A team of MU engineers called the SunTigers will race
a solar-powered car 2,500 miles from Texas to Canada
As president of MU’s SunTiger VI solar car team, senior Justin Wilson’s life for the past two years has been dedication and sacrifice. Since the last race ended in 2003, he and his fellow team members have been preparing for the North American Solar Challenge, the longest solar race to date.
During 11 days, 32 teams will travel 2,500 miles from Austin, Texas, to Calgary, Alberta, in Canada. As Wilson worked on his computer, he said time was running out. The race begins July 17.
Wilson said building SunTiger VI, a $60,000 solar-powered car from scratch, was demanding.
“That’s pretty much the moral of the story,” he said. “On average, we spend 20 hours a week working on the car.”
While he can barely remember the last time he went home to Mound City for a weekend, Wilson said it was worth it.
“Once you go to one race and you see how the vehicles operate and compete, it makes you want to do it again,” he said, “and do it well.”
Richard Whelove is the SunTiger faculty adviser and a professor in the mechanical and aerospace engineering department. He has worked with the group since its conception 15 years ago, and sees it as an excellent opportunity for students to apply science.
“They (students) learn a lot of theory in the classroom,” Whelove said. “But with this project, they learn to apply that theory and come out one step ahead of other students.”
Wilson agreed.
“Getting the car in a drivable state does not take much,” he said. “But getting the car to drive well takes more planning, design and building.”
Driving it is not easy, either. Wilson said it takes a tough and alert person to be the driver.
“It’s not like driving a normal car,” he said. “You’re in an awkward position, and you don’t have normal visibility. If it’s 100 degrees outside, it’s 110 in there.”
With this project, SunTiger team members take an active part in every aspect of designing and constructing the car. Wilson said that was the way they liked it.
Drawing from knowledge and experience from the past five cars, Wilson and his team have built a car that is completely solar-powered. Standing more than 2½ feet tall, almost 16½ feet long and 6½ feet wide, SunTiger VI is covered in 463 solar cells that convert energy from the sun into electricity. That energy is then used to power the motor and store energy in the car’s two battery packs in case of a cloudy day.
While the car can travel at a top speed of 72 miles per hour, race rules and speed limits set the regulatory speed at 65 miles per hour. But for that to happen, sunlight is crucial.
“When it’s not sunny, you won’t be going 65,” project manager Dave Barber said. “You won’t even be going 55.”
If there is no array, or sun, SunTiger VI can travel only about 25 miles per hour. And that’s with a full battery pack.
After the MU team’s sixth-place finish in the 2003 North American Solar Challenge, Wilson said the team hoped the needed corrections had been made to ensure a higher placement this year.
For example, during the last competition, one of the two battery packs died mid-race, leaving the team crawling to the finish line. The battery had been used in a previous race and was believed to have worn out. Wilson said a battery pack costs about $10,000, and they did not have the money to replace it at the time.
With the kinks ironed out, Whelove said he hoped the team finishes in the top three. He also acknowledged the team’s desire to out-compete its in-state rival from Rolla.
Wilson agreed, but said he was most anxious about the race’s beginning.
“There are stories of teams getting to the starting line, trying to start, and nothing happens,” he said. “Luckily it didn’t happen last time, and I don’t want it to happen this time, either. But if you can get to that point (and start it), then you can probably make it.”
The 14 team members will leave July 8, and Wilson is excited to see what will happen after his two years of work on the SunTiger VI.
“You have to build something and it has to work, or you’re not racing,” he said. “The competitive spirit is what keeps me going right now.”