Our primary goal as the solar car suspension team is to design the front and rear suspension systems for our solar powered vehicle. This is an interdisciplinary project provided by PROVE Lab. PROVE Lab is a Prototype Vehicle Laboratory started atCal Poly that consists of over 70 people and 11 different majors.
PROVE Lab’s faculty advisor and our senior project sponsor is Graham Doig who has worked on two world record breaking solar cars. We are excited to be working alongside PROVE Lab and Dr. Doig on our senior project. The overall goal of the PROVE Lab solar car is to reach a speed of 65 miles per hour, which will break the world speed records for solar cars without batteries for both Guinness Book of World Records and the FIA (International Federation of Automobiles).
In order to break the record, the solar car must drive a flying start mile. The solar car will do two runs and the average speed over the two runs must be greater than the previous record in order to create a new world record. We will have as much distance as we want to get the vehicle up to speed before recording the mile. The car must also rely solely on solar power to reach maximum speed.
Most solar cars that exist today are designed for cross-country races, but our goal is just to set the land speed record for a solar car. This means that our design will differ from the solar cars that exist today. We will be working alongside aerospace, structures, steering, and business teams to design the solar car. It will be essential that we stay in contact with each team to ensure compatibility in each part of the design.
Source: California Polytechnic State University,
Authors: Alex Power | Adam O’Camb
