With the completion of the Formula Sun Grand Prixwhich also serves as a qualifier for the American Solar Challenge, teams have had the chance to not only compete against other colleges, but also manage to hit the road for the next race.
The Formula Sun Grand Prix and Qualifying for the American Solar Challenge
The winners of the Formula Sun Grand Prix in the Cruiser Class (multi-person vehicle) were the University of Minnesota, first place; Italian University of Bologna, second place; and Appalachian State University, third. Photo by Troy Tuttle
This year’s race threw teams another curveball: multiple classes† In the past, students built cars that would contain only the driver, with no room for passengers and cargo† Obviously, these cars aren’t exactly practical for just about everyone. They don’t even have real comforts like air conditioning or a heater in most cases. But now teams can compete in single or multi-person classes, meaning more practical designs become part of the race.
To promote vehicles with more seats and help develop the viability of solar cars in the real world, the teams get a bonus for each seat for each round, with the winning team racking up the most “person miles”. So if a team with more seats is slightly slower than a team with only two seats, the team with more places can still win†
“That’s really unique for a lot of people to see, like, ‘Okay, solar cars can be a two-seater or a four-seater and carry people,'” said FSGP event director Gail Lueck. “And those cars are also judged on some practicalities. So those are the cars that might have some cup holders, they might have an infotainment system in the car and you know comfort that can make the public think, ‘Oh, maybe this is something that’s being worked on in the future.’”
Once designed and built for the class the team intends to compete in, and shipped to the Formula Sun Grand Prix venue, the real challenge begins, NOT on the track. There is a rulebook governing design and safety considerations for vehicles competing in both Formula Sun and the subsequent over-the-road American Solar Challenge. And the rulebook is over 90 pages long.
This means there must be a thorough inspection or “check” to make sure everyone follows the same rules for both fairness and safety. This took a whole day last week to prepare the cars for the track of the following days.
The three-day race took place on a 2.5-mile track at Topeka’s Heartland Motorsports Park. Cars had the opportunity to run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesday, 9-5 on Wednesday, and 9-5 on Thursday. Teams had to cover at least 308 miles over two days or 205 miles in one day to qualify for the next race, and the teams that could cover the most miles on the power of the sun win the Formula Sun.
In addition, any driver who wanted to advance to the next road race had to spend at least 53 miles in the driver’s seat, so the race couldn’t be done by dozens of new drivers to cheat.
Formula Sun Results
Solar racing isn’t the fastest race you’ll ever see, but it’s one of the most technical. Whoever gets the most laps over the 3-day race times wins, so it makes sense to conserve energy for endurance rather than sprinting to do hot laps.
The #1 team in the Single Occupant Class, Principia College, completed 299 laps for a total of 747.5 miles. MIT took second with 290 laps and 725 miles. The University of Kentucky team was not far behind, completing 270 laps for a total of 675 miles. The Kentucky team also set the fastest lap on the 2.5-mile track in 3:08 or 47.5 MPH.
Of the 13 teams that competed in the single-seater class, just over half of the teams qualified for the American Solar Challenge (7 teams). The other teams just didn’t make enough laps to convince the event organizers that they were ready for an over-the-road race.
For the multi-seat category, it was not so easy. The team that finished in first place, Polytechnique Montréal, completed 270 laps or 1355 person miles with their two seats. The second-place team (University of Minnesota) completed more person miles, but had a lower total points according to the scoring system, while the third-place team (University of Calgary) was behind the top two in both points and person miles .
Honestly, I’m just as confused as you are about the points system, so here’s a verbatim quote of how this works on the Formula Sun website:
Score formula
In FSGP, the MOV Score (S) is calculated as follows: S = (D / E) x C x T
The variables are as follows:
T – Derating of the target speed. For teams with an average speed of less than 30 mph, their score is reduced exponentially based on their average speed
D – Total personal miles (Personal rounds * 2.5 miles) minus penalty miles
E – External energy consumed in kWh
C – Completion Factor as a percentage of the highest miles completed by a team. Note to teams: See the rules for full details, the information is simplified here
I’m not a solar mathematician, but as far as I can see your speed needs to be higher and your efficiency also higher to get more points per kilometer driven. This seems to be aimed at making the cars more practical.
All but one of the teams qualified for the over-the-road American Solar Challenge.
You can get the full results here.
Teams advance to the American Solar Challenge
The teams that have qualified for the Formula Sun Grand Prix are, as this is being written and published, competing for the next race. This time they’re going from Topeka, Kansas, to Twin Falls, Idaho, instead of acting like NASCAR and going over the same track over and over (hey, in NASCAR’s defense, it’s easy to follow if you’ve been drinking). †
This 1400 mile race takes place in 4 stages over 8 racing days, including several checkpoints and stops. This means it will take more than 10 calendar days. Average speeds will never compete with the Big Bend Open Road Race, of course, but when you consider that the teams aren’t just running on solar power alone, but also need to build more practical cars, it’s still quite an achievement for nerds like us. Bee CleanTechnica†
You can view the results here and follow the teams live here†
Featured image: Appalachian State car from a previous year. Image provided by American Solar Challenge
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