Illini Solar Car News and Updates

Fall Update: Operation Brizo

Mon, 14 Sep 2020 16:15:14 GMT

Our last update came to you at the end of the spring 2020 semester, as team members returned to their homes around the country. Now, as we prepare to return to the University of Illinois for what will certainly be a unique semester, there remains some confusion regarding our team’s current operations and plans for the future. We hope to clear some of this up.

Regarding Races

In the interest of team safety, we have decided not to attend the 2020 Formula Sun Grand Prix (originally scheduled for July, moved to September, and finally outright cancelled). We of course regret not being able to show off the performance of our latest car until next year, but this was a necessary measure to take to ensure that team members remain safe. We're working to complete Brizo for next year's race.

The American Solar Challenge and Bridgestone World Solar Challenge now both fall in 2021. Our team used a variety of factors including cost of attendance, timing, and necessary engineering changes to decide which race to attend, or if it would be feasible to attend both races. As a result of this evaluation, we will only be attending the 2021 American Solar Challenge . BWSC had a much higher cost of attendance and required significant vehicle modification to be feasible, making it unreasonable for our team to attend.

Working on Campus

The University of Illinois is pursuing hybrid classes for the fall semester, with many larger courses available entirely online to allow flexible attendance and enable students to continue their education from home. Some of our team members have elected to take this option, and will only return to campus later this year or for the next semester.

Though our access to campus workspaces is limited, we are committed to finishing our car on time and in the safest way possible. We are following all guidelines provided by the University for work in our garage, and have instituted some of our own regulations to further ensure member safety. Access to the garage is monitored, and restricted to very specific project work. With these guidelines in place, our team hopes to continue hands-on work with the car.

Regardless of the access to campus workspaces, our team is continuing design work and meetings through an online format. This approach has been successful for the team to stay productive during the transition to online classes during the academic year, as well as over the summer. Although the adjustment has been difficult, we have full confidence in our ability to finish our car this fall.

THE NEW CAR’S NAME

The name Argo was selected to honor a team alumnus named Jason, whose support of the 2014 team was essential to their success. The name Argo comes from the ancient Greek myth of Jason and the Argonauts - a group of sailors and adventurers who boarded the Argo to embark on their search for the Golden Fleece.

The latest generation of the Illini Solar Car will be named Brizo. As the Greek goddess Brizo protected the Argonauts on their legendary journey, our Brizo will ensure the safety of our drivers as they compete across the world. This is the first time we’re formally revealing the name of the car, though it has been mentioned in news coverage of the team and a previous team update.

As swift as the wind, Brizo is a revolutionary step forward for the team and will carry us to new heights. We’re excited to fully present Brizo to you as we finish construction.

Our Status, and What Lies Ahead

Tue, 19 May 2020 18:14:16 GMT

Status Update

To our dearest families, friends, fans, supporters, and sponsors,

We hope that this update finds you well and in good health. We’re glad to report that team members are all safe and continuing to follow government-mandated precautionary measures in their homes across the country. Most members have moved away from their on-campus residences as our academic semester comes to a close.

We’d like to offer an update regarding our plans for the summer and beyond and the status of the 2020 American Solar Challenge. The Innovators Education Foundation sent the following message to registered teams two weeks ago upon the completion of a survey of teams regarding their desires:

"Given the COVID-19 situation and the uncertainty associated with this situation and based on the feedback from the team survey, the IEF Board of Directors has made the decision to postpone the ASC 2020 event until 2021. The Board of Directors did not take this decision lightly, which was made in due consideration of the potential impacts to the entrants, volunteers and the public. Based on the survey feedback, we are shifting our planning to a FSGP track-only event this fall, targeting September 2020."

We were, of course, upset to finally hear this news, but recognized its inevitability given the cancellation of other large-scale sporting and competition events across the globe. This modification to the event will not deter us, however, and team members continue to design and prototype components. Subgroups continue to virtually meet via platforms like Google Meet or Zoom in order to best coordinate efforts.

The Future

We’d also like to draw your attention to some things you can look forward to from us. Team leadership for next year is almost all chosen, and we’ll be revealing our new president, director of operations, treasurer, and group leads on our social media platforms and on this website. We’ll also visit some of our members in their homes and see how isolation is treating them (#MeetOurMembersAtHome?), and talk to some of our most recent alumni about life after Illini Solar Car.

When we’re allowed to return to our campus workspaces with enough team members to complete our new car, you’ll finally get to see the culmination of more than 3 years of work. In the meantime, check out this article from our friends at WCCU for a peak behind the scenes of the team!

Once again, thank you all for your support. Please continue to protect your health and that of those around you by obeying your local restrictions and social distancing norms. We look forward to finally formally presenting our new car to all of you.

An Update From Our President

Sun, 22 Mar 2020 01:28:09 GMT

Regarding Governor Pritzker's Announcement

To our dearest families, sponsors, supporters, friends, and fans,

As you may know, the Governor of Illinois issued an executive order effective March 21st to shelter in place and reduce all non-essential activities to a minimum. At Illini Solar Car, we value the safety of our team members as our highest priority and thus we understand that it is in the best interest of our team and community to suspend all in-person work.

Given the uncertainty of our situation at present, it remains unclear when we’ll be able to unveil our second-generation car to you all. What I do know, however, is that our team is perseverant. We’ve pushed past many difficulties in the past and will continue to overcome any challenges that we might face. After all, “Together, we can do the impossible every day.”

Thank you all for your continued support. I know that with the power of our community we can make it through these troubling times. I look forward to the day that we can finally show you the product of the team’s hard work and reveal our new car.

Sincerely yours,

John Han

President, Illini Solar Car

EOH and Unveiling Update

Fri, 13 Mar 2020 00:16:59 GMT

An update on Engineering Open House

On March 11th, the University of Illinois sent out an update to students with an official set of policies regarding COVID-19 and affected university operations. The email detailed the following information:

- Events with more than 50 attendees that are university-sponsored or hosted by registered student organizations will be suspended indefinitely, effective Friday, March 13.

- Events may occur via livestream or other telecommunications, or be postponed to a future date.

As a consequence, the Grainger College of Engineering and Engineering Council have decided to cancel Engineering Open House , instead electing to host select presentations and demonstrations online via recorded video.

The team is deeply saddened by this turn of events, though we understand that this decision was made with the public interest in mind.

Unfortunately, this means that the unveiling of our new car is also cancelled. However, our team is working diligently to plan, prepare, and create a video unveiling to be made available to the general public both on our YouTube channel and on this website.

Keep an eye on our social media and on i llinisolarcar.com/blog for updates regarding our unveiling, our new car, and information about the team.