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[1] Sunseeker, the solar powered car created by students at Western Michigan University.Courtesy of [2] umich.edu.

Tyler and his friends made up one of many university teams to participate in the 2005 [3] North American Solar Challenge. A branch of the American Solar Challenge, the NASC is a biennial competition to design, build and race solar-powered cars.“The race officials call it a brain sport,” says Maggie Hayes, a recent graduate of the University of Michigan and the operations director for the school’s 2003-2005 team. “It takes all sorts of different people with different skills—engineering, mechanics, business, PR, everything.”

Now that the 2005 NASC is over, many teams are starting to design a new car for the 2007 race. Each team typically spends about six to eight months designing the car, then another 12 months building, testing and tuning it. During all of this, the teams also bring their cars to local primary schools, showing off their masterpieces and giving presentations on the science of it.

Other teams, like the University of Pennsylvania’s, are tweaking the bugs on cars that fell short of the 2005 cut.

“You have to pass a lot of strict testing to qualify for the race,” says Zachary Kirkhorn, who is the co-leader of the University of Pennsylvania 2005-2007 team. “During the testing, our battery protection system—which monitors the amount of voltage to prevent fire—was not intervening. By the time we had fixed it, it was too late.”

Now, however, the team hopes to fix up its car for the 2007 NASC, as well as the 2006 [4] Formula Sun Grand Prix, a closed-course solar race.

Teams that compete in solar-car racing can consist of up to 200 people in the beginning of the project. Some work on design, some work on engineering, some work on mechanics. Still others split up the tasks of obtaining parts donations, corporate sponsors and press attention. As time goes on, the number of active team members dwindles until approximately 20 are chosen to participate in the actual race.

During the race, only one person rides in each solar car at a time, and that person has to be relatively light to maximize the speed of the car. Other members of the team ride in vans that drive before and behind the solar car.

“In two cars that went way ahead of the racer, we had a weather prediction team and a strategy team,” says Hayes. “They watched out for road hazards, told the car to speed up 5 miles an hour or slow down 2 to manage the car’s battery power. The one behind was there to protect the car and keep the engineers close by.”

All the while, the riders in the vans collect data, which can come in pretty handy.

[6] The University of Missouri’s Rolla, and 2003 defending NASC champion. Courtesy of NASC.

“The race officials assessed us a whole bunch of penalties for going over the speed limit 4 times,” Hayes says. “This put us a half hour behind the leader, when we had been in the front. But we had taken ridiculous GPS coordinates with the exact speeds we were going at each place. We were able to go back and print out 60 or 70 pages of data to show that we were going exactly the speed limit.”

The teams have 10 days to complete the 2,500 mile journey. They may begin racing each day at 8 a.m., and they have to stop immediately at 6 p.m., no matter where they are.

“The people we pass pull over, lean out of their cars, ask questions,” says Coverdale. “It’s interesting to see their reactions. In America, the first question people ask is, ‘How fast does it go?’ In Canada, they say, ‘So, it’s solar-powered, huh?’ It really shows people’s different mindsets.”

It is the American mindset that solar-car racing sets out to change. NASC and other collegiate solar car races trace their roots to 1987, when General Motors won the first World Solar Challenge with its own solar car, the [7] Sunraycer. GM spent the years after its win showing the Sunraycer to students to promote science, technology, and especially alternate forms of energy.

In 1990, GM expanded its educational program by sponsoring the first Sunrayce USA, a North American collegiate competition for building and racing solar cars. By 2001, Sunrayce USA became the American Solar Challenge, the longest solar car race in the world. When 2005 rolled around and the race stretched into Canada, ASC became NASC.

The [8] U.S. Department of Energy sponsored the solar car race for 15 years, partly because it is a way to demonstrate that solar power really works.

[9] Hydrogen-powered demonstration fuel cell vehicle designed by students at the University of North Dakota.Courtesy of NASC.

“I try to explain it by saying that if an average 800-pound car and driver can travel at highway speeds for 2,500 miles on nothing but sunlight, solar power works,�? says Christopher Powers, External Affairs Officer of the U.S. Department of Energy.Kirkhorn points out that the increase in awareness is slow but sure.

“Since the huge leap in gas prices, the hits on our website have gone up dramatically,�? Kirkhorn says. “People are seeking alternative forms of fuel.”

The DOE also hopes that the solar car race will encourage potential American engineers and scientists.

“Not as many young people are pursuing science or engineering careers as the used to, and our nation is going to need a lot of them if we are to remain competitive in the global economy,�? Powers says. “Most young people think of science and engineering as pretty boring compared to acting, music or sports, but this race shows that it’s not all sitting in a lab in a white coat.”

However, while teams are preparing for the 2007 NASC, the NASC itself is reconsidering its future. The DOE will be withdrawing its sponsorship of the solar car race for 2007 because it also sponsors the [10] Solar Decathlon, a biennial event in which college teams compete to build the most attractive and energy-efficient solar-powered home. The homes go on display on the Washington Mall in Washington, D.C., and just like the NASC, the Decathlon’s next occurrence will be in 2007.

“We can’t push the Decathlon back to 2008 because that’s an election year, and having all that activity on the Mall isn’t very good planning,” says Anna Martinez-Barnish, public affairs specialist at the DOE. “So either the NASC will get pushed back to 2008, or they will have to find another big sponsor.”