UM Wins Solar Car Race; WMU Car Stalls

Finishing more than two hours ahead of its nearest competitor, the University of Michigan Solar Car Team has won the American Solar Challenge for a third consecutive North American title.

Michigan's other team in the race, Western Michigan University, was relegated to display car status early in the event after their vehicle experienced persistent electrical problems.

The week-long, biennial 1,100-mile competition for solar-powered vehicles started in Broken Arrow, Okla., on June 20 and ended in Naperville, Ill., on Saturday, June 26. The UM car was the first of 13 to cross the finish line at around 2 p.m. Eastern time, for a final time of 28 hours, 14 minutes and 44 seconds.

This is the sixth North American title for UM, which won the inaugural event in 1990 with its first car, the Sunrunner.

"It's an unbelievable feeling," said engineering student Steve Durbin, the team's race manager. "This race means a lot to us because we're defending our home territory. It's great to see that all of our hard work paid off."

The team's car, Infinium, was reliable, Durbin said, whereas breakdowns dogged other fast teams. The UM students faced only minor setbacks. Rain shorted out a lighting board, but they managed to fix it in five minutes on the roadside. A black widow spider moved into the spare battery pack, but the students removed it with a long pair of pliers.

"Everything went pretty smoothly," Durbin said.

This marks the end of the road for Infinium, the 10th-generation car. Each car runs two races -- the North American race and the global race in Australia. In the 2009 Global Green Challenge (formerly the World Solar Challenge), Infinium placed third. That was the fourth time in the team's history that UM has finished third in the world race.

Infinium is believed to be the university's fastest solar car ever. It reached 100 mph in testing. The car traveled the speed limit during the race, which passed through many small towns with traffic lights. On the highways, the limit was 65 mph.

With more than 100 members, Solar Car is one of the largest student organizations on campus, including students from the College of Engineering; College of Literature, Science, and the Arts; Ross School of Business; School of Art & Design; and School of Education. Major sponsors this year include Michigan Engineering, Ford, General Motors, Delta and AT&T.

For more information: http://solarcar.engin.umich.edu/

As for WMU, its car, Sunseeker, dropped out of the race June 21 after being plagued with electrical problems. It started the race June 20 with a conditional qualification. The WMU team's goal was to complete the race's first leg in order to secure full qualification status from race officials.

By day's end June 20, Sunseeker was one of four ASC competitor vehicles that had not made it to the official checkpoint in Neosho, Mo., resulting in a decision to withdraw the vehicle from the official roster.

The WMU team continued along the race route and displayed its car in communities along the course that serve as race checkpoints or overnight stops. The car was also on display at the finish line.

This year's ASC marks the 20th year of collegiate solar racing in the United States, and WMU has been one of a small group of colleges and universities that have been in the mix for all 20 years of the biennial cross-country event. Previous races have covered as many as 2,500 miles, covering such routes as Chicago to Clarmont, Calif., and Austin, Texas, to Calgary.

The 2010 version of Sunseeker ran into several problems during the exhaustive seven days of pre-race inspections and track testing. At one point, the team offered its formal withdrawal when two pieces of crucial equipment failed. Other teams in the race, including those from the universities of Michigan and Calgary, stepped up to lend spare parts and offer assistance, keeping the WMU team part of the competitive field.

Sunseeker hit the track on the final day of qualifying laps to a round of sustained applause from other ASC competitors. The team earned the conditional qualification for the car by completing fewer than the required 170 miles of track testing. The conditional qualification required the team to complete the first leg of the ASC in order to remain in the race, but continued electrical problems took the car out of the field after just a few hours of racing.

"This is certainly not the outcome we were looking for this year," says Dr. Paul V. Engelmann, chair of WMU's Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering and another team advisor. "But we're involved in events like this to enhance our students' practical experience. Our team members will bring home some invaluable lessons about engineering, project management and the nature of collegial work -- even across competitive boundaries."

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