Formula Sun Grand Prix

The Formula Sun Grand Prix (FSGP) is an annual solar-car race that takes place on closed-loop race tracks. In the race, teams from colleges and universities throughout North America design, build, test, and race solar-powered vehicles.

Formula Sun Grand Prix

Formula Sun Grand Prix
Venue	Racetracks
Location	Varies
Corporate sponsor	Innovators Educational Foundation
First race	2000
Last race	2019
Laps	Most laps wins
Duration	3 days
Most wins (team)	University of Minnesota Solar Vehicle Project

Every two years the race serves as a qualifier for the American Solar Challenge road race.[1]

FSGP 2017 took place between July 6 and 8 at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.[2]

Format and organization

Rules

• The race consists of three days of freely driving laps around the race track.
• The team with the most total laps driven wins.
• The total area of all solar cells and related reflectors, etc., must not exceed six-square meters.
• The solar array may be reoriented toward the sun for charging batteries for specified time periods before and after race hours.
• Strict specifications and engineering scrutiny process is provided for vehicle configuration, safety requirements, and other standards.
• Previous races have divided teams into "open" and "stock" classes based on levels of solar cell and battery technologies.

History

Formula Sun Grand Prix is governed by the Innovators Educational Foundation,[3] and was started in summer 2000 at Heartland Park race track in Topeka, Kansas, in conjunction with a solar-bike race.

It has served as a qualifying race for the biennial American Solar Challenge road race.

The race was held there every year through 2005 until the 2007 American Solar Challenge was canceled due to funding issues. It resumed in 2009 and has been held every year since then at a few different venues.

2000

The inaugural race was held at Heartland Park Topeka race track in Topeka, Kansas. It was won by Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology's Solar Phantom V.[4] The stock class was won by the University of Missouri-Rolla's Solar Miner II.

Results
Rank	Team	Laps
1	Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology	396
2	University of Missouri-Rolla	382
3	University of Minnesota	362
4	Kansas State University	345
5	University of Missouri #4	326
6	Iowa State University	293
7	University of North Dakota	276
8	Lincoln Land Community College	201
9	Purdue University	196
10	Minnesota State / Winona State	166
11	Michigan Tech University	157
12	University of Missouri #43	133
13	South Dakota School of Mines & Technology	124
14	Florida A&M University / Florida State University	122

2001

FSGP 2001 served as a qualifier for the 2001 American Solar Challenge and was the only year when multiple events were held.

• The first event was again held at Heartland Park Topeka and the Rose-Hulman again took first place overall[5] with Solar Phantom VI, while the stock class was won by the co-op team from Minnesota State University, Mankato and Winona State University.

Results
Rank	Team	Laps
1	Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology	353
2	Minnesota State University, Mankato / Winona State	208
3	North Dakota State University	122
4	University of Missouri-Rolla	102
5	Iowa State University	92
6	University of Michigan	92
7	University of Missouri	85
8	Messiah College	80
9	Texas A&M	77
10	University of North Dakota	72
11	University of Waterloo	66
12	University of Minnesota	63
13	Principia College	35

• The second event was held at Gingerman Raceway[6] in South Haven, Michigan, and was won by Principia College's RA IV, while the stock class was won by Stanford University.

Results
Rank	Team
1	Principia College
2	École de technologie supérieure
3	University of Toronto

2002

FSGP 2002 was held at Heartland Park Topeka and was won by the University of Missouri-Rolla's Solar Miner III,[7] while the stock class was won by Kansas State University.

Results
Rank	Team
1	Missouri S&T
2	University of Minnesota
3	Kansas State University
4	Principia College

2003

FSGP 2003 was held at Heartland Park Topeka and served as a qualifier for the 2003 American Solar Challenge. It was won by the University of Minnesota's Borealis II,[8] while Kansas State finished just one lap behind in second place. The stock class was won by North Dakota State University.

Results
Rank	Team
1	University of Minnesota
2	Kansas State University
3
4	UC Berkeley
5	Auburn University

2004

FSGP 2004 was held at Heartland Park Topeka and the University of Missouri-Rolla's Solar Miner IV[9] took first place overall.

