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Up close and personal with solar car team
Forget football, baseball, basketball, and track. I have become a fan of a new sport
– solar racing. You should know that Rose has a Division I quality solar race team.
We are not allowed to give athletic scholarships, but we can attract the nation’s
best engineers, scientists, and mathematicians with a competitive racing spirit. Let me
introduce you to the Rose-Hulman solar race team – Division I in all respects.
With a budget ranging from $50,000 to $90,000, they compete against the rest of the
nation’s premier engineering schools in designing, constructing, maintaining, and
driving a solar-powered vehicle. The budgets of the competitors frequently top $1 to $1.5
½ million dollars but smarts, competitiveness, dedication, and perseverance —
hallmarks of good sportsmen — have produced the following results by our solar race
team over the past several years: Fifth Place 1991 Solar 300; Second Place 1992 eastern
Regional Solar Car Rally; Fifth Place Sunrayce 97; First Place 1998 National Solar Car
Rally.
When the Solar Race Team travels on the different legs of its journey (for a number of
years from Indianapolis to Colorado through Terre Haute) our own Rose campus, an overnight
stop, has been regularly voted the most enjoyable and hospitable stopping place along the
route. The entire Terre Haute community welcomes the 40 or so race teams and assures all a
good time.
I have had a chance to meet some of the members of our current Solar Race Team close-up
and personal. They live in a small house on Rose-Hulman’s easternmost campus where
they have access to a garage to “wrench” some of their wonders on the Solar
Phantom vehicle undisturbed. The garage happens to be where I sometimes work on some of my
automobiles. People addicted to the machining of horseless carriages are endearingly
called “gearheads”. The race team members are true “gearheads.” There
is no doubt that the team members will become the innovative professionals who will lead
automobile design for the future. All of them use their technical skills to make the best
solar race car possible within budget constraints. Roger Penske and A.J. Foyt would be
envious of their team spirit and how they have organized themselves into an efficient
working team sharing ideas, manpower, and functions. Team members organize support
functions assuming appropriate roles suitable to their individual personalities for the
advancement of their club’s goals. Dan, a bright eyed individual, with an easygoing
but confident demeanor, serves as the team leader to the outside world. He is assisted by
Grant and Ryan in running general operations and formulating public relations. David, with
a studious look and small square half glasses that focus on detail, serves as bookkeeper
and keeper of order. Robust Jim, with a sauntering gait and a neat ponytail is chief
mechanic. Pete, a somewhat intense, slight individual (remember the less weight the more
speed) is the driver. They also have heart. My wife found a lost puppy (as she invariably
does) and asked the team if they might need a mascot and canine companion. The puppy
(“Slick”) has a new and wonderful home right by their garage and is a very vocal
team member.
What does this team lack? SPONSORS, TECHNICAL SUPPORT, SPREADERS OF THE WORD,
ENCOURAGEMENT. If you can help, contact: Dr. Daniel Moore, Associate Professor of
Electrical Engineering, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, 5500 Wabash Avenue, Terre
Haute, Indiana 47803, (812) 877-8224, the team faculty adviser.
 
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