From the archives of the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library:
Elementary students at three Sault Ste. Marie schools saw a real-life example of a solar-powered car in June of 1990. Students from Queen’s University motored into town in the Sun QUEST after a bit of a hiccup on the way.
Seems that regular old gas guzzlers can be just as unpredictable as a futuristic solar-powered vehicle. The team’s Winnebago broke down on Highway 17, forcing the students to stop at a farm for an unscheduled sleepover. (The solar car travelled in a trailer, also built by the engineering students.) The students went to the nearest farm which belonged to Len and Pauline Ledyit who were kind enough to let them stay the night and use their telephone. Mr. Ledyit also called a friend of his from Sault Search and Rescue who came and towed them into town.
“We’ve already had our first adventure,” said Rhonda Cheadle, a mechanical engineering graduate of Queen’s and member of the Sun QUEST solar team. Despite the setback, the team still managed to show off their solar car as planned.
Barry Skrypnyk and Tom Simko were also part of the team that came to Sault Ste. Marie to show off the solar car to the students at William Merrifield Public School, Manitou Park Public School and James Lyons Public School. The car, six metres long and two metres wide was displayed in the parking lots of the respective schools and the students were brought out to see it up close after the team members gave a brief in-classroom lecture about solar power and its uses and benefits.
“We’ve sent an educational package out to the teachers in advance, and the kids have a whole bunch of questions waiting for us” explained Mr. Skrypnyk in an interview with the Sault Star. The Sun QUEST was powered completely by solar panels trapping sunlight and converting it into electricity, a battery reserve ensuring it would run even on cloudy days.
At Manitou Park, two of the students, Trevor Shuttleworth and Janet Miller, both in grade 7, said the car was “’interesting’- but not what they expected.” Miss Miller said she “thought it was going to look like a normal car” when speaking with a journalist from the Sault Star and was surprised to discover that it didn’t.
The Sun QUEST, unlike a ‘regular’ car, was aerodynamically shaped, low and flat at the back and curved on the front. Rather than typical car tires it ran on custom-made bicycle tires and seated just one person in the front. The car was built at Queen’s University entirely by engineering students, the shell taking eight months to make. Building the Sun Quest was made possible with the $200,000 they received in donations from various sponsors. The overall budget for the solar car project was $500,000.
The Solar QUEST took a year to build, supervised by a team of 30 fourth-year mechanical and electrical engineering students. The solar car could speed up to 100 kilometres an hour and its average speed was 50 kilometres an hour.
The children at the three schools were fascinated by the solar vehicle, as were some neighbours who appeared, cameras in hand, (a much bigger deal pre-smart phones), and many of the adults expressed their regret that the solar car would not be on display elsewhere in the Sault for a longer period of time.
Students also got to see a remote Solar Shower. The shower was displayed to the children while working in sunlight and ceasing function without, demonstrating the power of solar energy.
“We’ll show them how shadows over the hose make the whole thing shut down,” said Mr. Skrypnyk.
In November of that same year, Sun Quest journeyed overseas to Australia to compete in the World Solar Challenge, a 3,100-kilometre race from Darwin to Adelaide. The Sun Quest team was the sole Canadian entry.
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