Iowa State University

6-24-97

Contact:
Skip Derra, News Service, (515) 294-4917

DIFFICULTIES KEEP TEAM PRISUM FROM FINISH LINE


AMES, Iowa -- Iowa State University's Team PrISUm solar car team experienced some difficulties during the fifth day of Sunrayce 97, making it to St, Mary's , Kan., covering about 120 miles of the 152-leg of the race. The team will trailer into the overnight stop at Manhattan, Kan., later this evening.

George Washington University won today's leg of Sunrayce 97 covering the course in 4 hours, 2 minutes and 57 seconds for an average speed of 37.5 mph. George Washington is currently eighth in the overall standings.

At the end of day five, the overall leader of Sunrayce 97 is California State University, Los Angeles, which finished fifth today with an average speed of 34.7 mph. In second place is the University of Waterloo (second in today's leg, average speed of 35.4 mph), and third is Stanford University/UC-Berkeley (fourth today, average speed of 34.8 mph). These unofficial standings do not include any penalties assessed to the teams.

"A capacitor in the motor controller became loose and shut down the controller," said Beth Hunter, Team PrISUm director. "We had to stop to put in another motor controller. We can't operate the car without the motor controller."

Hunter said it took more than two hours to replace the motor controller and cost Team PrISUm a shot at finishing the day under its own power.

Tomorrow's leg of Sunrayce will be from Manhattan to Smith Center, Kan., a distance of 150 miles.

Sunrayce 97 coincides with the week of the summer solstice. The 1,230-mile race began June 19 in Indianapolis and ends June 28 in Colorado Springs, Colo.

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Editors:

The ISU News Service will provide daily updates on Team PrISUm to reporters covering the race. Contact Skip Derra, (515) 294-4917 or (515) 255-3422 (home).

Official race standings and times can be obtained by accessing the Sunrayce web site at http://www.sunrayce.com/.

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