Last Saturday a group of University of Michigan students won the American Solar Challenge – a competition where students design and build solar-driven cars and race them across the country. This year’s teams and their vehicles sped 1,200 miles from Oklahoma to Illinois.
Michigan’s 700-pound machine dubbed “Infinium” – which can reach speeds over 100 miles per hour – beat 16 other U.S. and international teams and crossed the finish line in about 28 hours. In second place, University of Minnesota’s car “Centaurus 2,” finished over two hours later. Last place finisher “Mercury III,” Illinois State University’s vehicle, came in 38 hours later. Seven universities from Great Lakes states or provinces participated.
Solar car “raycing” (get it?) events began in North America in 1990. This year marked the 20th anniversary and was hosted by the Innovators Educational Foundation, an organization that encourages “students to think outside the box encouraging innovations that will move our country forward.”