Students to race with the sun

It might not be the Grand Prix or the Indianapolis 500, but Sunrayce 99 -- the largest solar car race in North America -- is two months away and the University of Pennsylvania Solar Racing Team is going to make its fourth appearance at the event. Sponsored by General Motors, Electronic Data Systems and the U.S. Department of Energy, Sunrayce 99 will pit 40 college and university teams against one another in a 1,300-mile, 10-day solar car race from Washington, D.C., to Epcot Center in Orlando, Fla., this June. The car -- which is expected to reach a speed of 70 miles per hour -- will operate as photons from sunlight release electrons, creating an electric field and a drop in voltage across the solar cells built into the car. The cells will then charge the batteries, thereby driving the motor. Team leader Deepak Sindwani, an Engineering senior, said the team had originally hoped to finish its car, "Ben's Lightning," by early April, but now anticipates its completion by Friday due to minor complications. "There is a sense of urgency now," he said. The team will participate in a 100-mile qualifying race in Milford, Mich., early this May. The car will go through "scrutineering" -- the process by which professional engineers and Sunrayce officials test the car's systems for strength and correctness, Sindwani said. The Milford race will reduce the number of competing teams from 60 to 40. The completely student-run project is a two-year process. Last year, the team conducted research and designed the car, and the actual construction began late last summer in the Towne Building. And now, many of the students work on the car for at least 30 hours each week. "Team members put insane hours into the project purely for the love of getting hands-on engineering experience," said Engineering senior Amit Kalia, the mechanical team leader. And according to Sindwani, the team of about 45 students is comparable to a company. "We have a budget of $100,000 that we have to raise ourselves," he said. "There is a hierarchy of positions? and we have one common goal." University alumni and several corporations -- including technical companies Allied Signal and Lockheed Martin, Deutsche Bank and First USA Bank and City Hotels -- are providing most of the funding for the race. The first Penn Solar Racing Team competed in 1990. The last car, "Independence," placed 15th out of 60 entries in Sunrayce 97 -- a 1,250-mile race from Indianapolis to Colorado Springs, Colo. This year, the team is better prepared, according to construction leader Ravi Jain. "A lot of the race is about strategy," the Engineering junior said. "Planning correctly and testing are important." And Sindwani added, "We are aiming for the top 10 [but] the top five would make us all happy." "But the coolest part is to see how everyone learns and works as a team," he added. The team will formally unveil its car to the University on May 15, coinciding with Penn's annual Alumni Day.

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