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UMR Solar Car Team competes in Formula Sun Grand Prix
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Written by press release from UMR Public Relations
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Students from the University of Missouri-Rolla will put their new sun-powered car, Solar Miner III, to its first big test May 9-11 in the Formula Sun Grand Prix, a solar car race in Topeka, Kan.
The UMR Solar Car Team, which won the North American solar car race Sunrayce ‘99 two years ago, hopes to qualify for another race this summer by participating in the Formula Sun Grand Prix.
The new vehicle, Solar Miner III, was designed and built by UMR’s Solar Car Team. The car is the successor to two other solar-powered vehicles: the original Solar Miner, which competed in earlier races, and Solar Miner II, which won Sunrayce ‘99, a 10-day, 1,300-mile race from Washington, D.C., to Orlando, Fla., in June 1999.
The Formula Sun Grand Prix will be held at Topeka’s Heartland Park, and will feature solar-powered cars from 24 U.S. and Canadian colleges and universities. Unlike the Sunrayce events, which involved cross-country routes, the new event will be held on a 2.1-mile grand prix road course.
The grand prix race will also serve as a qualifier for this summer’s American Solar Challenge, a 2,300-mile journey along historic Route 66 from Chicago to Los Angeles. UMR will serve as the second checkpoint for the race, which begins July 15 at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.
Some 40 solar-powered racers are scheduled to take part in the American Solar Challenge, which will be the world’s longest solar car race.
The American Solar Challenge overnight stop at UMR will occur on Monday, July 16, at the Gale Bullman Multi-Purpose Building, 10th Street and Bishop Avenue. Vehicles will be available for public viewing throughout the day, and an alternative energy fair is planned to coincide with the event. The vehicles will leave UMR the following morning (July 17).
For more information about the Formula Sun Grand Prix, visit the event’s Web site at www.formulasun.org. For more information about the American Solar Challenge, visit the organization’s Web site, www.formulasun.or¿ g/asc/index.html.
For more information about the UMR Solar Car team, visit the team’s Web site at solar42.umr.edu.
The UMR Solar Car Team won Sunrayce ‘99 with a total time of 56 hours, 16 minutes and 44 seconds, which was 47 minutes better than its closest rival, Queen’s University of Kingston, Ontario, Canada. In all, 29 teams from U.S. and Canadian colleges and universities took part in the race.
Sunrayce ‘99 was UMR’s first victory in four attempts. The victory earned the team a right to compete in the World Solar Car Challenge, held last October in Australia. The UMR team finished third in its class in that race.
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