A week or so ago, we featured a story about our route survey for the American Solar Challenge this summer, and how we had a chance to meet some friendly competitors at the end: the route finished in St. Paul, and some members of the University of Minnesota Solar Vehicle Project (UMNSVP) were kind enough to show us around their workspace. Last week we received an e-mail from these same Minnesotans, who were going to be passing through Ann Arbor on their own version of route survey. We were more than happy to return the favor by opening our doors to their crew.

The Minnesota team is one of true veterans in North America: they were founded in 1991, and raced their first vehicle in 1993. They’ve built nine cars since then, and have provided some of our fiercest competition. Three of their team members – Jonathan, Chad, and Neil – rolled in at around 9:15pm on Monday on their way from Minnesota to the starting line in Rochester, NY. Our team rolled out the Quantum chassis, and everyone enjoyed an hour or two of swapping stories, comparing strategies and design decisions, and discussing solar racing in general. We’d like to thank the Minnesota team for stopping by – we wish them the best of luck in the construction of their new car, and look forward to seeing them at the race in July!

Q1 on the left, Q2 (still in race configuration) on the right. Clockwise spiral from upper left: Alec Wagner (mech), Troy Halm (mech), Santosh Kumar (alum), Evan Fletcher (micro), Ryan Mazur (Race Crew Chief), Andrew Huang (mech), Cole Witte (Eng. Director), Bryan Mazor (Strategy Director), AJ Trublowski (Race Strategy Director), Jonathan Nutzmann (UMNSVP), Chad Furey (UMNSVP), and Neil Dencklau (UMNSVP).

Photos and post by Operations Director Aaron Frantz, who was excited to see a tour group in the Wilson center that wasn’t a high school senior campus tour – with so many schools on break this time of year, they’ve been seemingly nonstop!