Results
Rank	Team
1	Missouri S&T
2	University of Minnesota
3	Kansas State University
4	University of Missouri

2005

FSGP 2005 was held at Heartland Park Topeka and served as a qualifier for the 2005 North American Solar Challenge. It was won by Minnesota's Borealis III.[10]

Results
Rank	Team
1	University of Minnesota
2	Iowa State University
3	Auburn University
4	UC Berkeley
5	Northwestern University

2009

After a three-year hiatus due to a lack of funding, FSGP 2009 was held at the Motorsports Ranch in Cresson, Texas. The University of Minnesota's Centaurus took first place overall.[11]

Results
Rank	Team	Day 1 Laps	Day 2 Laps	Day 3 Laps	Total Laps	Fast Laps
1	University of Minnesota	169	152	166	487	0:02:20
2	University of Kentucky	109	138	146	393	0:02:33
3	Northwestern University	124	102	145	371	0:02:58
4	University of Waterloo	135	104	127	366	0:02:53
5	Illinois State University	77	125	108	310	0:03:20
6	SUNY - New Paltz	63	99	126	288	0:02:53
7	Iowa State University	0	47	157	204	0:02:54
8	University of Texas	34	88	77	199	0:02:31
9	UC Berkeley	0	23	44	67	0:03:00

2010

FSGP 2010 was again held at the Cresson Motorsports Ranch and served as a qualifier for the 2010 American Solar Challenge. It was won by the University of Michigan.[12]

Results
Rank	Team	Day 1 Miles	Day 2 Miles	Day 3 Miles	Total Miles
1	University of Michigan	246.5	251.6	222.7	720.8
2	Bochum	239.7	226.1	214.2	680
3	University of Minnesota	178.5	239.7	198.9	617.1
4	Northwestern University	107.1	175.1	188.7	470.9
5	Kaohsiung	76.5	224.4	210.8	435.2
6	University of Calgary	226.1	163.2	28.9	418.2
7	SUNY - New Paltz	96.9	159.8	159.8	416.5
8	Missouri S&T	147.9	134.3	32.3	314.5
9	Illinois State University	*	149.6	112.2	261.8
10	University of Texas	79.9	134.3	124.1	258.4
11	Iowa State University	127.5	129.2	0	256.7
12	Stanford University	79.9	180.2	28.9	209.1
13	University of Kentucky	23.8	119	0	142.8
14	Western Michigan University	*	*	88.4	88.4

2011

FSGP 2011 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Indiana, as part of the Indianapolis 500's 100th-anniversary celebrations. Minnesota's Centaurus II took first place overall.[13]

Results
Rank	Team	Day 1 Laps	Day 2 Laps	Day 3 Laps	Total Laps
1	University of Minnesota	206	192	171	569
2	Illinois State University	175	191	164	530
3	Northwestern University	174	194	146	514
4	Iowa State University	83	164	156	403
5	University of Kentucky	125	67	125	317
6	Western Michigan University	101	15	91	207
6	Michigan State University	0	124	83	207
8	Missouri S&T	0	4	90	94
9	University of Michigan	90	70	48	43
10	University of New Mexico	0	2	0	2

2012

FSGP 2012 was held at the Monticello Motor Club in Monticello, New York, and served as a qualifier for the 2012 American Solar Challenge. It was won by Michigan.[14]

Results
Rank	Team	Day 1 Laps	Day 2 Laps	Day 3 Laps	Penalty Laps	Total Laps
1	University of Michigan	145	158	146		449
2	Iowa State University	125	146	155		426
3	Western Michigan University	120	119	127		366
4	Illinois State University	88	131	131		350
5	Oregon State University	84	80	19	2	181
6	University of Minnesota	109	0	71		180
7	Principia College	103	58	0	10	151
8	Polytechnique Montreal	76	28	109		137
9	UC Berkeley	0	110	0		110
10	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	0	55	107		107
11	SUNY - New Paltz	0	66	94	2	92
12	Michigan State University	0	0	50		50
13	University of New Mexico	22	0	0		22
14	University of Kentucky	0	0	6		6

