth as we have begun to expect from Peruvian roads. The barren desert continued, however today the scenery did feel that little bit more spectacular as we wound our way up and down mountains right along the ocean.

At almost all times we were in view of the sea and the huge Pacific waves which were crashing onto the shore. The air was fresh and salty, and it truly was a great drive. One thing of note though were some of the road signs; every so often there is a sign warning you of a foggy or sandy patch. The interesting thing was how accurate these signs were because literally at the point they were situated, either the sky would turn cloudy or you would begin to get sandblasted as the wind picked up the sand and blew it across the road. This is a testament to how stable and predictable the weather here is!

As usual, aside from the odd camera shot and lunch, we didn’t stop until we reached our hotel in Camana. Once again, the car was quickly put on charge (we are getting very good at this by now!) and we were able to make it out to dinner and back in time to get a very good night’s sleep!

Despite the relatively short drive we had planned today, only around 300km, we had a lot to fit in what with a visit to the University of Lima and a trip to Salvador and Fernando’s race track. So, after our alarms ringing at the hideous time of 6.30am, we arrived at the university at 7.45am with the aim of giving a presentation and mixing with the students before leaving at 9am sharp.

Despite the very late night and early start, we were all feeling great, and Toby managed to deliver a very impressive presentation completely in Spanish. We had time for a few questions afterwards, but with our deadline rapidly approaching, we thanked the university for hosting us, and we headed on our way. Our impression of the university was excellent; they had clearly invested a huge amount in their buildings and infrastructure which again, like we saw in Medellin, just serves to show how up and coming Latin America is.

The 50km drive out of Lima south to the race track was quick and easy, and before long we were back out into the wide open desert landscapes we had begun to know and love. A sharp turn off the Pan-American Highway followed by a short stretch of dirt road brought us onto the smooth, pitch black tarmac of the race circuit. It was in quite spectacular surroundings with reddish mountains on one side, and a small airfield on the other with planes flying overhead coming in to land…quite dramatic!

Initially we had planned to do some testing on the track to see if our changes to the wheel alignment had made a difference to our range, however, upon driving the circuit we realised that it was not going to be representative of the typical driving that we do and so would not give us accurate results. As such, we decided to enjoy our visit by taking Fernando, Salvador and some others for gentle laps of the track, followed by some pictures for the press that were there as well…we would save the testing for the road.

We spent around 2 hours at the track before getting back on the road with the warm desert sun on our backs. Aside from a small break for lunch at around 3, we powered on towards Ica where we arrived at around 6pm. Here we were welcomed by Giofranco who works at Revistar, a vehicle testing centre so new it had yet to be inaugurated. The facility was absolutely first class with top of the range equipment, and we were warmly welcomed and told we could charge here and conduct any work we may need to do on the car.

It had in fact transpired that the wheel alignment was not making any difference to our range whatsoever, and that there must be something else at fault. Our next suspicion was that perhaps a component had malfunctioned giving a higher electrical resistance than normal and thereby giving rise to higher currents and higher losses to deliver the same power as before. This would follow what’s called a square law whereby if one doubles the current drawn, you quadruple the energy losses, and this would be roughly consistent with our findings whereby under normal low power cruising conditions, our range is normal, but even marginal amounts of acceleration served to reduce our range noticably.. And so, we set to work on the car to try and find the solution.

Work lasted late into the night in our bid to reinstall part of the BMS which was removed in Cartagena which would enable us to isolate the problem. As is typical, we saw other things on the car which could be improved as well, and these were addressed too. But by 11.30pm we were absolutely exhausted and it was getting to the point where accidents could happen while being so tired around a live 550V battery pack! As such, we called it a night, put the car on charge, and headed to the hotel for some sleep before continuing the following day!

The first priority was to fix the bodywork which was damaged in the crash during our drive into Lima the night before. Through one of Salvador’s contacts, we had located a fibreglass guy, and through Giovanna, the marketing director at KPMG, we had got hold of a painter that could restore the surface of the bodywork to its formerly smooth and unblemished finish.

