Solar ice cream is finished at the last second

We worked enthusiastically on the senior citizens' vehicles and on the two solar ice vehicles. Half of the team lived in the farmhouse next to our workshop, the other half drove back to Seuzach with me every day and stayed overnight in Tina's and my flat. We worked as much as we could and the solar ice vehicles made progress. Chassis, drivetrain, solar cells, roof, stereo - and how do you build a freezer? I leafed through my physics book and studied the theory of heat transfer. I calculated, laid out the compressor, evaporator, insulation, refrigerant, pump and air circulation, chose the refrigerant and to my amazement and the amazement of the whole team, it all worked very well: we built our own freezers! The days got longer, the nights shorter and the last two nights before delivery we worked all through. I had tried in vain to find an electrical engineer to develop the electric power steering for us. There was a servomotor, a position sensor and a setpoint adjuster. The wiring was already prepared. The regulation and control of the steering motor were still missing and I just couldn't find anyone who could do the job! The last night before delivery came and I had no choice but to sit at the table with a test sprint and some electronic components and build the regulation and the control for the steering motor with as much peace and quiet as possible. After all, I had studied control engineering. So building was my area of expertise and this was my ultimate test! "You can do it, now just calmly and step by step forward". Self-motivation was going to help me succeed. It was a Saturday morning when the two buggies moved for the first time under their own power in the workshop. The steering worked, I was very relieved.
Unfortunately, the entrance to the workshop was about 1.5 m elevated, so the solar ice bar, weighing about 600 kg, had to be moved outside via narrow switchboard boards. Who should do the job? The choice fell on me. I had built the power steering myself and steered model aeroplanes in my youth. My team thought these were good reasons to try the critical drive.
I sat down on the driver's seat, which was shaped like an egg, and carefully manoeuvred the first buggy onto the boards. It came as it had to: I had too little control over the steering and the buggy’s front axle slid out into the open. Hans Ryser intervened courageously and magically managed to secure the heavy buggy and bring it to the ground unharmed. This time we had luck on our side!

Joe and André took over the delivery of the buggy to Zurich, while I just had to sleep in for a long time to recover. We had actually booked a diving course for that day together. However, due to the heavy workload, we could not learn anything and after two all-nighters I didn't feel like a diving lesson. André and Joe left. To their surprise, there was little theory taught. They put on their diving equipment and jumped into Lake Zurich. André and Joe were buddies under water. This dive was still much talked about: André fell asleep under water. Joe had to wake him up several times.

I learned:

• If you don't steer well, you need helpers with strong arms.
• After two all-nighters, a diving course is not much fun.