2. History of Solar Racing

Edward Passerini's 1978 Bluebird (Martin 1978) is arguably the first documented solar-powered automobile. Although it had been more than 100 years since the inventions of photovoltaic (solar) cells[3] and electric vehicles,[4] it was not until the energy crisis of the 1970s that they were brought together. It would still be another decade before solar cars gained international attention. When Hans Tholstrup announced the World Solar Challenge (WSC) in 1987,[5] solar cars were transformed from the hobby of a few ecologically minded tinkerers to an international competition between some of the world's largest automakers and top universities.

Tholstrup was an adventure racer who had set numerous records including for the first solo crossing of Australia from East-West in a 4WD vehicle, the first circumnavigation of Australia in an open boat, a record 28 days around the world on a motorcycle, and the first solo flight around the world without navigation aids. In the late-seventies, the mounting petroleum crisis led him to set his sights on records for fuel economy, specifically the most miles traveled on a single gallon of gasoline. In 1982, he strove for complete independence from fossil fuels by partnering with Larry Perkins to build a solar car. They then drove this car, the Quiet Achiever, across the Australian continent - a distance of over 4000 km. The trip took 20 days and they averaged only 23 km/h (14.3 mi/h),[6] but this was still 8 days shorter than the journey 70 years before when Australia was first crossed by a fossil fuel-powered vehicle in 1912 (WSC 1998; King and others 1993). To further promote the development of solar technology, in 1987 Tholstrup staged the first World Solar Challenge: a 3000 km (1867 mi) race from Darwin in the north of Australia to Adelaide in the south. He invited an international field of automakers, educational institutions, research centers, and entrepreneurs to build racecars powered only by the sun. There were 25 entrants, with the field dominated by General Motors' Sunraycer, which raced down the Stuart Highway at an average speed of 66.9 km/h (41.6 mi/h), arriving in Adelaide two days before its nearest competitor (Roche Schnickel Storey Humphris and Guelden 1997).

To further promote solar power, General Motors (GM), in partnership with the US Department of Energy (DOE), announced that in the summer of 1990 they would hold the GM Sunrayce™, an 1800 mi (2897 km) race from Lake Buena Vista, FL to Warren, MI. They invited proposals from American and Canadian colleges and universities and selected the 32 best responses for entrance into the race. These teams were given financial assistance from GM and the DOE, although additional fundraising and corporate sponsorship was needed to fund the purchases of expensive components such as solar cells and batteries. All 32 seeded teams participated in the eleven-day race, with the top three finishers - the University of Michigan, Western Washington University, and the University of Maryland - receiving sponsorship from GM to participate in the second World Solar Challenge in Australia that fall (King and others 1993). The university teams had quite a respectable showing on the international stage, finishing third, fifth, and seventh respectively. The University of Michigan was beaten only by two of the top teams in the world, Honda Motors and the Swiss Engineering Institute of Biel[7] (Kyle 1991).

The World Solar Challenges continued to be held every three years[8] and followed the same route across central Australia (WSC 1998). In the United States, a second Sunrayce was held in 1993, again by invitation to university teams. A new system of qualifiers was instituted where each team would need to attend a qualifying event approximately two months before the start of the race. There, each car would undergo scrutineering - a detailed inspection to ensure it complied with all race regulations - and then dynamic testing. In addition to navigating a slalom course and a braking test, each car would need to demonstrate its ability to travel 50 mi (80 km) maintaining a speed of at least 20 mi/h (32 km/h).[9] It was hoped that this new requirement would lead to solar cars being completed earlier and being more thoroughly tested before the race (King 1993).

Establishing a two-year cycle, the next Sunrayce was held in the summer of 1995. It was a 1252 mi (2014 km) route from Indianapolis, IN to Golden, CO, and sixty-five teams submitted proposals. Based upon the proposals, thirty seeded entry spots were awarded, along with $3000 in seed money to each team from the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency, but the race organizers also added ten unseeded spaces. These were open to any challengers and would be determined by a competitive qualifier immediately before the race (King Stafford and Tamai 1996). Sunrayce 97 repeated the 1995 route, but seeded spots were now awarded only to the top three finishers in Sunrayce 95 and all other teams would compete in qualifying events for the remaining 37 spots (Sunrayce 1996c).