At 8am, Toby met the fibreglasser in the underground garage at KPMG, and within an hour the bodywork had been fully repaired to its former strength, and the surface sanded down to a smooth finish. Later on in the day the painter arrived, and after combining together the right proportions of white and silver paint, applied an even finish to the repair job. The rest of the morning was spent doing the “behind the scenes stuff” like emails, website updating, blogs etc until we went over to KPMG for the afternoon to prepare for the press day starting the following morning.

While myself and Clemens were meeting with KPMG to work out the precise details about who will be doing what and saying what during the press day, Nik and Toby were downstairs playing with the wheel alignment configuration to see if this would affect the reduced range we have been seeing. Through our observation of data collected while driving over the preceding days, we had eliminated the possibility of the range reduction having anything to do with altered aerodynamics. This was initially suggested because the repaired front splitter dips slightly on the left, it’s thicker than its predecessor, and is traditionally a large source of drag (purposefully) on race cars.

We suspected that after the wheel realignment in Quito, which was done to mimic the normal race car set up, that the wheels were toed inwards too much. As such, we toed them out to as straight as they would go, and also looked at other potential factors such as tyre tread and alignment of break callipers. However, we would have to wait until Thursday, when we were due to drive out of Lima, before we could test the changes.

The next challenge of the day was to move the car into the KPMG lobby so that it could be displayed during the press event. This entailed getting it up 2 small steps and then one big flight of steps around 1.3 metres high. To this end, KPMG had organised for a flat bed truck to come which, apparently, would be able to safely deliver the SRZero into the lobby.

However, we took one look at the truck when it arrived and we had serious doubts whether it would be able to live up to the expectation. We told the driver this, but he said that he had come on Friday to check that it was possible, that he has done this before, and that it wouldn’t be a problem. We were not instilled with the greatest of confidence, and our concerns were further enforced when we measured the stairs and the truck with a tape measure…it just wasn’t going to happen!

Yet the driver still insisted he could do it, and that we must just load up the SRZero and get on with it. Naturally, we were not prepared to risk the car on something we were sure would not work, and so we told him to do a dry run and show us that the truck could bridge the stairs, but without the SRZero on board.

He begrudgingly agreed and so we headed over to do just that. I can condense the following 2 hours into a single sentence; it didn’t work, not by a mile! Firstly, the bed would not extend far enough back or high enough to bridge the stairs, so then he tried reversing the truck onto unstable little pieces of wood to try and make up for the short fall. While doing so, one of his hydraulic actuators, which he had been fiddling with earlier, starting spewing out hydraulic oil all over the smart entrance of the KPMG tower; they were less than amused!

Yet he still didn’t give up, and it was only on another reversing attempt when he went too far and took chunks out of the stone staircase that KPMG finally intervened and told the guy to go home. It was a shame it had to happen like this, but infinitely preferable than doing it with the 1.2 ton SRZero mounted on top of it! And besides, our back up plan to have it just in front of the steps (but still off the pavement) was perfectly good as well, so on this note, we finished the day and returned to the hotel for a quick shower before dinner.

We were due to meet Fernando for dinner, and he had promised us to take us to some sushi which was supposed to be unmatched. Given our previous experience with Peruvian seafood, we certainly had high expectations, and we arrived with our appetites fully whetted! Sharing a large assortment of different dishes, we had an extensive taste of what the restaurant was capable of, and the verdict was unanimous incredulity! Quite unlike normal sushi, these delicious morsels were infused with ingredients not normally found in Japanese cuisine, such as parmesan for example, and the result was truly exquisite!

After dinner, Fernando took us for a quick tour of the city, and contrary to what we had heard about Lima being a grey and ugly city, we were very pleasantly surprised. Sure, there are large areas of the city which are somewhat less than attractive, but the area along the coast and parts of the old city further inland were very beautiful indeed.

With the tour complete, Fernando dropped us off at our hotel where we all took an early night. Many thanks to Fernando for showing us a great time, and to the flatbed truck driver; sorry my friend, better luck next time!

