6-20-99
Contacts:Allen Ihlefeld, Team PrISUm, (515) 231-0363
Skip Derra, News Service, (515) 294-4917
IOWA STATE COMPLETES FIRST DAY OF SUNRAYCE IN 16th PLACE
AMES, Iowa -- Iowa State University's solar car team, Team PrISUm, ended the first day of Sunrayce 99 in 16th place. The team completed the first day of the race, driving its car PrISUm Phoenix the 116 miles (Washington, D.C., to Charlottesville, Va.) in 4 hrs and 15 min. for an average speed of 27 mph.
The top three race teams at the end of the first day of racing are Rose Hulman Institute of Technology (average speed of 34.85 mph), Messiah College (32.7 mph) and the University of Minnesota (32.48 mph). The Iowa State team began the race in the pole position, having captured that during Sunrayce qualifiers in May.
"It rained all day so we decided to run the car conservatively and save on battery power," said Allen Ihlefeld, director of Team PrISUm. "We finished the day where we wanted to be and we hope to close the gap tomorrow with some better weather."
Tomorrow's leg of Sunrayce 99 will be 180 miles from Charlottesville, Va., to Raleigh, N.C.
Sunrayce 97 coincides with the week of the summer solstice. The 1,340-mile race began June 20 in Washington, D.C., and ends June 29 in Orlando, Fla.
Sunrayce is an ongoing educational program that culminates in a biennial cross-country race of solar-powered cars. The program is open to colleges, universities, trade schools and other post-secondary educational institutions.
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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.
Team PrISUm's Web site includes images and updates on the team's performance.
Iowa State homepage
University Relations, online@iastate.edu
Copyright © 1999, Iowa State University, all rights
reserved
URL:
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~nscentral/releases/99/june/day1.html
Revised 06/03/99