Some University of Kentucky students are keeping their minds sharp during their summer break.
Caught with members of the solar car team who are spending some of their free time racing in national competitions on behalf of the university.
Meet Gato Del Sol Four
"Behind me is the University of Kentucky solar car that is our current car. We just raced in the American Solar Challenge," says student Mark Miller
Powered by hand-cut solar cells...the car takes energy from the sun and converts it into electricity to make it ready to hit the road.
"We also have a balloon (battery) pack that stores our electricity until we need to use it in our electric motor, which is in the rear of the car," adds Miller
Mark Miller is just one of the University of Kentucky's students who is charged with the heavy task of keeping up with the maitenance of the car.
"One of the first stages is just research, and see what kind of car you want to build and alot [sic] of it is fundraising and thanks to our sponsors we were able to build this wonderful car and alot [sic] of machinery work to build the car itself took a year," explains Miller
Some of UK's students took Gato Del Sol four in a competition last month, driving thirteen hundred miles from Oklahoma to Illinois in about forty hours over seven days.
"It handles really well, similar to a car, a little bit rougher, lot of road noise, as far visibility it's a little bit more limited," mentioned Zach Robinette
UK's solar team finished ninth overall in the American Solar Challenge and after a few repairs, they plan to take the sixty-mile-an-hour roadster back on the streets for some more fun.
If you would like to keep up with UK's solar powered car...check out their website at
http://www.engr.uky.edu/solarcar/
