8- The Michigan Daily Summer Weekly -Wednesday, July 7,1993 0 owered by the sun Story and photos by Peter Matthews The University's solar pow- ered car team was not, with one exception, the same team that won the General Mo- tors' Sunrayce 90. ThisteamarrivedinTexas withthe intention of defending the title itspredecessors took in the first Sunrayce. On Saturday, June 26, they did just that with a mere hour-and-a- halflead on therunners-up--Califor- nia State Polytechnic University of Pomona. Early in the race, an official stated, "Michigan is the team everyone is shooting for." Winning this time was no turkey shoot. Robert Stempell, the former CEO of General Motors Corporation, said, "The good thing about Sunrayce 93 is we didn't have arun-away race ... The top third of the field, all of them, had the potential to win." Success Breeds Success The University of Michigan, Cali- forniaStatePolytechnicUniversityand George Washington University fin- ishedseveralminutes apartandover an hour ahead of the fourth place finisher after driving the first 164 mile stretch of the seven day and 1,100 mile Sunrayce. Sunrayce 93 was an intercollegiate competitionforsolar poweredvehicles. It was envisioned as an opportunity for engineering and design students to experience hands-on research and de- velopment as well as team work in an endeavor to manufacture a road-wor- thy product that was to be entered into acompetition for over $60,000 in cash and prizes. Theprimary sponsorsofthis year's race were General Motors and the De- partmentofEnergy.Mostteamssought sponsorship of their own. Such spon- sorship came in the form of parts, ser- vices and/or financial backing. - The University's team shirts, solar car and trailer were emblazoned with thelogosof 13 sponsors and the names of another 29. Many of the University team's sponsors were wooed by a well orga- nized group of Business School stu- dents. Deanna Winton, an Engineering junior and one of the two primary drivers of the solar car, said "It's basi- cally never taking 'no' for an answer, you keep calling and asking for any way they can help you out." The University's team was one of the better funded. This was due to the initiative of its business corps and the publicity it received from the previous victory. Sponsors donated the equiva- lentof around $700,000in funds, parts and services. Team members often expressed appreciation foropportunitiesand their sponsors had made possible. Several other teams also benefited from the Maize & Blue team'scollectiveexper- tise and equipment. Within the University's behemoth trailer was a work shop and bins of spare parts they shared with other teams. Some teams were either resentful or awed by the University's relative opulence. Amemberofone of the frontrunner teams said, "The best thing you can hope for is that Michigan is broken down back there and can't go any- where and takes a five hour penalty, or that they crossed a double yellow line a couple more times, or that they'll roll the car and it cracks open - crrk!" The trailer, hauled by a powerful semi, and the no nonsense attitude of the team also elicited statements like Andy Kurriger's, a driver for the Iowa State University team. "They intimi- date me," he said. "Everything about them is really slick, I have nothing against them, but WOW!" Joey Bodorkos, of the University of Waterloo team, said, while pointing to the white leviathan that is the Uni- versity trailer, "There's this sort of ice cube there, you can't chip into it." One of the harsh realities of Sunrayce sponsorship is that the poor tend to get poorer and the rich richer. Victory brings with itpublicity not just for the team but its sponsors. Vic- tory, therefore, facilitates the courting of sponsors. University Strategy Shines This formula holds true for the run- ning of the race as well. Itis here that the University team proved itself ca- pable ofumaking very competent use of outside funding and the team's own expertise. The predictions of the University's meteorologists and strat- egists were right on. - Those who miscalculate their weather forecasts,roadconditions and the charge of theirbatteries will invite a vicious cycle to form. Batteries may only be charged through the solar radiation absorbed by the thousands of photovoltaic cells in the car's solar array - panels that resemble cobalt blue tortoise shells. Those teams who spend more time driving or trailering their vehicles find themselves facing an ever increasing battery charge deficit. Cars and their arrays were im- pounded between 9 p.m. to 6:30 am. each day. At6:30 in the morning there would be a rush to remove cars from team trailers and to position the arrays for optimal sun ray exposure. Uponarrivalat the race day's finish line, the teams would quickly remove and set-up their array - moving it every hour or so with the changing position of the sun. The University team proved them- selvesmasters of this procedure.Itwas theiradeptnesswiththisroutineaswell as the strategic use of their information and communication system that made it possible for them to overcome the 30 minutes of penalties they incurred by nunning aredlightandcrossing adouble yellow line. The team's chase van housed a highly advanced computer; which re- quired an outboard generator carried on a trailer attached to the van. Eric Slimko, an Engineering se- nior, used the computer to upload weather maps downloaded from a sat- ellite. This wasoneofseveralvariables hemonitoredthroughouttherace.Other variables included instantaneousread- ings of the solar car's battery charge and the amount of solar radiation ab- sorbed by the array. Another crucial variable was a computerized map. The map was generated several months earlier when members of the team drove the race route. With the map, the team knew their location within inches. The strategists were therefore able to dictate the optimum speed for the car and avoid burning out its batteries. It was on Thursday that the team's forethought, and ability to make in- stantaneous decisions was called upon to reclaim their earlier lead. Stempell said, "One of the great things that happened on this race was Thursday, we had avery bad rain in the morning,very heavy clouds.... Michi- gan gotaway (unlike most of the other teams)and they came across the finish line that night about 6:20 or so. That really put a chapter in the history book on solar car racing because we didn't have sun all day long and a combina- tion of rain, clouds, wind and their strategy paid off- aremarkableday." The race route was charted to pass through "the heartland of Americ4 Solar powered cars drove along sec- ondary roads and passed through or stopped in sundry podunks. Many families, couples and kids lined the race route - some waiting hours to see the next car pass. Others set up stands that advertised "Solar Tea." Fuel for the Future One of the objectives in parading 21st century technologies through 4 ral America was to inspire future gen- erations to reinforce the technological prowess of the United States. Robert San Martin, the acting as- sistant secretary of the Department of Energy, told those assembled in the banquethall, "Whatis needed to make this country as strong as it has been in the future is ideas, you are the ideas, you are the hope. Ideas are the fuel the future." Stempell said, "We did this ini- tially to promote education.... These hands-on projects are valuable experi- ences and what happens is that along the route we find alot of grade school kids and high school kinds out to see the project.... We convert some of the peopletogetintomathandphysicsand really get into this." Andris prepares for first race day. Deanna beams after Sunrayc win.