 Led
by sunny skies, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology's Solar Phantom VI
solar-powered car swept across the finish line in Los Angeles on Wednesday
to complete the 2,300-mile American Solar Challenge. The team placed eighth
out of 30 teams in the 11-day adventure that traveled along historic Route
66 after starting July 15 in Chicago.
"There's a great sense of accomplishment knowing that we finished the
race. It was certainly a challenge," stated Team Leader Brad Berron, a
senior from St. Louis.
The race was filled with heat index temperatures reaching 120 degrees,
heavy traffic on interstate highways and steep mountains in Arizona.
"We survived," Berron admitted. "We would have liked to have done better
in the final standings. However, overall, I think the team did a great
job. Just getting to the finish line was a victory for us in a competition
of this magnitude."
Don Harrington, a senior, had the honor of driving the Solar Phantom
VI across the finish line in his hometown of Claremont, Calif., a suburb
of Los Angeles.
Official Final Standings:
1. University of Michigan
2. University of Missouri-Rolla
3. University of Waterloo (Canada)
4. Queen's University (Canada)
5. Kansas State University
6. University of Minnesota
7. Principia College (Ill.)
8. Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
9. University of Arizona
10. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
"To finish in the top 10 of a national engineering competition, beating
MIT, Stanford's two cars and Texas A&M, is gratifying. We had just
one mechanical breakdown in 11 days of racing, and that only cost us 15
minutes on the road," Berron said. "We also helped spread news about Rose-Hulman,
through media interviews, meeting people in towns along the race route
and distributing team postcards. There's plenty to be proud of from our
perspective. A lot of teams would have easily traded places with us."
Rose-Hulman's team included 22 students from several different academic
departments. Drivers included Chris Nicholson, a senior chemistry major
from Anderson, Ind.; Dan Helms, a senior computer engineering major from
Bloomfield, Ind.; Pete Mobley, a graduate student in mechanical engineering
from Spencer, Ind.; and Harrington, a mechanical engineering and electrical
engineering double major. The chief engineers were Bobbie Burke, a senior
mechanical engineering major from Bloomington, Ind., and Quentin Kramer,
a senior electrical engineering major also from Bloomington.
Team members plan to begin the return trip to Terre Haute on Friday,
arriving on campus late Sunday. Most students will return to summer jobs
and internships early next week.
"We've got a lot of lost sleep to catch up on," conceded Berron. "This
has been an experience that we'll never forget."
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