2013

FSGP 2013 was held at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Oregon State University's Phoenix took first place overall, while Illinois State University's Mercury IV finished one lap behind in second place, and Iowa State University's Hyperion finished one lap behind them in third place.[15]

Results
Rank	Team	Total Laps	Day 1 Laps	Day 2 Laps	Day 3 Laps	Penalty Laps	Fast Lap
1	Oregon State University	193	65	66	63	1	5:26.565
2	Illinois State University	192	64	65	64	1	4:59.886
3	Iowa State University	191	61	52	78		4:42.289
4	Principia College	184	56	54	74		4:46.005
5	Western Michigan University	183	66	64	53		5:36.894
6	University of Texas	121	34	42	60	15	5:02.661
7	University of Waterloo	20	0	0	20		6:33.359
8	Southern Illinois University Edwardsville	10	7	1	2		7:25.008
9	Georgia Tech	1	0	0	3	2	N/A

2014

FSGP 2014 was again held at Circuit of the Americas and served as a qualifier for the 2014 American Solar Challenge. It was won by Michigan. The race was marred by an electrical fire in a garage causing many team's cars and equipment to be damaged by water from the complex's sprinkler system.[16]

Results
Rank	Team	Total Laps	Day 1 Laps	Day 2 Laps	Day 3 Laps	Penalty Laps	Fast Lap
1	University of Michigan	174	69	51	54		5:05.490
2	Oregon State University	124	46	26	52		4:56.344
3	University of Minnesota	110	34	53	24	1	5:17.913
3	Western Michigan University	110	51	14	45		6:09.962
5	Iowa State University	92		46	46		4:35.285
6	Polytechnique Montreal	91	32	17	42		6:07.705
7	Missouri S&T	88		40	48		5:13.075
8	Qazvin Islamic Azad University	83	42	51	32	42	4:52.169
9	École de technologie supérieure	77	25	24	33	5	7:07.314
10	Principia College	66		54	13	1	4:36.109
11	University of Texas	39	32	5	40	38	6:43.137
12	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	13			13		5:17.693
12	Southern Illinois University Edwardsville	13		11	3	1	14:55.801
14	University of Kentucky	5			6	1	5:44.238
14	UC Berkeley	5			5		7:07.323
16	Illinois State University	0	13	14		27	5:31.655
16	University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez	0			0

2015

FSGP 2015 was held again at Circuit of the Americas on July 29–31. It was won by Iowa State University with 223 total laps and a fast lap of 4:30.444, both track records for solar cars.[17] Hot weather forced most of the teams to have to pull into the pits at times to cool their batteries. The University of Calgary became the first Cruiser team to compete in FSGP.

Results
Rank	Team	Total Laps	Day 1 Laps	Day 2 Laps	Day 3 Laps	Penalty Laps	Fast Lap
1	Iowa State University	223	76	70	77		4:30.444
2	Polytechnique Montreal	192	61	63	68		4:53.313
3	Illinois State University	185	69	56	60		5:05.834
4	Missouri S&T	181	61	66	63	9	4:49.051
5	Principia College	136	50	40	46		5:24.838
6	University of Texas	133	47	40	51	5	6:27.730
7	UC Berkeley	110	30	42	40	2	5:08.716
8	McMaster University	93	38	21	38	4	6:37.638
9	University of Kentucky	82	33	29	22	2	4:44.735
9*	University of Calgary (Cruiser)*	84	20	21	43		5:33.886
11	Southern Illinois University Edwardsville	66	28	16	22		5:40.215
12	University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez	57	17	34	21	15	5:25.893
13	Georgia Tech	27	10	5	13	1	7:19.903
14	University of Western Ontario	0	0	1	0	1

* Teams with a Cruiser Class vehicle tied below the next conventional team.

2016

FSGP 2016 took place at Pitt Race in Wampum, Pennsylvania on July 26–28, 2016. It served as a qualifier for the 2016 American Solar Challenge.[18] It was won by Michigan.

