Thank You

Thank you so much for supporting our team's 25 years of history designing, building, and racing solar vehicles. We really appreciate all of the support that we have received for each project cycle, and look forward to racing the 2015 World Solar Challenge this coming October. We hope to bring back a World Championship back for our team, the University of Michigan, and the U.S.A., and we couldn't do it without your support! Follow our team through the race on our website, umsolar.com, Facebook page, and Twitter! Go Blue!

Support Team
Aurum
2015

Amount Raised

$3,000.00

About The Car

Designing a car for the 2013 World Solar Challenge presented new challenges with a four-wheeled configuration and an upright driver seating position as mandated by new race regulations. The team rose to the occasion with the innovation of an asymmetric design, which greatly improved the aerodynamics and power usage of the car. Although the car crashed during the race due to extremely high crosswinds, the driver was completely safe. The team was able to repair the significant damage on time to complete the race successfully, and took 9th place overall.

Support Team
Generation
2013

Amount Raised

$2,510.00

About The Car

Quantum, the team's eleventh car, was 200 pounds lighter and 30% more aerodynamic than Infinium. For the first time in the team's history, two chassis were built in one project cycle. This was achieved by completing the first iteration ahead of schedule and under budget. Quantum was extremely competitive in the World Solar Challenge. Despite some issues that arose during strong crosswinds in the outback, Michigan placed in third once again. After the outstanding performance in Australia, Michigan was eager to bring home a win. They seized the opportunity in the American Solar Challenge by taking a record-breaking fourth consecutive victory and seventh victory overall. Even with severe thunderstorms and triple-digit heat, Quantum finished over 10 hours ahead of second place, breaking the previous record of difference in race time between first and second set by Continuum. Quantum 2.0 returned to race in the 2014 American Solar Challenge, and won its 2nd national championship. Quantum recently won the inaugural Abu Dhabi Solar Challenge in January of 2015, making it the first car in our team's history to win an international race.

Support Team
Quantum
2011

Amount Raised

$5.00

About The Car

Infinium built off of the innovation of Continuum, developing a second generation concentrator system. Remembering delays in the previous projects, Infinium rolled with more time for testing before the race than any previous vehicle. Although these strong qualities helped win a National Championship, they weren't enough to place higher than third in the World Solar Challenge. Infinium placed first in the American Solar Challenge, which made U of M Solar the first team in the history of the race to win 3 National Championships in a row. It also raced in the World Solar Challenge, and placed 3rd in the world. It is on display in the Detroit Science Center alongside its predecessor, Continuum.

Support Team
Infinium
2009

Amount Raised

$0.00

About The Car

The team developed a revolutionary solar concentration system, which gave the team an advantage in power production and further strengthened the spirit of innovation that has led to many improvements for the team's later vehicles. It competed in the 2007 World Solar Challenge, finishing in an impressive seventh place after losing a day of racing due to a crash. The following summer, Continuum finished first in the 2008 North American Solar Challenge by the widest margin in the history of the raceover a full day of race time. Contiuum is currently on display at the Detroit Science Center.

Support Team
Continuum
2007

Amount Raised

$0.00

About The Car

Despite the hardships the 2003 race crew faced, many team members returned in 2005 and led the team to a first place finish in the American Solar Challenge and a third place finish in the World Solar Challenge. Striving to learn from the past without compromising their future performance, they left a permanent reminder to always look ahead and work to improve. The team finished first in the 2005 North American Solar Challenge, the longest solar car race ever held, beating Minnesota for Michigan's fourth national championship. Momentum also finished third in the 2005 World Solar Challenge, failing to best the hometown Aurora for second place in the final miles of the race. Momentum is currently on display in the Lemay Automotive Museum in Tacoma, WA.

Support Team
Momentum
2005

Amount Raised

$0.00

About The Car

The team ambitiously attempted the University's first two-person solar car. Pushing the design limits in a tight fundraising environment, the team ultimately struggled to complete the scrutineering required to compete in the race. In addition to ensuring early and robust design trials, teams now also more actively involve alumni throughout the vehicle's design phases.

