Engineering seniors drive to succeed with car projects

Although a 1999 race between solar-powered cars built by college students may not be the Indianapolis 500, the contest means everything to the 30 Engineering students building Penn's car. Engineering senior Scott Saltzman and the rest of the team hope their creation, nicknamed "Lightning," will cross the finish line first during the 1,250-mile race from Indianapolis to Colorado Springs, Colo. But even if they lose, the team hopes the car will break previous Penn solar car speed records of 72 miles per hour. Saltzman is helping to build Penn's fourth solar car as part of his Senior Design Project, a mandatory two-semester project for all undergraduate Engineering students. Engineering professors and industry experts suggest ideas to the students. Upon completion, seniors are required to turn in a report and a poster on their projects, as well as make a 10-minute presentation to Engineering faculty, Saltzman said. Saltzman is not the only Engineering student working on a racing project this year. Wharton and Engineering senior Mel Tang is helping construct a small, conventional race car to compete in an upcoming contest sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers. Because of the large amount of work required to build this type of vehicle, four separate senior design groups contributed to the project, Tang said. He explained that his group built the car's chassis -- the metal tubes that hold the vehicle together -- and its suspension system. Other parts of the car, including its drivetrain, body, steering and intake systems, were designed by the three other groups. Work on the project began in spring 1996, and the car will race this May in the competition in Detroit. Tang's group will compete with student teams from about 90 other schools, he said. Companies such as Bridgestone Corp., Algor Inc. and AlliedSignal Inc. helped fund the car's $20,000 cost. The race -- sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers, General Motors Corp., Chrysler Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Electronic Data Systems -- is judged by professional racers, Tang said. He added that the team traveled to Pontiac, Mich., last year to observe the 1996 competition. "It was exciting to see the stars from racing checking out our cars," Tang said. Unlike Tang's car, the solar car project contains photoelectric batteries, greatly reducing its speed and range. "The sun gives the car power, which is transmitted to the batteries and charges them," Saltzman said. "The batteries serve to power the electric motor." One person drives the car, which contains an accelerator and brake pedal, cruise control and normal steering. Last June, the Penn solar car "Independence" finished 15th out of 60 teams in the 1,250-mile Indiana race. The other schools in the competition -- including Stanford University, the University of Michigan and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology -- came from throughout North America.