Posted on Nov. 26: Solar car team fires up for the challenge

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/solarcar_cropped.jpg” caption=”Solar Car”]Zipping along Route 66 at speeds in excess of 70 km/h, the car won't burn an iota of gasoline. As the sun in the hazy Arizona sky burns overhead, the driver will clinch the wheel and power on in a race against more than 30 teams from around the globe.

They call it Fireball II and they know it's going to be a force to be reckoned with.

“We're going to be very competitive,” says third-year commerce student Tammy Hwang about the American Solar Challenge just eight months away. “We plan to make it into the top five. I know that sounds ambitious, but we have the right kind of teamwork and skills to do it.”

The media relations officer for the 40-member McMaster Solar Car team doesn't doubt the competition will be stiff. After all, they'll be competing against top technical institutions such as Queen's and the University of Michigan.

For the second year, McMaster will join the 10-day American Solar Challenge July 13-23, 2003 that covers more than 3,000 km, beginning in Chicago and ending in California.

The students are working hard at completing the “Fireball II” model for the challenge and raising money for cells for the new car. The students have launched an Adopt-a-Cell program in an effort to sell 800 cells for a suggested donation of $25 each. Donors will have their names printed on the side of the Fireball trailer and get a chance to drive Fireball II, which is powered entirely by the sun. Adoption forms can be downloaded from the project's Web site, www.solarcar.mcmaster.ca.

McMaster's Fireball I was entered into the 2001 American Solar Challenge, but was forced to withdraw partway through due to a pre-qualification accident that damaged the solar panels.

“This year our design is a lot better,” says Hwang, who says students and faculty from across the university are involved in this year's project. “We wanted to create a car the entire University could be proud of. When we're competing in the American Solar Challenge, we want to say it is a McMaster University project, that was pioneered by McMaster engineering.”

McMaster's Solar Car team was recently honoured with a Clean Air Hamilton Award from Vision 2020 Strategies for a Sustainable Community(PDF).

Photo captions: Top: McMaster's Solar car team participates in the Unilever Clean Air Commute in Toronto in June 2002. Bottom: Solar car project manager Claire Braden, left, and solar car team members, talk with solar expert Martin Green, right, about how to best design a car powered entirely by the sun. Green, a scientia professor at the University of New South Wales, Sydney Australia, and research director of Pacific Solar Pty. Ltd, spoke with students informally prior to receiving a distinguished alumni award from McMaster at Fall Convocation. An expert in the area of photovoltaics and the utilization of solar energy, Green received his doctorate in electrical engineering from McMaster University in 1974. His bachelor's and master's degrees in engineering were obtained from the University of Queensland in 1970 and 1971.