Support Team
Spectrum
2003

Amount Raised

$0.00

About The Car

The team's vehicle crashed during testing a mere 17 days before the American Solar Challenge. M-Pulse were able to not only rebuild the car, they ultimately ended up winning the race and going on to place 3rd in the World Solar Challenge. Their persistence in the pursuit of excellence taught all future Michigan Solar Car Teams never to give up. M-Pulse is in the Peterson Auto Museum in LA.

Support Team
M-Pulse
2001

Amount Raised

$6.00

About The Car

The team built their own array completely in-house, which led to power issues during the Sunrayce. Teams now collaborate thoroughly with industry experts to test their designs and calculations in a robust, professional environment. MaizeBlaze competed in both the 1999 American Solar Challenge and the 1999 World Solar Challenge. The vehicle is on public display at the Boston Museum of Science in Boston, Massachusetts.

Support Team
Maize Blaze
1999

Amount Raised

$0.00

About The Car

The team had a poor qualifying time for the American Solar Challenge due to a faulty solar array. Committed to entering the best possible car, the team completely rebuilt the array in just 1 week, greatly improving their performance in the race. Michigan teams now do extensive system testing before deploying any system on the car. Wolverine is currently on display at the Wilson Student Team Project Center at the University of Michigan College of Engineering, Ann Arbor, Michgian.

Support Team
Wolverine
1997

Amount Raised

$7.89

About The Car

The team greatly increased its use of carbon fiber composites to reduce weight. Solar Vision is on display at the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland, Ohio.

Support Team
Solar Vision
1995

Amount Raised

$0.00

About The Car

The team strengthened its ties with the University and industry during the 1993 project, helping it to gain access to state-of-art computer technology. This enabled the entire car to be designed using software, laying the technical foundation for all future teams. After an extra year to raise money and design, this Michigan team appeared poised to better the record of 1990′s Sunrunner. After finishing first in the 1993 SunRayce, Maize & Blue experienced severe problems with their high-powered solar array and finished in eleventh place at the 1993 World Solar Challenge. Maize & Blue is on public display at the Museum of Science & Industry in Chicago, Illinois.

Support Team
Maize and Blue
1993

Amount Raised

$0.00

About The Car

The team strengthened its ties with the University and industry during the 1993 project, helping it to gain access to state-of-art computer technology. This enabled the entire car to be designed using software, laying the technical foundation for all future teams. After an extra year to raise money and design, this Michigan team appeared poised to better the record of 1990′s Sunrunner. After finishing first in the 1993 SunRayce, Maize & Blue experienced severe problems with their high-powered solar array and finished in eleventh place at the 1993 World Solar Challenge. Maize & Blue is on public display at the Museum of Science & Industry in Chicago, Illinois.

Support Team
Sunrunner
1990

Amount Raised

$200.00

About The Car

The Michigan Solar Car Team was founded in 1989 by just two students, but they began the tradition of excellence by winning the first American Solar Challenge. More than anything else, it was that first team's focus on the reliability of the car that led to their victory a focus that every subsequent Solar Car Team has emphasized. Built only a year before the innaugural 1990 SunRayce, Michigan's first solar car won the event and went on to place third in the 1990 World Solar Challenge, setting the bar very high for all subsequent teams. Sunrunner is on display at the Henry Ford in Dearborn, Michigan.

Our Goal

We aim to successfully build, test and race the fastest vehicle our team has ever designed. In order to make this possible, we must finance our car, build cycle, and race. As a team, our ultimate goal is to win the 2015 World Solar Challenge, and bring home our team’s first World Championship title for the University of Michigan.

Your Overall Impact

Through the experience of being on our team, students from a multitude of disciplines work together towards the common goal of designing, building, testing, and racing the ultimate electric vehicle. The students gain experience in their respective fields, and push engineering forward in every aspect of our car’s design. We not only win races, we develop students who through their work on our team, have experience that cannot be found through a standard curriculum.

About Us

The University of Michigan Solar Car Team an entirely student-run multidisciplinary project team that designs, builds and races the world’s fastest solar cars. With 25 years of team history, we hold 5 consecutive National Championship titles (8 total), 5 top-three World Finishes, and most recently 1 International Championship title in the inaugural Abu Dhabi Solar Challenge.

Thank you for supporting the University of Michigan.