News
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07/25/2008 - 22:40 - source: Triple Pundit [Original article]
A team of engineering students from the University of Kentucky, assisted by engineers and technicians from UPS, recently completed the 2008 North American Solar Challenge, a competition to design, build, and race solar-powered cars cross-country.
The race started on July 13th, in Plano, Texas and ran 2400 miles to the finish line on July 22nd in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
The team’s entry, Gato del Sol III, didn’t finish in “first” place, but with a determined team along with key support and consultation from UPS, finishing is an achievement in itself. This is the kind of race where winning is simply running the course.
In fact, the team had yet to even start a race, let alone finish (hence the “III”), as each team is required to put its entry through a grueling qualifying and technical inspection before being allowed to enter the race.
Just making the 2400 miles “without anything breaking” is the real victory, according to Matt Hatfield, the team’s project director.
And make it they did.
Nothing but the Sun
Gato del Sol III is powered by 468 solar cells producing 1200 watts of power. With on-board batteries the car is able to produce speeds up to 65mph.
Local Louisville UPS automotive and ground support equipment managers offered mechanical expertise with the car’s wheel alignment and brake lining, and developed a preventative maintenance program that the team employed daily through the use of a detailed inspection checklist.
Along the course UPS employees offered support at every stop including tune-ups, solar panel cooling, and other mechanical work as needed along the way.
UPS’s interest in projects like this reflects their 75 years of experience in alternative fuel vehicles, maintaining the largest fleet of AFV in the industry (we’ve posted before on 3P about the work UPS does in the field of alternative fuel vehicles).
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07/25/2008 - 22:09
Well in my last post I promised a quick update on the events surrounding the last day of the race, but it just seemed that my lack of sleep had finally caught up with me, for that is all I did whenever I had free time at the hotel. Well now we’re on the road again, halfway through Wisconsin on our way back to Lexington. But now, I’m just going to recap the events from last Tuesday on.
Being the last day of the race leaving from Medicine Hat, the whole team was very excited to get started on the last day of our long journey. It was a relatively short leg, being less than 200 miles long, but there were some factors that made it seem quite longer. Early into our last leg from Medicine Hat, the rear window of our lead vehicle just shattered. Being one of the two people in the back seat, it gave us quite a start. We supposed it could have been caused by the passing 18-wheeler, but we didn’t care to bother pondering that too much, we just pushed all the broken glass into the trunk and got on our merry way.
Being in the back seat without a rear window did have its benefits, such as an unobstructed view of the solar car so that I can take this nice picture! Solar car meets oil derrick…
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07/24/2008 - 17:00 - source: UK Alumni Association [Original article]
The University of Kentucky's Solar Car Team completed the North American Solar Car Challenge Tuesday by reaching the race's finish line in Calgary, Alberta. "Gato del Sol III," the UK solar car, ended the race in 11th place, thereby achieving the team's dual goals: qualifying for the race by passing a rigorous, multi-issue inspection, and traveling the entire 2,400-mile course from Plano, Texas, to Calgary.
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07/23/2008 - 08:00 - source: UK News [Original article]
LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 23, 2008) ? The University of Kentucky’s Solar Car Team completed the North American Solar Car Challenge Tuesday by reaching the race’s finish line in Calgary, Alberta.
"Gato del Sol III," the UK solar car, ended the race in 11th place, thereby achieving the team’s dual goals: qualifying for the race by passing a rigorous, multi-issue inspection, and traveling the entire 2,400-mile course from Plano, Texas, to Calgary.
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07/23/2008 - 08:00 - source: UK News [Original article]
LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 21, 2008) ? The University of Kentucky Solar Car Team set out today from Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 10th place in the North American Solar Car Challenge.
But the UK College of Engineering team, headed by student Matt Hatfield, remains confident it will meet its goal of finishing the race in Calgary, Alberta, later this week.
The team made it into Winnipeg with a time of 66 hours, 55 minutes and 55 seconds since it left Plano, Texas, on July 13. However, this weekend threw some major challenges in the path of "Gato del Sol III," the UK solar car.
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07/22/2008 - 21:15
Here is a quick update since we finished the race, we are about to head out for a celebratory dinner, but once I get back I'll write a fully entry. We got 11th! We are just happy to be a part of Kentucky's first solar car that qualified and finished. Here are the final standings...
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University of Michigan |
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07/22/2008 - 08:00 - source: UK News [Original article]
LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 22, 2008) ? "Gato del Sol III," the University of Kentucky’s solar car, was expected to complete the North American Solar Car Challenge by crossing the finish line in Calgary, Alberta, today.
The completion of the race achieves the dual goals the UK College of Engineering Solar Car Team had set for itself this year: to qualify for the race during inspections in Plano, Texas, and to make it all the way through the 2,400-mile course.
The team’s blog provides an update through Monday night.
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07/21/2008 - 23:30
Just after dealing with the pot hole incident, we trailered to Winnipeg to Red River College, our next state stop. We did, however, bring the car out to drive across the US/Canadian border.
Red River set up the whole works for all the solar teams, offering a steak dinner, live band (named Tele), and access to their computer labs and machine shop. Also, as usual per most stage stops and checkpoints on this race, a representative from UPS provided us with food and goods to help us along on our journey. So by the time we left Red River's campus, we were all in pretty high spirits.
The drive from Winnipeg was gorgeous, fields of flax and canola lined the highway as far as one can see. And some fully bloomed fields of flax almost looked like lakes.
 Here is Gato at an intersection with canola in the background, also note the car's blinker, made with a row of LEDs.
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07/19/2008 - 14:38 - source: KMTV [Original article]
Omaha, NE - Thirteen teams from around the world are racing to go green, and they're doing it without using gasoline. They are driving in the North American Solar Challenge from Dallas to Alberta, Canada. Nick Such is racing the University of Kentucky team's car. He says driving it could be worse considering there's no air-conditioning, "When you're moving along it's not too bad. It's when you are just sitting in the sun that it gets pretty hot." But it's those hot rays that fuel one of his goals, to use mother nature's resources for energy.
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07/18/2008 - 23:40
Now I am reporting to you from Fargo, North Dakota. Traveling on the solar car race we have kept to a steady pace, and have been around the 9th/10th position for the last few days. That is out of the 15 cars that are in the race, but considering that this is UK's first car to qualify for the North American Solar Challenge, we are all very excited with our position. Two nights ago we stopped for the day next to a sod farm.
Today, we were making great headway on our way to Fargo. That is, until, we hit a massive pothole in the road. After the hit, our driver, Nick, pulled to the side reporting he believed that he had a flat tire. When we took the shell off the car, what we saw was much worse.
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