They did it. Again.
The University of Michigan Solar Car Team won the American Solar Challenge for the third consecutive time, finishing the 1,100-mile race more than two hours ahead of the second-place finishers.
Sixteen teams set out from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma on June 20. Only 13 made it to the end, led by Infinium, which crossed the line in Naperville, Illinois at about 2 p.m. Saturday with a winning time of 28 hours, 14 minutes and 55 seconds.
"It's an unbelievable feeling," engineering student Steve Durbin, the team's race manager, said. "This race means a lot to us because we're defending our home territory. It's great to see that all of our hard work paid off."
This was University of Michigan's sixth North American title, having won the first race in 1990 in Sunrunner. This year's entry proved to be spot-on reliable. Rain shorted out one component, which was easily fixed at the side of the road, and a black widow that took up residence in a spare battery pack was easily removed with pliers.
"Everything went pretty smoothly," Durbin said.
You may scoff at the idea of racing electric cars powered by the sun, but these things are pretty quick. Infinium hit 100 mph in testing and had no trouble maintaining the speed limit -- which all teams must adhere to -- during the race. It averaged 40 mph over the course of the race. The same car took third in the 2009 Global Green Challenge, the race formerly known as the World Solar Challenge, in Australia.
The University of Minnesota Solar Vehicle Project team placed second with an elapsed time of 30 hours, 26 minutes and 53 seconds in Centaurus. The team also won the sportsmanship award and electrical excellence award for the design of its electrical system.
"We are very proud of our car’s custom electronics and our spirit of helping other teams throughout the race," said Alan Jacobs, a senior materials science and physics double major. "It’s amazing to us that we had such a great race since this is the first time we’ve raced this car."
Third place went to Germany's Bochum University of Applied Sciences, which may have the most graceful solar race car ever. SolarWorld No. 1 finished the race in 30 hours, 34 minutes and 50 seconds.
Photo: Alex Dowling / University of Michigan
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