Photos: Sunrayce 99 - Part 4 of 4 - The Sunrayce

Purdue in Washington, D.C. It rained recently and it wasn't warm.

We finally started the rayce. The time period before this photo was frustrating. The rayce started on a declined street, which should of made things even easier. But all morning it rained. When our turn came to depart, the car would only go backwards. We eventually found a motor controller connector had water in it. When two terminals in the connector were shorted, the car would only go backwards. Once the connector was dried, the car was back to normal. Throughout the race, teams had various problems associated with the rain. Thus the Sunrayce became the Rainrayce.

Passing Waterloo

The solar cars in impound at night

Starting the next day

Waterloo passing

Waterloo cut in front of our solar car to avoid hitting the cameramen

On the highway

Passing through a checkpoint

The Purdue solar car team

Solar car teams charging

Queen's University arriving

Kansas State University arriving

University of Missouri-Rolla arriving

Solar cars charging at the Charlotte Motor Speedway

Passing University of Michigan

Tire change at the end of the day in Clemson, South Carolina

Solar cars charging on top of a parking garage at Georgia Tech

Purdue charging. Our team's logistics manager taking a break under the solar array.

Purdue University and University of Missouri-Rolla

South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, and Purdue University

Here ends my photos of Sunrayce 99. The rayce ended at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. It was quite the learning experience and it was fun. Sunrayce 99 was the last solar car rayce sponsored by GM (General Motors), the company who built the solar car that won the World Solar Challenge in Australia in November 1987.

Photos by Adrian Silveanu