In 1999, the Missouri S&T Solar Car Team took first place in Sunrayce, now known as the American Solar Challenge. The course started in Washington, D.C., and ended in Orlando, Florida, and stands out in the record books due to the lack of sunshine. Solar Miner II completed the race in just over 56 hours and averaged 25.3 miles per hour.
The first American Solar Challenge race was organized and sponsored by General Motors in 1990 to promote automotive engineering and solar energy among college students. At the time, GM had just won the inaugural World Solar Challenge in Australia in 1987 and they chose to sponsor collegiate events instead of continuing to race.
The Missouri S&T Solar Car Team also won first place at the American Solar Challenge in 2003. Solar Miner IV completed the course in a little over 50 hours.
Share This Story
Spark a Memory?
Share your story! Fill out the form below to share your fondest memory or anecdote of S&T. If you'd prefer not typing, you can also share by phone at 833-646-3715 (833-Miner150).
Ruth (Farrar) and Richard Kinsey
Ruth (Farrar) met Richard Kinsey on the steps of his fraternity, Phi Kappa Theta in 2011. Ruth grew up in…
Tabitha (Fiske) and Brian Locke
Tabitha (Fiske) and Brian Locke met in December 2009 when she dropped by a friend’s room to get help with…
Y2K debugger
As the clock ticked down to the year 2000, computer scientists around the world were fretting about the so-called “Y2K…
Taylor Husman and Tyler Recker
Taylor Husman and Tyler Recker met on the patio of Kappa Sigma fraternity on their second night at S&T in…
Houston, we have a slight case of nausea
NASA referred to its KC-125 aircraft as the “weightless wonder” because it carried college students and their experiments into micro-gravity…
Jillian (Estes) and Charlie Stankovic
Jillian (Estes) and Charlie Stankovic met in 2013 after overhearing stories about one another. During finals week, they played sand…