6-27-97
Contact:
Skip Derra, News Service, (515) 294-4917
EXCYTOR BURNS PURE SOLAR ENERGY AT SUNRAYCE
AMES, Iowa -- Iowa State University's Team PrISUm took
advantage of a sunny day to compensate for low battery power
and cruised across the finish line in Limon, Colo., during
eighth day of Sunrayce 97. The ExCYtor car averaged 22 mph
during today's leg from St. Francis, Kan., to Limon
completing it in about 6 hours and 15 minutes.
Today's winning team was MIT, which covered the 140-mile leg
in 2 hours, 58 minutes and 44 seconds for an average speed of
47.1 mph. The University of Waterloo was second (averaging
46.9 mph) and the Stanford University/UC Berkeley team was
third (46.88 mph).
Overall, California State University, Los Angeles remains the
leader in Sunrayce 97. MIT is second, about 20 minutes behind
Cal State in total elapsed time and the Stanford/UC Berkeley
team is third. These unofficial times and speeds do not
include any penalties assessed to the teams.
Iowa State began today's leg in 27th place overall. The team
found today's leg a challenge because their battery power was
at a premium. But the Sun was shining for them.
"We planned to take the day slow and take advantage of the
sunlight," said Beth Hunter, Team PrISUm director. "We needed
to run the car on pure solar energy."
"Because it was so sunny, we were able to keep the car at
around 25 mph and charge our batteries at the same time,"
added team member Allen Ihlefeld. "This will help when we
sprint to the finish line tomorrow."
Tomorrow is the last day of Sunrayce '97 and will be from
Limon to Colorado Springs, Colo., a relatively short distance
of 77 miles. Traditionally, the last day of Sunrayce is a
sprint to the finish line for all of the teams, after which
they gather along the finish line and celebrate completing
the marathon race.
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.
- 30 -
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/.
Iowa State homepage
University Relations, online@iastate.edu
Copyright © 1997, Iowa State University, all rights
reserved
URL:
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~nscentral/releases/sr97day8.html
Revised
6/30/97