Submitted by LiveScience Staff
posted: 10 June 2009 03:16 pm ET
Members of Iowa State University's Team PrISUm were working on their solar car's battery system on the eve of the May 31-June 5 Formula Sun Grand Prix at the Motorsport Ranch in Cresson, Texas. The team had spent two weeks repairing and upgrading the car's battery pack and brakes.
Then a nearby lightning strike took out the car's battery protection system and that eventually destroyed a circuit board.
The strike kept the team off the track for more than half of the three-day competition, but they did finally get Sol Invictus, its $400,000, 1,400-watt solar car, out for some racing. And they managed to finish 7th out of nine teams in the endurance test.
A team from the University of Minnesota, with their car Centaurus, won by completing 487 laps, 94 more than the second-place team from the University of Kentucky.
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Comments: 2
Some days you have no luck at all.
The problem tho Walker is that who would want an auto like an electric car that is disabled by a lighting strike