Choctaw team wins Hunt-Winston Solar Car race

By Seth Masia
SOLAR TODAY deputy editor

The 15th running of the Hunt-Winston Solar Car Challenge, for high school teams, finished its eight-day, 866-mile run from Dallas to Boulder. Fastest car was Tushka Hashi III ("sun warrior"), built and driven by an 11-student team from Choctaw Central High School in Choctaw, Miss.

Tushka Hashi, competing in the Advanced division, covered 853 miles, at an average speed of 34.7 mph - 3% farther and 9.5% faster than the second-fastest car, the Open division entry Sundancer from Houston (Miss.) High School.

Winner of the Classic division was Sundancer II, also from Houston. The car finished third overall for distance but fourth overall on speed, behind the Advanced division car from St. Thomas Academy of Mendota Heights, Minn.

As an Advanced car, Tushka Hashi III was free to use advanced batteries and a university-designed body. The heaviest car in the race, it also had the most powerful PV array -- roughly 1.75 kW of Sunpower A-300 cells, feeding a lithium-ion battery pack with a capacity of about 5 kWh, and a 6-hp (4.5 kW) motor. Students built the body using a mold (for the top of the body only) donated by the Purdue University solar racing team. The team also won the Hunt Award for most impressive engineering.

As an Open division car, Sundancer was limited to lead-acid batteries and PV cells priced at no more than $10 per watt. Sundancer II, in the Classic division, was limited to PV cells rated 17% efficiency or less, and forbidden to use advanced brushless hubmotors. Both cars used lightweight PV modules made up of Schott EFG/SR-1 cells to produce about 1.3 kW. The Open division car was built by an all-male crew and the Classic car by an all-female crew.

According to race technical director Chris Jones, about 800 schools across the country made application to enter this year's race. "The 13 teams that finished represent the best of the best," he said.