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Collection

Solar Car Team (University of Michigan) records, 1985-2009 (majority within 1989-2003)

23 linear feet — 1 oversize volume — 94104 digital records (4.06 GB 52.1 MB) — 6 digital video files

Online
The Solar Car Team is an interdisciplinary student organization at the University of Michigan whose objectives are to design, finance, build and race a solar-powered vehicle from scratch. The collection documents the activities and experiences of several generations of the team, including team organization, design, fundraising, construction, testing and racing.

The records of the various U-M Solar Car projects have been received in multiple accessions and are generally described by accession. Accessions are typically organized around specific vehicles, but do contain material carried over from previous cars and races reflecting the fact that students learned from and built on the work of previous teams. For this reason, researchers are advised to review all accessions. The records contain a wide variety of documentation on the design, building, financing and racing of the solar cars and administrative and project management records.

Records include group reports; topical files; and binders containing newsletters and bulletins, and administrative and technical information for the cars; also included are videocassettes detailing design, building, and racing of the Sunrunner solar-powered automobile; photographs and albums of snapshots of team members performing general team tasks and captures of the Solar Car Team website.

Folder

Accession, 2008

Online

The 2008 accession (6.5 linear feet) is comprised of files dating from1989 to 2008 the majority of which relate to the sponsorship of the University of Michigan solar cars and teams. The accession also includes files on the individual solar cars and on topics relating to their development. It is arranged into seven subseries: Website, Solar Cars, Tests, Topical Files, Visual Materials, Sponsor Files, and Student Papers.

The Solar Car subseries (.5 linear feet) covers the years 1990 to 2007 and is arranged alphabetically by solar car. All solar cars through Continuum (2007) are represented with the majority of materials on cars that fall between Wolverine (1997) and Momentum (2005). Records include race programs, recruitment flyers, meet the team booklets, some team meeting minutes, schedules, and race information.

The Test subseries (.25 linear feet) is arranged alphabetically and covers the years 1995 to 2001. It is made up of files relating to different test for the solar cars a significant amount of this data is wind tunnel test data.

The Topical Files subseries 1990 to 2006 (1 linear feet) is arranged alphabetically. It contains files on various topics surrounding the solar car and the solar car team, including, presentations, inspections and analyses, meeting notes, and recognition certificates.

The Visual Materials subseries 1990-2008 (1.25 linear feet) is arranged alphabetically and by format. The subseries has a small amount of photographs and publications. The sub-subseries Videocassettes 1990-2001 (1.0 linear feet) includes VHS tapes with footage ranging from professional produced race coverage and promotional videos to footage shot by the solar team of the team and their car.

The Sponsor Files subseries 1989-2005 (3 linear feet) is arranged alphabetically by company name. It contains the sub-subseries General 1993-2001; which includes miscellaneous sponsor files and files the team had filed by automotive part. Contents include sponsorship outreach letters, information on possible sponsors, rejection letters from sponsors, as well as, information on official solar car team sponsors.

The Student Papers subseries 1990-2003 (.5 linear feet) is comprised of reports and papers generated by students on the solar car team. Reports cover general team reports, design and implementation, and weather forecasting. Reports were generally required in order for the students to receive course credit for their work on the solar car.