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A SOLAR Race Car

Drifter: Arizona Solar Racing Team

The Drifter, the solar powered vehicle of the University of Arizona solar racing team, was on display at the University of Phoenix last week. The team had just successfully completed the 2008 North American Solar Challenge, a 2400 mile race from Dallas, Texas to Calgary, Alberta. They finished a respectable 10th place of a total of 24 teams that had tried to qualify.

Here’s a look at what is under the hood — interesting stuff. I was too embarrassed to ask where the air conditioning was. I will say these guys knew what they were talking about. I think they would have finished even better in the race had they not had some tough breaks in the race that held them up. They did proudly beat out the other two Wildcat competitor schools, the University of Kentucky and Northwestern. Congrats!

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Top side of the Solar Shell

Here’s the body propped on its side. Not sure how many cells there are but on the inside was a slew of wires hooked up to each of them.

I found this scene to be a bit ironic. An interview with a University of Phoenix official was being recorded about the Arizona Solar team’s car and for lighting purposes, they were using that “solar” reflector.

Solar Power!

Drifter info

I didn’t have enough time to talk to the team members but they were sharing all about the car, the technology, and the race they had just completed. One of the challenges they faced in the race were days of low or no sunshine. THAT would not be a problem with a race here in Arizona.