Iowa State solar car finishes 2,400-mile race in eighth place
07-23-08
Contacts:
Erin Kelly, PrISUm Solar Car Team, (507) 272-0103
Sarah Kelly, PrISUm Solar Car Team (507) 272-6150
Teddi Barron, News Service, (515) 294-4778, tbarron@iastate.edu
Iowa State solar car finishes 2,400-mile race in eighth place
AMES, Iowa -- Sol Invictus, Iowa State University's solar race car completed the 2,400-mile North American Solar Challenge Tuesday afternoon in eighth place overall with a time of 91 hours and 12 minutes.
The University of Michigan finished first at 51 hours and 41 minutes, followed by Principia College, Germany's FH Bochum Solar Car Team, Canada's University of Waterloo and the University of Minnesota.
Final cumulative times include penalties charged for trailering the race car. On Saturday, 10 of the competing cars had to trailer between Fargo, N.D., and Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, because they were unable to maintain minimum highway speeds under intense cloud cover.
Iowa State started the race on July 13 in Plano, Texas, in 13th place. Although 25 teams registered for the race, only 13 cars qualified to compete. Two additional non-competing cars completed the route.
The teams will celebrate their accomplishments at an awards banquet tonight in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
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