ERLANGER - Workers at Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing headquarters here are used to seeing the latest auto technology, but a year-old project of University of Kentucky students turned plenty of heads Wednesday.
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UK's solar car, Gato del Sol III, which finished 11th in last year's North American Solar Challenge race and second in this summer's Formula Sun Grand Prix in Texas, paid its first visit to Toyota's North American manufacturing headquarters.

• Photos: Solar car gets a test drive

Norm Bafunno, Toyota's vice president for production engineering, took the sleek three-wheel vehicle for a spin around the parking lot and ended up impressed.

"It had good acceleration," he said of the one-seat vehicle with a top speed of 55 miles per hour. "It was a unique feeling."

Toyota is one of the corporate sponsors for the Gato del Sol, named for a former Kentucky Derby winner. Other sponsors include Blue Ash-based engineering firm Belcan Corp., founded by UK alum and supporter Ralph G. Anderson.

"Belcan is one of our biggest sponsors, donating $75,000, and Anderson has driven the car," said Mark Taylor, a mechanical engineering student, one of about 40 students from engineering, business and other disciplines who designed and built Gato del Sol III.

UK students have been designing and building solar-power cars for the cross-country solar race since 1999, but number III was the team's best finisher. Dozens of colleges and universities from across the continent competed in the 2,400-mile, cross-country time/distance rally event that started in Dallas and concluded in Calgary, Alberta.

The $150,000 car is powered by 480 solar cells pasted on a fiberglass and aluminum frame. It has a regenerative braking system like Toyota's hybrid Prius. The solar collectors turn sunlight into direct current which powers the electric motor or is fed into batteries that give the vehicle a 75-mile range at night.

Model IV has a $230,000 budget and will include more powerful solar cells and feature a more aerodynamic design. Students are conducting an adopt-a-cell fund-raising campaign to raise $50 for each of the 2,132 cells needed for the new car. For more information go to www.Uksolarcar.com