By WMBD TV
NORMAL, Ill. (WMBD) — The ISU Solar Car team is making its way across the country in a solar-powered car after qualifying at the Electrek American Solar Challenge.
A few weeks back, the solar car team at ISU competed in the track portion of the solar challenge. They were able to compete their way to a qualifying spot in the road portion. The road portion will challenge their vehicle as they venture from Minnesota to Texas.
The team arrived at their first stop on the route, which happened to be home base at Illinois State University.
Unfortunately, they experienced issues with their car and had to tow it to the first stop. They hope that since they are at home base, they can use their tools and fix it to get it back onto the road.
“The biggest deal is just making sure we can stay out on that road. You know, we get as many miles as possible. We’re trying to keep morale high with the team. I know this is exhausting. It’s a very grueling event. So we’re hoping to keep kind of spirits high, get as many miles as possible,” said Mac Brody, president and mechanical lead for the solar car team.
Even with the setbacks, the team is still working hard, hoping that if they can work out the kinks this year, they will be able to come back next year and compete for a top placement.
“We’re overall pretty happy with it. We’re hoping to just get to Amarillo and have a great time, test the car and be able to work out all of the issues with the car that we can. And then hopefully next year we can hit the ground running and we’ll be way more competitive,” Brody said.
The team took off again at about 11:15 a.m. on Monday morning. They will head ot their next checkpoint in Edwardsville, where they will stop for the night. You can keep track of their progress on the events website.
WMBD TV first reported this story. You can read the original story online at CIProud.com.
