RIDGWAY – It sounds like the classic story of the tortoise and the hare: With limited resources, a small team, high school students from Ridgway and Ouray have built a solar-powered racecar that outruns cars costing more than $30,000. This local Sunshine Mountain Traveler team’s solar car is not the glittery showcase that many competing teams drive, but it comes through in the long run – and has placed second and third in past competitions.
The Sunshine Mountain Traveler team has a strategy: While other teams go out fast and furious, Ouray County’s solar racecar team uses endurance to pull past its competitors in a four-day event that draws teams from around the world.
This July, Sunshine Mountain Traveler is ready to show off its experience and efficiency at the Dell-Winston School Solar Car Challenge in Dallas, Tex.; the event, established 10 years ago, aims to motivate students in science and engineering.
The Challenge, a project of The Winston School in Dallas, teaches high school students around the world how to build roadworthy solar cars and gives them a safe environment to display those cars. On even-numbered years, the event takes place at the Texas Motor Speedway; on odd-numbered years, teams drive cross-country to share their projects with millions of people. And with 18 teams, some from as far away as Saudi Arabia and Mexico registered, to compete this year, the competition should be fierce.
Sunshine Mountain Traveler’s car was created in 2000 with the help of a grant from the Christa McAuliffe Fellowship Program, an educational fellowship administered by the U.S. Department of Education. Each year the team modifies, seeking advice on new ideas and innovations, occasionally seeking advice from community volunteers. In 2004, the solar array powering the car was re-adjusted to reduce self-shading; this year, the team has changed its motor setup to increase overall vehicle efficiency approximately 16 percent over last year’s configuration.
Overall, the car boasts an impressive 86-87 percent power transfer efficiency. Gas-powered cars of similar size are only about 40 percent power efficient, according to team advisor Tom Johnson.
Weighing in at 975 pounds, Sunshine Mountain Traveler’s car is nearly twice the weight of many competitors’ cars; however, the team makes up for the extra heft with efficiency and strategy. Each day of the Challenge starts with an early-morning solar charging session; then the teams hit the road for eight hours each day.
Johnson said most teams start out too fast.
“They start out going 30 to 40 miles an hour and drain their batteries down too far,” he said. “We go out slow, maybe 12 to13 miles per hour and average 18 to 20 miles per hour over the four-day period.”
In years past, the team has often found itself far behind the lead cars at the end of the first day, Johnson said, but by day three, they are near the front. They work hard during the day to ensure that when they put their car away at night, they have enough battery life left to allow for complete recharge the next morning, before heading out. As if that weren’t enough to keep track of, each night the team must repair any mechanical problems or power problems they had during the day. One year, a weld in the steering box tore and the team had to stay up late, tearing the car apart to repair the weld and rebuild by the next morning.
While honing their critical thinking and problem-solving skills, students also get to put their math and science educations to work. Additionally, their participation in the upcoming race adds to their experience of history and geography and a growing cultural and social awareness.
One year, the cross-country race ended up at Coco Beach, Fla., where the team toured the Florida Solar Energy Center. Another year, the team visited NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, Calif.
The student team needs help from the community to get to this year’s Dell-Winston School Solar Car Challenge, and are seeking donations and volunteers for help. Chaperones for the event are needed as well. Direct donations are tax deductible and, Johnson said, greatly appreciated.
The Sunshine Mountain Traveler team will also be raising money for the Challenge during the Black Canyon Car Classic Show on Father’s Day at the Town Park in Ouray, where they are providing concessions. Donations and funds raised will go toward travel and food expenses.
Housing while in Dallas is taken care of, thanks to a part-time Telluride resident who offered the use of his home in response to a request for assistance published this March in the Ouray County Watch. “That’s just going to help a ton,” team advisor Britta Johnson said.
In addition to financial assistance, Sunshine Mountain Traveler is in search of a good source of green, orange and black rip-stop nylon for their next exciting upgrade – a fabric body, just like that found on old airplanes, to improve aerodynamics and reduce the car’s weight significantly.
With this change, Sunshine Mountain Traveler should have a shot at first place.
For more information about the team and the race, or to join the team as either a student or adult volunteer, contact Johnson at 970/626-5934, or jmc@q.com.
Donations can be mailed to (fully tax deductible): Sunshine Mountain Traveler, c/o Ridgway High School, P.O. Box 205, Ridgway, CO 81432. For more information about the race, visit: www.winstonsolar.org/challenge/.
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