The national
champion U-M Solar Car Team soon will put its 2011 car and crew to the toughest test before the October World Solar Challenge. On Saturday, the team will embark on a 1,000-mile, four-day "mock race" that will ring the state's Lower Peninsula.
Quantum, which is street legal, will cruise along mostly two-lane roads at an expected average speed of 40-50 mph. (Previous Michigan solar cars can break 100 mph, but the team doesn't test for speed until after the World Solar Challenge.)
Five stops in St. Joseph, Ludington, Traverse City, Mackinaw City and Tawas City will simulate the mandatory control stops along the Australian race route. At these check points, the team will rest, change drivers and charge up.
"Mock race is a major milestone for us," says Rachel Kramer, project manager and senior neuroscience student. "We'll be on the open roads navigating and dealing with other traffic while making real-time race strategy decisions."
Beyond practice, the trip will give the team a chance to show Quantum off across the state that many of its biggest fans and supporters call home. The team has more than 300 sponsors. Half are in the auto-manufacturing sector and the majority of those are Michigan companies.
"Quantum is a breakthrough car for the U-M team and we couldn't have built it without our sponsors," says Chris Hilger, business manager and junior chemical engineering student. "This year we worked with the automotive base around us in unprecedented ways. No team has collaborated with industry on the level that we have."
Whereas in 2009, Michigan-based engineering firm Roush painted the car and donated some machining time and materials, this year the students built Quantum's carbon fiber chassis and body right at Roush's office, getting advice from professional engineers as they worked.
"With their help, we took a process that used to take a month and finished it in a week, and we ended up with a better product," Hilger says.
The team worked with the Detroit office of British engineering firm Ricardo to measure the true forces the car experiences on the road. With this new knowledge, the students were able to design a streamlined car that is 200 pounds lighter than its predecessor.
The team ran aerodynamics tests in GE Jacobs' wind tunnel. Atlas Tool Inc. manufactured the wheels. The Detroit Three automakers have all given funding or in-kind support. A full list of sponsors is on the team's website.
U-M is the reigning champion of the North American Solar Challenge, a race it has won three times in a row. Michigan has finished third in the World Solar Challenge four times. The 2011 World Solar Challenge begins Oct. 16 in Darwin, Australia.