2021 American Solar Challenge
August 3rd - 7th, 2021
The Race
The American Solar Challenge is a biennial cross-country solar car competition held in the United States. Teams from around the world travel with their solar-electrical vehicles in a distance-based race across public roads and highways. This year's event was a rescheduled competition from 2020 and is the first race Illini Solar Car has competed in since the Formula Sun Grand Prix in 2019.
Before embarking on the 5-day journey, Brizo needed to pass a series of inspections and perform well during a track qualifier at Heartland Motorsports Park in Topeka, KS.
The Car
Brizo is the second solar car built by the Illini Solar Car team at the University of Illinois. It is a monohull, single-seater car and competed in the SOV (Single Occupant Vehicle) class.
This race marks Brizo's very first competition. After a week of inspections and a qualifying track event, the second generation Illini Solar Car traveled across the United States on the Santa Fe National Historic Trail. Accompanying Brizo was our largest race team yet. Keep reading to learn more about the team!
The Team
Meet the amazing students who raced alongside Brizo!
The Captains
Michaela
Luebbers
Crew Captain
Mechanical Engineering '22
Dunlap, IL
Priyal
Gosar
Race Team Captain
Computer Engineering '21
Rolling Meadows, IL
Rishi
Mohan
Support Captain
Industrial Engineering '23
Aurora, IL
The Drivers
Emily
Grob
Driver
Electrical Engineering '23
La Jolla, CA
Jeric
Cuasay
Driver
Electrical Engineering '23
Gurnee, IL
Matthew
Zhang
Driver
Mechanical Engineering '24
Ellicott City, MD
Brendon
Kaunas
Driver
Chemical Engineering '22
McHenry, IL
The Crew
John
Han
Strategy Lead
Computer Engineering '21
Vernon Hills, IL
Alex
Lymberopoulos
Scout Team
Electrical Engineering '24
San Jose, CA
Daniel
Wong
Strategy & Pit Crew
Computer Engineering '23
Chicago, IL
Rahul
Kajjam
Electrical Pit Crew
Electrical Engineering '23
Portland, OR
Jeremy
Shaffar
Scout Team
Computer Science '23
Holtsville, NY
Alex
Chmiel
Electrical Pit Crew
Electrical Engineering '24
Fort Wayne, IN
Tara
D'Souza
Electrical Pit Crew
Electrical Engineering '22
Libertyville, IL
Selis
Yaltkaya
Mechanical Pit Crew
Mechanical Engineering '24
Antalya, Turkey
Nafi
Osmani
Electrical Pit Crew
Electrical Engineering '24
Staten Island, NY
Matthew
Blessing
Mechanical Pit Crew
Mechanical Engineering '24
Rockford, IL
Jarod
Partlo
Electrical Pit Crew
Systems Engineering '21
Clayton, NC
Tim
Damisch
Mechanical Pit Crew
Mechanical Engineering '21
Palatine, IL
Hongbo
Yuan
Mechanical Pit Crew
Mechanical Engineering '23
Shijiazhuang, Hebei, China
Alvin
Means
Support Team
Mechanical Engineering '23
Bellwood, IL
Aaryaman
Patel
Mechanical Pit Crew
Mechanical Engineering '24
Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
Jared
Frank
Support Team
Electrical Engineering '23
Elmhurst, IL
Nick
Li
Mechanical Pit Crew
Aerospace Engineering '21
Wallingford, PA
Megan
Chung
Support Team
Electrical Engineering '23
Foster City, CA
Adam
Zatar
Support Team
Material Science and Engineering '24
Worth, IL
SANTA FE → CHAMPAIGN
Read on for a full American Solar Challenge recap!
Bringing Home Some Hardware
After a whirlwind summer, Brizo and our race team are back home from competing in
FSGP and ASC 2021.
In the face of several challenges, our team worked tirelessly to keep Brizo on the road in a leading position. Within the first few hours of FSGP, Brizo endured damage to the solar array and issues with charging. Despite this, we qualified for ASC in one day, and came home with a 3rd place trophy. ASC was no less challenging. The mountainous terrain of the Santa Fe trail presented us with huge hills, high temperatures, and unpredictable weather. Pushing through every issue thrown at us, we drove the 2nd most official distance, and finished the 1500+ mile trail in 4th place.
The dedication and talent among our team members lead us to a successful race. Keeping up the momentum, we are already working on designing and planning for the next competition!
Strategy Sponsor Highlight: Solcast
Throughout the race, our team made countless decisions like how fast we would go, who would drive the car or how many loops we would drive. To make many of these decisions, our strategy team leveraged data form a variety of sources. One important source of data was Solcast.
Solcast's detailed and accurate solar forecasts allowed the team to predict solar energy input and make decisions based on this real time data. The support of Solcast and our many other valued sponsors allowed us to push Brizo to the limits along the Santa Fe trail.
"Supporting the Illini Solar Car team with our global solar irradiance data was a true pleasure. Our team gets pretty excited about seeing new applications for solar forecasting data, and the team at Illini create a great case study in how such data could power the transportation sector in the future! Good on them for demonstrating the solar powered future in action!"
-Dr. Engerer, CTO of Solcast
Thank You!
To all our sponsors and supporters - we couldn't have done this without you. After a successful race, we are very grateful for your support!
