July 19, 2008

Fargo, North Dakota — The U of C Solar Team plans to cross the border back into Canada this afternoon as the third stage of the 2008 North American Solar Challenge (NASC) wraps up with anThe fast lane: University of Minnesota's car passes Schulich 1 on the highway in North Dakota. Photo by Au3 Inc. overnight stop in Winnipeg before heading east on the Trans-Canada Highway for the finish line at the University of Calgary on Tuesday.

After covering 450 kilometers at a steady pace and with no mechanical issues on Friday, the team is hopeful it may move up in the overall race standings.

“There was a lot of passing on the road today, and we managed to get ahead of Missouri and finish the day half an hour ahead of them,” said team operations manager Darshni Pillay. “If we can have another day like that on Saturday we could move up to sixth place.”

Day 6 of the race saw the cars pull out of Sioux Falls, South Dakota at 9 am, heading north across the state and into the pancake-flat prairie of Minnesota and North Dakota that was once the bed of a prehistoric great lake known as Lake Agassiz. U of C’s Schulich 1 car played cat-and-mouse with the University of Minnesota and Waterloo University’s cars but could not stay ahead of either of the top-five vehicles for long. Currently in seventh place, Schulich 1 did get a leg up on the #6 car from Missouri University of Science and Technology. U of C was the fifth vehicle to reach the 30-minute checkpoint in Fargo just after 4:30 pm, and managed to get a few miles out of town before the racing day ended at 6 pm.

The race will continue today at 8 am as the team heads 400 kilometres north to the stage stop at Red River College after crossing the border at Pembina, North Dakota.

Starting line: Solar cars line up for the start of Stage 3 in Sioux Falls on Friday. Photo by Au3 Inc.