Two minutes

A solar car racer

Iowa State's Team PrISUm is working hard and fast to get Sol Invictus, the university's ninth solar race car, ready for the 2008 North American Solar Challenge. The challenge will take student-designed and student-built solar cars from Plano, Texas, to Calgary, Alberta, Canada, July 13-22. Iowa State's team is led by Sarah Kelly, a senior from Rochester, Minn., who's majoring in mechanical engineering.

Her racing resume: Kelly has been part of Team PrISUm since her freshman year on campus. She has worked on the mechanical team, served as assistant project director and been project director for the last year.

Iowa State's solar racing history: Iowa State students have been racing solar cars since 1989. The team's best finish was in 2005, the last time the North American Solar Challenge was raced. The team's Fusion ran from Austin, Texas, to Calgary in 71.5 hours, good enough for 11th overall and 3rd place in the stock class.

This year's car: Kelly said the 20 students of Team PrISUm have designed a car that builds on the mechanical reliability of Fusion and tries to solve some of its electrical problems. The team also has found room for another 100 solar cells on the car's top. And so, "When we get this done, it will be very competitive," Kelly said.

It takes dollars: Kelly said Sol Invictus is worth about $350,000. And so raising money is almost a full-time job for the team. Iowa Staters can help by adopting a solar cell for $30, a tire for $100 or a battery for $250. To learn more about helping the team, see Adopt-A-Program. (Or view PDF version.)

--Mike Krapfl