For Sunrayce 99, in an attempt to gain greater media attention, the race was relocated to the East Coast and covered 1424 mi (2291 km) from Washington, DC to Orlando, FL, ending at Walt Disney World's EPCOT Center. Unfortunately rain, overcast weather, and the East's curvy, tree shaded roads led to a very slow race, with an average speed of only 25 mi/h (40 km/h), and the majority of teams needing to trailer their car along at least some portion of the route due to insufficient sun light and depleted batteries.

Following Sunrayce 99, there was uncertainty about future sponsorship and the timing of the next Sunrayce. In an effort to ensure that there would be a US solar car race in the summer of 2001, some of the organizers of Sunrayce created the Global Solar Challenge. This was envisioned as a WSC-style race across the United States, but to avoid confusion with the WSC, which would also be held in 2001, the name was changed to the American Solar Challenge (ASC) (Eberle 1999; 2000).[10] Besides the change in name, there were also significant differences between Sunrayce and the new ASC. While the most recent Sunrayces had been open to any North American collegiate team, the ASC had no restrictions on who could enter the race, opening the field to international teams, high schools, and corporations. The new race was also divided into two classes: a stock class, which would have the same limits on the cost of solar cells and batteries that had been in place for Sunrayce, and a new open class without limits on what components teams could use. Perhaps most significantly, the format of the race was also changed from that of Sunrayce to one more like the WSC (ASC 2000).

The format of Sunrayce, conceived of as a collegiate competition, was a staged race, where all the teams traveled a specific distance each day and spent the night in a common location. This led to a great deal of interaction between the teams, with everyone traveling cross country at roughly the same rate and all of the cars crossing the finish line on the same day. The winner is then the team with the best cumulative time for all of the stages. The WSC, on the other hand, is an un-staged race to the finish line. The teams leave Darwin at the same time and the first one to Adelaide wins. Racing is permitted between 8 AM and 5 PM; wherever the team is at 5 PM, they stop and camp, picking up again the next morning. While this allows direct competition - if you pass a team, you know you are doing better then they are - the teams are spread out across the country and can arrive at the finish line days apart. In the first WSC, journalists covering the race and traveling with GM's first place caravan found it impractical to drive in a conventional automobile back to cover other teams, as after the first day, the distance separating them was too great (Jordan 1988). In a compromise between these two concepts, the ASC is partially staged. All of the teams stop after a first short stage to make sure that everyone is racing smoothly, but then travel in un-staged fashion, each car moving at its own pace, until a stage stop at the halfway point to regroup the teams. Most of the rest of the race is then again un-staged until a stop shortly before the finish line, allowing all of the teams the chance to participate in the closing ceremonies. Additionally, due to the increased speeds attainable by solar cars, much of the route is on primary highways, instead of the secondary roads that had been used in the Sunrayce events (Eberle 1999).

With the reorganization of US solar racing, a new event was also created, the Formula Sun Grand Prix (FSGP), first held in 2000. This is an annual three-day endurance race on the track at Heartland Park Raceway in Topeka, KS. In 2001 and later odd numbered years, the FSGP would serve as a qualifying event for the ASC. The inaugural ASC in 2001 was the longest solar car race held to that date: 2247 mi (3617 km) roughly following the old Route 66 from Chicago, IL to Claremont, CA. The race was a great success, with lots of sun and wide western highways, plus the added challenge of climbing the Rocky Mountains, so it was repeated in 2003. The ASC had another name change in 2005, becoming the North American Solar Challenge (NASC), as the race now crossed the US-Canadian border departing from Austin, TX and ending 2460 mi (3960 km) later in Calgary, Alberta. This was yet again the longest solar car ever held. The average speed of all twenty entrants was an astonishing 32 mi/h (52 km/h), more then double that of the early races.

As the sport grew, the International Solarcar Federation (ISF) was founded to help coordinate and promote further events. Starting in 2001, the ISF defined standard sizes for solar cars, to encourage teams to enter their cars in multiple races. The Federation Internationale De L'Automobile (FIA) has also established an Alternative Energy Cup, creating a solar racing champion. Although the American Solar Challenge and the World Solar Challenge are the races that receive the most publicity in the United States, there are numerous other races, including the World Solar Car Rallye in Akita and the Dream Cup Suzuka, both annual track races in Japan; SunRace Australia, a long distance race held annually from 1997 - 2002; and many one time events such as the 2004 Phaethon in Greece, and the 2005 Formula G in Turkey.