The next day was the standard press day affair; long, tiring but always enjoyable! We had 2 presentations to give; one to the press, and the other to KPMG staff. These presentations were separated by viewing time of the car when anybody could come along, meet the team, ask questions, and take pictures with the car. This continued uninterrupted apart from lunch where we were treated to a delicious meal by the British Embassy.

This provided for an extremely interesting time as we quizzed the Deputy Head of Mission about some of the things which, with our prior involvement with the embassies along the way, we had been thinking about. What travels in the diplomatic bag? How are communications with the UK conducted in a secure manner? Do their mobiles have secret encryptions to prevent people from tapping their calls? Do they ever get MI6 agents stopping by?!

There were things which he couldn’t divulge of course, but he gave us the general gist in most cases and it certainly is fascinating area of the civil service! Peru isn’t exactly a hotbed of secret diplomatic activity though, at least as far as the UK is concerned, so the embassy here is more focussed on enhancing ties between the 2 countries through trade and investment.

After returning to the KPMG building and finishing with the press day, we had to move the car over to the university where we would be giving a quick presentation early the following morning. To ensure the car was not going to be damaged in the apocalyptic Lima traffic, we surrounded the SRZero in a convoy totalling 5 vehicles including one police motorbike. Progress was fairly slow; it took about half an hour to complete 7km, but we made it there safely at least! We drove it into the large and incredibly impressive university campus (La Universidad de Lima), and parked it up ready for the next morning.

From here, we had just one more engagement for the day; eating! KPMG took us out to a smart restaurant right on the beach, and ordered for the whole table round after round of delicious sushi. Yes we had had some the night before, but this was just as good! The atmosphere was really enjoyable as 5 of us and around 15 KPMG staff chatted away. We also had the opportunity to try something very interesting; un pisco de coca. Pisco is an alcohol made from grape which is mixed into a drink traditionally known as pisco sour. Containing lime, sugar and egg white, it is a potent but delicious concoction which we had the pleasure of trying over previous days. However, on this occasion, the restaurant had on offer the aforementioned variation which was flavoured with coca leaves!

In Peru, coca leaves are completely legal and are predominantly used in tea and for chewing. Apparently this releases a chemical (not cocaine!) which acts as a stimulant in much the same way as caffeine. This effect was not noticed in the pisco de coca, which tasted much like alcoholic green tea, but it certainly provided for a delicious flavour!

After dinner, we went out to a party with some of the girls from KPMG which Fernando had invited us to, and this concluded a long but very enjoyable day! Many thanks to KPMG for hosting us in such style, including our hotel which was fantastic, and for allowing us to use their garage as an impromptu workshop!

The drive back onto the Pan-American Highway passed through a small section of the city, but before long we were speeding south once more. Again, the smooth roads and beautiful scenery continued and we began making very good progress towards the capital city of Peru and 4th largest city in Latin America; Lima!

Aside from a stop for breakfast 50km into the journey, we drove uninterrupted for several hours. The next stop was completely unscheduled and came as we were driving alongside the coast. From the road, mountains stretched off into the distance on our left, but on our right, pristine sand dunes abounded for a few hundred metres until the desert turned to beach. The sun was out, it wasn’t cold (as it frequently is in this desert strangely enough) and the road was deserted. So, leaving our hazards flashing we all threw off our shoes, rolled up our trousers, and ran towards the ocean!

Running on sand dunes is actually a lot harder than it looks because the consistency of the sand changes which means there was a lot of falling over as we pelted towards the glistening sea. We had extra impetus to run there as the sand was scorching and was actually burning the soles of our feet!

Completely breathless, we arrived on the most spectacular and untouched beach imaginable. Never had any of us seen a coastline so untouched, and we spent some time just admiring our surroundings. It was an impromptu halt to the driving, but nonetheless an incredibly enjoyable one despite wasting an hour of daylight driving! Discipline won though, so we returned to the vehicles and set course once again for Lima.

After a few more miles we had our first encounter with a blemished road. There were some stretches of a few kilometres each which were being retarred, so they had made a rocky, unsurfaced diversion through the desert which was very SRZero unfriendly! However, upon seeing the SRZero, the boss a.k.a. jefe of the construction site wrote us out a note telling us we could pass through the cordoned off section of road without hindrance. So, while the rest of the traffic took the slow and bumpy diversion, we sped across the freshest tarmac imaginable with the entire road to ourselves; nice!

