CAL POLY POMONA
SOLAR ENERGY TEAM
(CaPSET)
CAL POLY POMONA SOLAR ENERGY TEAM
(CaPSET)
CaPSET
IN PERSPECTIVE
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Reflections
written by Doc Shelton in 1995
It has been over 6 1/2 years since I received the request for proposal from General Motors and the US Dept of Energy. It was to design, build, and race a solar car from Florida to Michigan in the 1990 GM Sunrayce USA. Six or seven of my students were interested in the challenge and CaPSET was launched. I still remember some people telling us "you can't do that"! The College of Engineering was supportive.
Additional faculty and students were recruited and the project was underway. An organizational chart was developed, leadership meetings were begun to establish overall objectives and control, and then team meetings (class sessions) were held once a week to share results of investigative work. Then the work really began.
In 1989 and 1990 CaPSET designed and built "Solar Flair". It was truly a hands-on learning experience. Students and faculty both had little, if any, racing experience and no expertise in working with solar cells, composites, high-efficiency electric motors or many of the other systems needed to produce a working car. There were even faculty members who told students "you don't have to meet these artificial short-term deadlines. The only real deadline is the race start." Needless to say when we got to Florida the car was not finished. The array was assembled during the race in the back of a rental van. The first time the entire car was assembled was the day we qualified. We were very fortunate to even complete the race let alone finish in 10th place.
In November of 1990 CaPSET competed in the World Solar Challenge in Australia with a finished car. However, the drive chain was changed between races and there was no testing on the new system. The old system was to have been the backup, but with inexperienced people and lack of capital, the old sprockets were irreversibly altered and would no longer work. The chain came off at least 50 times during the race and there was no immediate way to solve the problem. In Australia we finished the race in 68 hours for an 11th place finish. It was just 8 minutes behind our greatest rival, Cal State LA.
Solar Flair's third race was the Governor's Cup in Phoenix. Two motors and controllers were installed for better performance. Unfortunately it performed too well. The driver took the first corner too fast and hit the wall -- taking out a chunk of the nose and damaging the motor controllers. Repairs were made over night, but Solar Flair limped around the course for the rest of the race.
A new team was formed to design and build an improved race car for Sunrayce 93 and the 1993 Australian race. A flexible design was developed which allowed for a single-person vehicle for Sunrayce 93 and a two-person vehicle for the Australian race.
To help train the new team, Solar Flair was run at the Solar Energy Expo and Rally (SEER) in Northern California. Three cars changed leads during the first two hours, then CaPSET ran away from the pack to win the 4-hour race. It was to be the beginning of a winning trend. The next event was the Solar/Electric 500 in Phoenix. Solar Flair easily took first place in its category.
CaPSET was invited to represent the United States in Japan for the 1992 Grand Solar Challenge -- a five hour rally on the Noto peninsula. The 11.2 km laps were half on a sandy beach and half on a paved toll road. There were 101 cars racing in four categories. CaPSET won the beach rally by one lap against 34 other competitors.
In August, 1992 Solar Flair had one more win at SEER 92 before retiring.
Early in 1992 the solar car driver and electrical leader, Dave Erikson, was killed in a skiing accident. I, along with the rest of the team, was shocked and saddened. The new solar car was named Intrepid in memory of Dave's bold and fearless spirit.
During the Fall of 1992, Intrepid was well under way. After five months of labor, in the final hours of curing, the body molds caught fire. The molds, oven, equipment, tools, and building in which the team was working all burned. The team regrouped, made repairs (physical, financial, and emotional) and had Intrepid rolling by early 1993.
In April, Intrepid qualified in fifth position for Sunrayce 93 -- even though the car was unfinished. Intrepid logged the most miles (165 when only 50 were required). The car and team went on to lead several days of Sunrayce 93. The team finished second to University of Michigan, but well ahead of rivals Cal State LA in third position. Several other prestigious awards were captured there.
Work on Intrepid continued furiously during the summer of 1993 in order to complete the conversion to the two-seater configuration for Australian and to adequately test the new systems. Cal Poly Pomona qualified 21st out of 52 teams, but things changed rapidly after the starting line. Intrepid had moved into 8th position before getting out of Darwin. George Washington University gave us great daily challenges, but University of Michigan and Cal State LA weren't seen from after the first day. Intrepid finished 8th overall, first from the Americas, and first in the two-seat category -- setting a new world record.
In June of 1994 efforts were started for a new car and team for Sunrayce 95. The new team's first adventure was to pull Intrepid out and race it in SEER 94 -- continuing the winning tradition there. Sunrayce rules had changed such that Intrepid would not be competitive entry. A sprint car was needed to do well in the staged race. The new car, Intrepid Too, was designed to be smaller and faster than Intrepid. Things were under control for the first eleven months. Although there was work every day and many hurdles to overcome, the team was pretty much on schedule. Intrepid Too had logged over 1000 test miles and the team was gaining confidence.
Just 16 days before leaving for Sunrayce, disaster struck. While going around an S-turn at 40 mph, Intrepid Too rolled upside down, with driver, Charles Suh, inside. He sustained considerable facial and eye injuries. It sometimes seems like there is no justice in this world when the nicest person on the team was injured; however, we are thankful it wasn't any worse. After evaluating the situation with Charles, the damaged car body, the loss of power due to smashed solar cells, the miracles it would take, etc. the team decided to continue on. They would make as many repairs as possible, Show up at Sunrayce, successfully pass qualifying and gain entry into the race as an unseeded team, and hopefully still place within the 10 ten finishers! The team showed its heart and dedication as members dropped classes and moved in to campus rooms to work round the clock. The team only had two experienced drivers so Wade was suddenly called upon. It was tough getting the car running again -- almost like starting over. Fairings were rubbing, things were loose, new interference problems, etc. The accident took all the race spirit out of me. I didn't want to race anymore and couldn't bear the thought of anyone else getting hurt.
CaPSET arrived in Indianapolis with over 50 items to be completed before Intrepid Too was race ready. We did get 50-70 more test miles on the car around town, but the best test miles for Wade were probably on the race track during the qualifier. The team pulled through and qualified #1! We won three of the nine days of racing and placed third overall.
The cars and teams are impressive. I am very proud of CaPSET and what they have accomplished. They are a fantastic group of people and I hope the experience has been as good for them as it has been for me. I hope each team member has benefited from their CaPSET experience. It has been full of hard work, responsibility, travel, competition, education (much more than in the classroom) as well as a little fun. I'm sure each student grew tremendously as they went through each trial and tribulation -- but they may not realize the full value for years to come. The students overcame to make CaPSET and Cal Poly Pomona WINNERS in the true sense of the word. To the extended CaPSET family (relatives, university people, sponsors, and community) who have encouraged and cheered over the years I would like to offer my sincere gratitude.
With heartfelt thanks,
Doc Shelton