
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 8, 1994                   TAG: 9406080075
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                LENGTH: Short

WEATHER HELPS TECH'S SOLAR-CAR TEAM WIN

Clear, sunny weather contributed to a clear-cut win for the Virginia Tech solar vehicle racing team last weekend in the Virginia Tech Invitational. Tech's Solaray IIA bested a solar vehicle fielded by Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology of Terre Haute, Ind., by 43 minutes in a cross-country contest from Knoxville, Tenn., to Frederick, Md.

A third team from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell was a last-minute no-show.

"There were times when we were running side by side on the road," said Tech team captain Brian Johnsen, who said the Rose-Hulman team was "great."

"The other team just loved the scenery," he said. But they didn't like the hills, he said. Tech's entry handled them much better than the competition's, and Johnsen said that made the difference.

Johnsen reported no problems along the 530-mile route. "Our car ran clean as a whistle," he said. Tech's team returned to the campus late Saturday evening.

Two drivers, Sarah Schwark and Richard Taylor, took turns in the vehicle's cramped cockpit. The vehicles followed U.S. 11 through most of Tennessee and Virginia.

The Tech team will leave June 16 for Indianapolis to prepare to trace the route of SunRayce 95 from Indianapolis to Denver later in the month. Johnsen said the team will use "a completely different car" for that 1,100-mile race next summer. The new vehicle already is in the design stages.

by CNB