At the end of the new stretch of road, there was a manned barrier, and the guard there thought that we shouldn’t be there. However, after waving the aforementioned note from the jefe, they were more than happy to let us continue on our way. We came across a few more road works until we came to the end where we were actually driving behind the machines which flatten the tarmac and make it so smooth! Literally, we could not be driving on newer road! But suddenly, one of these monster flattening machine stopped and started reversing straight into the path of the SRZero! There was perhaps 4 metres to spare…

The look on Toby’s face was one of pure horror, and he had not reacted fast enough to start reversing. The flattener was approaching rapidly, and all the rest of us could do in the van was shout, point and honk the horn like crazy! This apelike behaviour clearly worked because the flattener driver looked over and immediately stopped the vehicle mere metres from the SRZero! Luckily no harm was done, and we were able to continue on our way for some miles until the next holdup.

The next delay took the form of a police stop. We have had many of these by now, this one being our 34th I believe, so we were completely nonplussed when the policeman signalled for us to pull over. Normally, the police take a cursory glance at our paperwork, stand and admire the SRZero for a few minutes, and then wave us on our way without any problems. But this guy was different; he wasn’t interested in the SRZero.

He took a look at our paperwork, and when he couldn’t find anything wrong with that, he started walking around the van trying to find something amiss. The translated conversation went something as follows:

Police: “You have tinted windows.”
Toby: “Yes we do.”
Police: “That’s illegal. I’m going to have to fine you. Give me 50 soles ($18)”.
Toby: “But that bus over there has tinted windows.”
The policeman looks over at the bus and mumbles something incoherently before continuing to walk around the car desperately thinking of something to fine us for.
Police: “You were driving the car without a helmet.”
Toby: “So?”
Police: “That’s illegal. I will fine you 50 soles.”

As you can see from the above transcription, he was clearly trying to hassle us into bribing him because we knew that driving the SRZero without a helmet is perfectly legal. We also knew that unless we didn’t pay him, he would hold us up there for hours and cause far more trouble than it’s worth. So we gave him the money, and attempted to get moving again. But now he wanted to chat; “Oh, what’s this car you’re driving here?” he asked, and “Isn’t it pretty!” he explained…

We were pretty annoyed with this whole situation; he managed to rip us off and waste our time. So we came up with a very simple solution; not to stop for the police anymore! Our resolve was tested minutes later when we got waved at by another policeman to come over. However, we just waved back and carried on driving! All they did in retaliation was blow their whistles a bit, but clearly we had worked out the way to save ourselves some time as they clearly weren’t interested in chasing us. Just imagine the drama if you were to try this in the US or Europe…we certainly won’t be exporting this driving style back home!

By this time we were nearing Lima and our rendezvous point with Salvador, our contact here who is very involved in the racing industry. After agreeing a meeting spot, we met up on the outskirts of the city and he escorted us in. For the second day in a row we had arrived at a very reasonable time, something in the region of 7 o’clock, we had covered a long distance today, and we were chuffed with ourselves!

However, our jubilation soon turned to sheer incredulity when we saw the traffic conditions coming into Lima; it was an absolute zoo! People were honking like crazy, swapping lanes without indicating, and generally driving like complete lunatics. This was by far the worst driving and traffic we have ever seen, and I honestly believe that a bunch of drunk chimpanzees could have driven the cars in a more orderly fashion!

However, our convoy techniques were working well in protecting the SRZero, and we slowly inched our way towards the KPMG tower which is where the car would charge overnight. Oops, I spoke too soon…

A crazy truck driver decided to overtake the van which was trailing the SRZero, and then decided to switch lanes, probably with his eyes closed. In doing so, he scraped the rear left edge of the SRZero! We immediately honked the horn into overdrive, and jumped out of the car to stop him doing more damage. We stopped the other vehicles in the convoy, which of course prompted all the cars behind us to go absolutely crazy, and we went to inspect the damage.

