Team Mercury Places Fifth in Formula Sun Grand Prix

Illinois State University's Team Mercury raced its solar-powered car, Mercury II, to a fifth place finish in the Formula Sun Grand Prix competition, held June 3-5, at the Motorsports Ranch racecourse in Cresson, Texas.  The event was a closed-track race that tested the car's design and endurance.

Vehicles entered in the Formula Sun Grand Prix were powered solely by sunshine, using photovoltaic cells to convert sunlight into electricity.Solar powered cars from nine university teams from the U.S. and Canada completed the three day endurance race.  Ten Illinois State students and one faculty advisor travelled to Texas to participate in the event.

Racing took place from 8 a.m. - 6 p.m. June 3-5, with teams completing as many laps as possible during that time.  Team Mercury completed 310 laps of a 1.7 mile track.  Team members drove Mercury II 77 laps the first day, 125 the second day and 108 laps on the third day.  The team's fastest lap was completed in three minutes and twenty seconds. 

Team Mercury is a multidisciplinary group of students who have dedicated hundreds of volunteer hours to designing and building Mercury II. Professors Daniel Holland, Brian Clark, David Marx and staff member Jim Dunham of Illinois State's Physics Department serve as the team's faculty advisors.  Support for the project comes from Illinois State University and a variety of corporate and private sponsors who have donated money, equipment, materials and other in-kind gifts.