July 11, 2008

Schulich 1 vehicle passes safety checks and completes qualifying runs with flying colours

Cresson, Texas — After a 4,000 kilometre road trip, four days of intense safety inspections and four hours of driving laps on the track, the U of C Solar Team has qualified for the starting line in the 2008 North American Solar Challenge (NASC) that leaves the town of Plano, Texas near Dallas on Sunday morning. 

“We’re all tired but we’re also really excited because we’ve done really well so far and we are now really looking forward to hitting the open road,” said team operations manager Darshni Pillay. “It’s been impressive to watch our team work together to overcome the problems that have come up and get the car qualified for the race before most of the other teams.”

On Thursday, the U of C’s car Schulich 1 was the fourth vehicle to finish the required 60 laps of the 3-kilometre track at the Texas Motorsports Ranch and both the team’s drivers easily completed the minimum of 15 laps each. Current NASC champions, the University of Michigan, were the first to qualify followed by the University of Missouri, Winnipeg’s Red River College team and the U of C Solar Team. Drivers Jeff Wickenheiser and Tiffany Veltman played it safe by maintaining a steady pace of about 50 km/h on the twisting track in order to remain safe and conserve power for qualifying runs that will continue all day today as teams compete for choice starting positions on Sunday.

“The car ran really well. We didn’t have any issues and the heat in the cockpit wasn’t too bad because the car has some pretty good air flow,” Wickenheiser said. “The team that completes the most number of laps by the end of the  day on Friday will get pole position, so we are now just going to try and stay out there and do as many laps as we can.”

It’s a satisfying end to the week for the team after they were the second team to finish the scrutineering portion on Wednesday and were the first to get their vehicle onto the track for practice laps before Thursday’s qualifying runs began. Scrutineering saw the electrical engineering crew put through its paces solving a mysterious glitch that kept stalling the car each time the team tried to get Schulich 1 to the dynamic testing track where drivers navigated slalom and figure-8 courses as well as a skid braking test.

“Scrutineering and qualifying shows us that these vehicles are roadworthy and that the drivers are able to drive safely on the highway,” said NASC race official Gail Leuck.

This year’s event involves new regulations that require drivers to sit in a more upright position, while all vehicles must have steering wheels and parking brakes. The new rules are designed to increase driver safety and make the solar cars reflect more realistic vehicle designs. A total of 17 teams are now planning to compete in NASC, including four Canadian teams (U of C, Red River, University of Waterloo and Queen’s University). University of Missouri’s hydrogen-powered car is also taking part in the challenge as a demonstration vehicle. The race ends at a finish line celebration at the University of Calgary on July 22.

See video news release:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=hnKwY6L4IPc

Follow the race on the U of C Solar Team’s blog at: www.ucalgary.ca/blogs/solarteam 

For more information, visit:

U of C Solar Team website: www.calgarysolarteam.ca
U of C’s 2008 NASC finish line event website: www.finishline.ucalgary.ca
2008 NASC website: www.americansolarchallenge.org

To arrange media interviews and obtain photos or video from the race, contact:

Grady Semmens
U of C Solar Team
Cell: (403) 651-2515
Email: gsemmens@ucalgary.ca