Sol of Auburn

TIGER was on display at the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering tailgate this Homecoming — and several Sol of Auburn alumni stopped by to see the project.

1. Neal Allgood, Aerospace Engr, — the person who led the building of TIGER’s Kevlar body.

2. Chris Trueblood, Electrical Engr, — Team Captain from 2002-04, also a member of the 2005 team; the only one to go on two races

3. Jeff Vollers, Computer Engr, — driver for the 2003 event

4. Vince Moody, Civil Engr, — helped build the 2003 solar array in-house, the only time we’ve pulled that off

5. Mike Haught, Mech Engr, — Team Captain 1991-92, led the team to a third place finish in the California Clean Air Race (CalCAR)

6. Josh Dyer, Electrical Engr, — helped build 2003 car body

7. Jason Summers, Mech Engr, — Team Captain 2001-2002, led the team through a particularly rough financial stretch, built 2003 chassis

8. Jonathan Perkins, Mech Engr, — recent team member, helped build radiator shroud and other TIGER body parts

Sol of Auburn Team Members Past & Present with Dr. Bhavnani

Gasoline Alley may seem like an odd place for a solar-biodiesel hybrid — but TIGER fit in perfectly at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s Emerging Tech Day.

This April the Shell Eco-marathon® Americas competition brought alternative fuel and hyper-efficient gasoline vehicles together to push MPG (or in many cases MPGE) ratings well into the thousands with unique experimental vehicles.

The attention surrounding this event and the audience it attracts made it an ideal venue for TIGER’s first off-campus public unveiling.

This past Sunday SoA embarked on its first test drive of the semester. The trailer used for previous vehicles was too narrow for TIGER, requiring the team to outfit an adequately sized trailer to transport TIGER to the test track and to upcoming events.

After installing a battery bank, mounting points and a winching system, the trailer (originally owned by the National Center for Asphalt Technology, NCAT) was ready to carry TIGER to NCAT’s testing facility.

Loading TIGER into our new trailer for the first time was fairly tedious, although the time spent aligning TIGER for the return trip was greatly reduced.

We were successful in meeting the day’s goals: driving ten laps at 35mph and another ten laps at 50mph — both using solely the diesel engine. Check out a video recorded from the passenger seat.