Solar-Powered Cars Race fron Austin to Calgary

dblizzard writes "The North American Solar Challenge race is about to start. Travelling at speeds of up to 130km/hr (80mph), these teams will race from Austin Texas to Calgary Alberta all with no non-reusable energy. Here's the race link, and here's some really cool photos of the Queens' University car."

Irony

[Ron Harwood]

Are the start and destination supposed to be ironic (oil vs solar power)?

Re:Irony

[tricops]

What does solar have to do with the destination? Alberta is known for oil and gas, and some wind turbines as well in some select areas... As a resident of Calgary, I haven't a clue what you're on about.

That aside, I really wish the link hadn't died within the first minute... it would be interesting to see when/where they're coming in so I could have a looksee.

Fron

[Bullseye_blam]

I'm sorry to complain, but Slashdot's quality has really gone to hell lately. To be honest, I don't understand much about the editing process here, but something really needs to change. Between the mis-spellings and constantly late and duplicate articles, I think this web site could stand for some improvement.

Re:Could anyone tell me the purpose of this race?

[Infinityis]

In addition to the other replies to your post, there's the engineering challenge to it.

Lots of us on solar car teams are there because we wanted something classes can't/don't/won't offer: practical experience. You can get all the equations right on the exam, but if you don't know how it connects to the real world, it's no good. For many students, this is one of the few ways to do something fun and challenging that's related to their coursework in some way.

Also, it looks good on a resume. Lots of people would rather hire someone with experience than someone without.

But that's all for the perspective of why the student would want to do it. As for why the race officials want to do it, I'd guess it's mostly the same reasons, it's fun, it's educational, it's good for the environment, and they probably secretly hope that one team someday will come up with an excellent idea with practical effects (if it hasn't happened already).

Re:Irony

[tricops]

Yeah, I understand irony perfectly well and I wasn't disputing that, I just misread what he was saying. The way his comment is worded made it sound like he was referring to Alberta/Calgary as some sort of solar area which doesn't make sense. As usual, I realized the way he meant it shortly after posting and felt like an idiot. :)