Event report - Sunrayce 99

During June 1999, 29 university teams from Canada and the US raced their so lar-powered cars 2280 km from Washington DC to Orlando, Florida in the Sunr ayce 1999 event. In spite of its name, the race was noteworthy for its lack of sunshine. The challenging and unpredictable weather served to add anoth er dimension to the fiercely competitive race, which is high-profile solar energy showcase. The conditions favoured teams with a superior energy manag ement strategy over outright performance, with many cars able to cover grea t daily distances at reasonable speeds in spite of the Spartan amount of en ergy available. The race was won by the University of Missouri-Rolla with a n average speed of about 40 km h(-1). Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons. Ltd.