Bronze medal finish for U of T’s Blue Sky Solar Racing team at the American Solar Challenge 2016

lanthierj — Mon, 08 Aug 2016 20:18:55 +0000

lanthierj Mon, 08/08/2016 - 16:18

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Horizon, the solar car designed, built and raced by the University of Toronto’s Blue Sky Solar Racing team races across Missouri on August 3 during Day 4 of the American Solar Challenge 2016 (photos courtesy: Blue Sky Solar Racing)

Engineering Strategic Communications

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Engineering Strategic Communications

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Global Lens

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Solar Racing

Blue Sky Solar Racing

The University of Toronto's Blue Sky Solar Racing team has finished third in the American Solar Challenge – an eight-day, rally-style solar car race.

Horizon, the solar car designed, built and raced by the U of T team, zipped across the finish line Saturday to cheers and shouts from its 18-member race crew.

The event. which is divided into four stages, covers 1,975 miles (3,178 kilometres) through the American Midwest states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska, finishing at Wind Cave National Park near Hot Springs, South Dakota.

Horizon, an eighth-generation vehicle, made the trip with an official time of 62 hours, 11 minutes and three seconds, powered only by electricity generated from sunlight.

Of the 16 solar car teams from colleges and universities across Canada, the United States and Switzerland that qualified to race, only 11 completed the challenging course.

“We always knew this would be an incredible experience, but to place third is really special,” said Engineering student Frank Gu, managing director of the Blue Sky Solar Racing team. “It’s a tribute to the hard work of all the team members who have spent countless hours designing, building and testing this vehicle over the last two years.”

Solar Racing

Bronze medal finish for U of T’s Blue Sky Solar Racing team at the American Solar Challenge 2016

Read more about the Blue Sky Solar Racing team