LEXINGTON, Ky. -- A team of University of Kentucky engineering students hopes to be rolling soon on a 2,400-mile road trip from Plano, Texas, to Canada, driving a car powered only by sunlight -- and a lot of hard work.
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Gato del Sol III -- UK's third entry into the North American Solar Challenge -- will be the school's first car to make it through the preliminary scrutiny and qualifying rounds and will join 23 other solar-powered vehicles on the transcontinental trek, promises team president Matt Hatfield of Louisville.

"This car is not failing this time. I guarantee that," said Hatfield, 23, who graduated in May with a mechanical engineering degree and who helped build Gato del Sol II in 2005.

UK is the only school in Kentucky participating in the race.

Photo by James Crisp, Special to the Courier-Jour.
Luis Martinez, a UPS ground support equipment manager, left, talked with Nick Such, a senior in mechanical engineering, about the solar-powered car Gato del Sol III built by University of Kentucky students.

The effort is getting a helping hand from UPS in Louisville, which has offered engineering advice, supplies and logistical support for the team along the 10-day run. The 14-member UK team and its car, carried in a trailer, were to leave for Plano yesterday.

The race started in 2001 and is usually held every two years, but the 2007 event was delayed a year because of funding problems. Toyota Motor Corp. stepped in to fund this year's race.

The students have been working since November on the replacement for Gato del Sol II, which was grounded before the previous race by electrical problems. Hatfield said he and others have put 60 hours of work a week on the car for months, and they don't intend to see their car left at the starting line.

"It's pretty tough to spend two years designing a car and then not have it run," Hatfield said. This year's vehicle has proven itself on the road, taking a June 22 trip from Lexington to Louisville and back, along with other field tests.

The UK car has improved dramatically since the 2003 Gato del Sol. That car was named after the 1982 Kentucky Derby winner and recognized the horse's owner, Stone Farm, which helped sponsor the racing team.

The original car weighed close to 1,000 pounds, and the solar cells covering its shell couldn't generate enough juice to keep the car moving. Gato del Sol III weighs 640 pounds, including a 180-pound driver and 70 pounds of batteries, Hatfield said. The new car also includes higher-efficiency solar cells and a computer monitoring system that tells the team when to slow down to conserve energy and when they can cruise at the maximum-allowed speed of 55 miles per hour.

The one-seater generates 1,200 watts of electricity from 468 solar cells -- less than what some hairdryers use but enough to power the vehicle's 3-horsepower motor.

At 6 feet 4 inches, Hatfield is too tall to drive the solar car. That is left to a team of four drivers, all under 5 feet 10 inches. The drivers include 5-foot-8 Nick Such of Prospect, who will be a senior this fall. "For once, being short paid off," he said.

Such, 22, was also part of the 2005 team, joining the effort as a freshman. After that, he said that he "kind of got hooked."

While other teens might have been interested in high-speed, high-horsepower racing cars, "this is different," Such said. "I was attracted to that. It seems like this applies more to the problems of today," with automakers pushing to develop better electric and alternative-fuel vehicles.

Such's father, David Such, is a sales manager for UPS in Louisville, and when he appealed to the company to support the UK team, it was eager to help, said Jackie Blair, a Louisville spokeswoman.

In addition to technical advice, UPS will provide food and water for team members along the route, and weather predictions from the company's meteorologists. More important, UPS is prepared to rush in replacement parts if any are needed because of mechanical failure or accidents.

Other major sponsors of the UK team include UK alumnus Ralph G. Anderson and his Cincinnati-based company, Belcan Corp.; Hydro, an aluminum company that provided the frame for the solar car; and SunPower, which provided the solar cells.

Joe Buschkotter, the UPS area automotive manager, is one of the UPS employees helping with advice as the team fine-tunes Gato.

"I'm really impressed with these guys," Buschkotter said of the team. "They don't have great tons of money to work on this project," but "they have really done a nice job putting this whole thing together."

Plus, "it's exciting for me to see the technology of the solar car," he said. "The future of the solar car is unbelievable: no emissions, no impact on the environment whatsoever -- really, it's just awesome."

Drivers shouldn't expect to see a solar-powered family car anytime soon, Nick Such said. Standard cars are just too heavy to drive on sunlight alone. However, solar cells could help recharge batteries on electric cars or hybrids of the future, he said.

With its light weight and special design -- two wheels in the front, one in the back -- Gato del Sol III should have no problem keeping up with traffic while running on sunlight, said Hatfield, who grew up in the Highview/Fern Creek area of Jefferson County.

Cars will be on the go from 9 a.m. till 5 p.m. on a route that avoids interstate highways. The race goes on rain or shine since the cars can handle an average rain and can drive for up to 150 miles on battery power if the skies are dark.

Each solar car will be accompanied by a lead car and a chase car carrying support crews and spare parts.

Drivers will take turns in the car. Rules specify that no one spend more than six hours at a time behind the wheel, but no one wants to stay "anywhere near six hours," Hatfield said. "There's not much padding down there. It's not comfortable at all."

Driver Scott Ashcraft, 18, an incoming freshman from Georgetown, said the car isn't hard to drive, but it's surprisingly noisy. One of the biggest problems comes from other motorists who pull alongside the solar cars to gawk or try to talk to the driver. They're wasting their time, anyway, Ashcraft said, because the solar car drivers can't hear them.

Contestants will be judged by their race time, so the winner won't necessarily be the first car to cross the finish line in Calgary, Alberta. The team plans to post updates on its progress whenever possible on its Web site, www.uksolarcar.com.

The UK team knows that competition for first place will be tough. Just completing the course will be an achievement to crow about.

To Buschkotter, the team has already proven itself. "They are the future of America," he said, "and I have no problem turning it over to people like this."

Reporter Bill Wolfe can be reached at (502) 582-4248.