Results
Rank	Team	Total Laps	Day 1 Laps	Day 2 Laps	Day 3 Laps	Penalty Laps	Fast Lap
1	University of Michigan	518	201	194	126	3	1:41
2	Principia College	454	170	172	112		2:04
3	Appalachian State University	414	153	130	131		2:19
4	University of Minnesota (Cruiser)	386	140	154	94	2	2:03
5	Illinois State University	327	120	117	90		1:54
6	Polytechnique Montreal	321	107	118	96		1:59
7	École de technologie supérieure	308	141	65	104	2	2:04
8	University of Toronto	304	83	165	61	5	2:07
9	Iowa State University	241	35	137	72	3	2:01
10	UC Berkeley	203	0	117	88	2	1:57
11	Missouri S&T	195	0	91	114	10	2:11
12	McMaster University	177	69	72	42	6	2:29
13	Dunwoody College of Technology	108	0	63	109	64	2:16
14	University of Kentucky	40	53	0	44	57	2:46
15	Zurich University of Applied Sciences	22	0	33	24	35	2:14
16	Northwestern University	21	0	6	24	9	2:33

2017

FSGP 2017 was held again at Circuit of the Americas on July 6–8. It was won by the CalSol team of UC Berkeley with 228 total laps.[19]

Results
Rank	Team	Day 1 Laps	Day 2 Laps	Day 3 Laps	Penalty Laps	Total Laps	Fast Lap
1	UC Berkeley	72	74	82	0	228	4:35.848
2	Appalachian State University	70	72	76	0	218	5:14.071
3	Polytechnique Montreal	67	69	64	2	198	4:32.542
4	École de technologie supérieure	73	66	39	4	174	5:21.554
5	Illinois State University	46	62	64	0	172	4:56.347
6	Georgia Tech	40	25	39	15	89	8:09.185
7	University of Kentucky	30	28	22	0	80	4:34.297
8	Missouri S&T	14	20	54	19	69	5:14.117
9	University of Texas	9	29	31	9	60	8:16.501
10	Southern Illinois University Edwardsville	19	4	34	0	57	8:18.929
11	University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez	20	11	23	19	35	6:21.639
12	Northwestern University	4	6	18	16	12	6:38.000
13	Principia College	0	1	28	18	11	4:43.125
14	Western Michigan University	0	0	1	0	1

2018

FSGP 2018 was held at Motorsports Park Hastings in Hastings, Nebraska on July 10–12. This year featured the first ever Multi-Occupant Vehicle (MOV) class at FSGP, which was won by University of Minnesota with triple the score of the runner-up, setting a record as the first team to win FSGP 5 times. The Single-Occupant Vehicle (SOV) class was won by Polytechnique Montreal with 403 laps.[20]

2019

FSGP 2019 was held at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas on July 4–6. The Multi-Occupant Vehicle (MOV) class was won by University of Calgary with a Score of 24.188194444. The Single-Occupant Vehicle (SOV) class was won by Polytechnique Montreal with 230 laps.[21]

2020

FSGP 2020 will return to Heartland Park Topeka on July 10-16, 2020.[22]

See also

• List of solar car teams
• List of prototype solar-powered cars

Other solar vehicle challenges

• American Solar Challenge
• The Solar Car Challenge, an annual event for high school students from the U.S. and (to a lesser extent) other parts of the world; first held in 1995
• South African Solar Challenge, a South African biennial event; first held in 2008
• World Solar Challenge, an Australian biennial world championship solar car race

References

1. FSGP Info Page
2. ASC/FSGP 2017 page
3. IEF Info Page
4. RHIT history
5. RHIT history
6. WMU Article
7. MST site
8. UMNSVP blog
9. MST site
10. FSGP 2005 video
11. New Paltz site
12. ASC/FSGP 2010 page
13. FSGP 2011 page
14. ASC/FSGP 2012 page
15. FSGP 2013 page
16. ASC/FSGP 2014 page
17. FSGP 2015 page
18. ASC/FSGP 2016 page
19. FSGP 2017 page
20. FSGP 2018 page
21. "2019 Formula Sun Grand Prix". American Solar Challenge. November 20, 2018. Retrieved July 30, 2019.
22. FSGP 2020 announcement

External links

• americansolarchallenge.org/about/formula-sun-grand-prix, the official website of the Formula Sun Grand Prix