Fortunately, the damage was very minimal. Some of the truck’s paint had come off onto the bodywork, and the fibreglass had cracked slightly, but not even all the way through; a very fixable job indeed. In all honesty, we were very glad that this was the only damage because we have seen how quickly and easily this stuff can be repaired, and so we weren’t particularly worried. We did however address the truck driver in fairly strong language as he was completely unwilling to accept any blame despite being entirely in the wrong.

Luck was on our side however because a nearby policeman had seen everything and within moments he was at our side. He ensured that the truck driver cooperated when we asked for his details, and then, when we continued driving, he accompanied us for some distance, fending off unruly cars…very helpful indeed! It turned out to be quite a mixed day regarding our experience with the police!

The rest of the journey, which lasted around half an hour was similarly crazy, but fortunately no more accidents can be reported and we made it safely into the underground parking of KPMG’s office. By this time, Salvador had already called his fibreglass man to come at 8 the next morning to fix the car, and we were ready to hook the car up to charge.

With this done, the normal routine resumed; this being check in at hotel, shower, change, and topped off with some food! This time it wasn’t just any food, it was some very local Peruvian food of which we have heard much about. Myself and Nik tried the guinea pig, or cuy as it’s locally known, and I have to say that it was rather delicious! The others sampled grilled cow’s heart; another local delicacy which was well received! We also tried the local drink called pisco sour which, among other ingredients, has raw egg white in it. I wouldn’t know how to describe it exactly, although it is sour (obviously) and is very strong!

And so that concludes a very exciting day; a lot happening in the last few kilometres before the 20,000km mark! We can’t wait to see what the next 6,000km brings…it feels like we’re almost there!

First up, I went with Fernando to pick up the crash box which we were supposed to have had delivered yesterday. As this is a crucial safety feature of the car, I was very much hoping that the job would have been a good one, but truth be told, I had a few doubts in mind. The job was a tricky one to get right, and I had no idea of what this metal worker was like.

However, upon arriving at the workshop and seeing what he had done, any doubts I may have had were completely and utterly vanquished! Unless you had built a Radical or you were in fact an engineer at Radical, you would be hard pressed to see the difference. The crash box was beautiful extended, and the attention to detail was exceptional, even right down to the rivet pattern which was complex. I gladly handed over the $70 dollars we had agreed upon the day before; it may well have been the best money I have ever spent!

Upon returning to Pro-mecanika, we injected the crash box with a foam to give it extra strength in a crash but without adding significant weight. When this had dried, we were finally able to get moving on the rest of the car. The reason for this bottleneck was because the crash box had to go on before the front splitter and bodywork, and we also had to determine whether it still fitted well.

By now, the splitter and bodywork had been beautifully finished and painted. They were both a work of art and it is nearly impossible to tell the difference between the old and new bodywork. In fact, I suspect that most people will think we have cheated and just ordered in a new piece of bodywork, but we haven’t! Thanks to Victor’s skill along with the dedication of the Pro-mecanika staff, we had all the pieces needed to restore the SRZero.

The rest of the day was spent fitting the bodywork, then unfitting it, then bending a few things, bolting a few things and generally getting everything to fit together in the way it did before. The tow hook was resurrected from the mangled front end of the crash box, lights were fitted into the bodywork, a few mounts and brackets were made, and by 7.30pm the car was ready to drive once again, including a new sticker job for all the logos that got destroyed in the crash. Don’t worry, dear sponsors, your logos are fresh, alive, and well!

The team really put in a great effort today, and we even managed to squeeze in some media interviews as well. Everyone was really pulling their weight, and in just 5 days we had repaired the SRZero after its worst accident to date! However, we could never have done it without the help and support of so many people here in Quito; honestly, it just wouldn’t have happened anywhere near as fast or for so little money. Our total bill for repairing the car was a shade under $1,000, still very expensive, but nothing compared to the $6,000+ we would have had to spend by express shipping in new components. So, all in all, an absolutely cracking effort by absolutely everyone involved!

The number of people who have helped us in Quito is astounding, and to each and every one of you, RGE would like to thank you profusely! Without your help and enthusiasm, we would still have many days to go before being back on the road!