Solar car defeated by cloudy skies

Battling clouds, colds and a crumpled front-end, the University's Solar Vehicle Project race team took the scenic route to Walt Disney World, placing fourth on Wednesday in the biennial solar vehicle race, Sunnyrayce 99.

Aurora4, the University's solar vehicle entry, competed against 28 other schools in the nine-day race, which stretched 1,425 miles from Washington, D.C., to Orlando, Fla. The race team finished with a time of 64 hours, 24 minutes and 13 seconds and an average speed of 22.1 mph.

The University of Missouri's entry won the event in 56 hours, 16 minutes and 44 seconds, averaging 25.3 mph.

With this loss set aside, the University's solar team is already thinking of how to apply what they learned in this race to the next two races down the line -- the World Solar Challenge in Australia in October and the Sunnyrayce 2001.

"It's kind of one of those things; it's an addiction," said mechanical engineering senior Dave Ward, who described himself as the electrical systems guru.

The entire race, dubbed "Cloud Crawl 99" by the race team, was plagued by rain and overcast skies, two weather elements that proved to be hazardous to a solar car's health.

Solar vehicles have an array of about 2,000 cells that collects sunlight, transforming it into electrical energy that is stored in batteries. The batteries then power the car's motor.

At 55 mph, Aurora4 uses about 1,500 watts, enough to power a hair dryer, said Ryan Gosse, an aerospace engineering junior who was one of four Aurora4 drivers. However, it really only converts about 14 percent of the sunlight it collects into electricity.

On the first day, Gosse said he misjudged the speed of the team's lead van in front of him on the slick, wet road, and crashed into the van, crumpling the solar car's nose.

"I was coming up to the stoplight, and the light just turned green so I sped up," he said. "I thought the lead van was going faster."

Ryan Gaida and Steve Meyer, both seniors in mechanical engineering, immediately jumped out of the chase van and duct-taped the $250,000 car together.

Trouble-shooting like this added to the 42 Institute of Technology students' experience of designing and building a solar vehicle -- even creating some of its components from scratch because nothing like it was sold anywhere.

"It taught me a lot about teamwork and real engineering experience," said Ben Winstead, an electrical engineering senior who helped design the vehicle's communication system and speedometer. "You don't learn much in class. The hands-on experience makes all the difference."

The clouds, however, dampened the team's hopes for a win this year because they counted on Aurora4 soaking in enough sun to run a fast race across five states and not break down.

Instead, winning the race boiled down to the team with more battery capacity, evaporating the University's chances because Aurora4 ran with less capacity to keep its weight low.

"Our car was designed for 55 mph with a smaller battery pack than everyone else," Ward said. "Due to the clouds, we'd hold a constant speed to stretch out our battery pack."

Driving Aurora4 was akin to the luge, Gosse said, who had to lie back in the car -- feet forward and head slightly elevated -- as his hands manipulated two button-crusted handle bars in front of him to push-pull the car's steering. This posture allowed the designers to build a flat car that was only 3 feet high, reducing wind resistance as the car sped along.

The race's hilly terrain added to the driving difficulty, said mechanical engineering senior Dan Timmerman, who was another Aurora4 driver. Strategy became more complicated because too low or too high speeds used more energy than Aurora4's limited capacity could hold. The drivers needed to keep to a "happy medium to where we wanted to stay in when racing," Gosse said.

"You have to learn to play the hills with the amount of battery you have," Timmerman said. "You need to know when to speed up and know when to slow down."

After two years together, the team members knew each other pretty well, Timmerman said. They were close enough to share a cold, said Watkins.

"Once you start working with them, they become some of your best friends," Timmerman said. "There's a lot of close relationships between team members."