U. solarcar team has very cloudy finish

By Josh Fineman Although the nine day solar car race form from Indianapolis to Golden, Colorado, was marked mostly by sunny days, the University's solar car team seemed to be stuck in the clouds. Out of a field of 38 competitors in Sunrayce 95, the University's team finished 34th last week. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology won the race, with University of Minnesota finishing a very close second, California Polytechnic-Pomona coming in third, George Washington University fourth and Stanford University fifth. Local solar car rival, Drexel University, finished in 11th place. MIT finished in a time of 33:37, averaging around 37.23 miles per hour, while the Liberty Belle -- the University's car -- finished in 113:32. Engineering junior Ryan Crowell said he was a bit disappointed by the University's place, but added that he learned a great deal about solar cars and had a excellent time during the cross-country excursion. "The car wasn't really built for that kind of a race," Crowell said. "But we're going to win in two years. "It was a really next experience," Crowell said. "Definitely worth the the 2000 mile race." Crowell added that there was definetely a bright spot in the race. He said that in the qualifying round before the race, the Liberty Belle broke two Sunrayce records. One record was for the highest acceleration rate and other was for highest speed during a course with cones. Although the University's solar car team endured numerous setbacks during the race, the main problem was that the car was built for speed rather than endurance, according to Crowell. He said that the car was built for the Tour De Sol, a much shorter event that the University competed in last year. Crowell added that the team would keep their current solar car, but is going to begin building a new car for Sunrayce 1997. And in July the team plans to go to Pocono Raceway to attempt to break the world record for speed by a solar car of 83 m.p.h. As for local rival Drexel, Crowell said that he became "pretty good" friends with the team. And he said that all the teams were friendly, sharing tales and helpful information about their cars. Overall, Patrick Summers, spokesperson for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, said that the race was much faster than in 1993. In 1993 the average speed was 20 m.p.h., while the average speed this year was in the mid 30's. "People are learning from previous teams mistakes," Summers said. "A lot of cars had a chance of being very good competitors." Summers said that there really were not any particular surprises in the race. "After the qualifying, it was clear that you had a strong field of maybe five to t0 cars and that held out pretty much through the race." The University of Michigan, the 1990 and 1993 national champion dropped out of the race due to mechanical problems. Sunrayce 95 began on June 20 and ended on June 29 and is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and General Motors to promote student interest in technology and the environment.