 |
By Richard King
U.S. Department of Energy |
|
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY, July 7, 2003 - This year's American Solar Challenge again is using historic Route 66 as the racetrack. On Sunday, as many as 30 solar-powered cars designed and built by university students will begin their 2,300 mile journey from Chicago to near Los Angeles.
This year's field of solar-powered racecars looks highly competitive. There is a new twist with the addition of two-person cars for the first time. A two-person car has more weight, but is allowed 50 percent more area for solar cells (12 square meters vs. 8 square meters). Hence, they have more power. But is it enough to power a heavier car to victory? This race will be a test. I can't wait to see what happens. The University of Michigan and Queens University (Canada) both have two-person cars. I also heard that the Solar Jackets from Georgia Tech have a two-person car, but I didn't get to see it today.
This was the first day of scrutineering - checking the solar racecars for safety and conformity to the rules and regulations. We have three days to examine all 30 cars.
 |
| Photo contributed by Richard King |
| Auburn University's American Solar Challenge entry, the Sol of Auburn, is inspected for safety and conformity to race rules during scrutineering at Northwestern University on July 7. |
I worked at the dynamic station today. Here we check steering control by making the cars drive tight figure eights at a brisk speed, and we check braking by making the cars get up to 30 mph and stop within three seconds. We had 12 teams test their cars' capabilities today. But it wasn't easy. This morning, a line of thunderstorms came through at about 9, and we were running the tests in a huge parking lot in the rain! It was very cold with the wind blowing rain. By noon, however, the sun came out and we were sweltering in the heat and humidity.
I want to thank Northwestern University for hosting our scrutineering this year. It's a beautiful campus here in northern Chicago.
We did manage to pass several cars even in the rain. Kansas State University holds the record for the fastest figure eight set last year and this year they wanted to break their record. They raced around the figure eight sliding sideways several times. That added some excitement to an otherwise rather routine test sequence. Did they break their record? Not quite. It was too wet.
We go at it again tomorrow. Our goal is to get everyone passed by Wednesday afternoon.
I'm going to try to give you highlights each day as we move through scrutineering the next two days, qualifying Thursday and Friday, and the race all the way from Chicago to Los Angeles, July 13-23.
REPORTS FROM THE ROAD
|
