Translogic chases the sun with Michigan's solar car team

Jeff Sabatini — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:59:00 EST

Filed under: Technology, Australia, Specialty

No, that is not the world's most awesome Michigan Wolverines beer pong table. It's a million-dollar race car that's powered by the sun, and in the most recent epsiode of Translogic, our sister site visits the University of Michigan Solar Car Team to learn all about it.

The Wolverines have been racing in international solar car competitions since 1989, having built 11 cars in the past 23 years. They've won the North American Solar Challenge six times, including the last three in a row, and will be defending their title this July. The team finished third in the World Solar Challenge last year in Australia, and is currently working on a new car design for the 2013 event.

The car itself, dubbed Quantum, is a poem to minimalism, light weight and efficiency. It can run at over 100 miles per hour, thanks to its ultra-efficient, 12-horsepower, in-hub electric motor and a low curb weight of just 320 pounds.

Scroll down to watch the full episode and see the U of M team in action.

Continue reading Translogic chases the sun with Michigan's solar car team

Translogic chases the sun with Michigan's solar car team originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Study: Want to improve your odds of surviving a crash? Have another sammich

Chris Shunk — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:59:00 EST

Filed under: Safety

There aren't a lot of positives about being overweight, but a study by the University of Michigan shows that there could be one reason for the chunky among us to celebrate. U of M studied 300,000 traffic fatalities obtained from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration between 1998 and 2008, and it has reportedly found that overweight people had a 22 percent lower fatality rate than underweight people. However, the story changes for the worse if you're a man with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 35 to 50 and you are not wearing a safety belt. The study shows that obese men are 10 percent more likely to die in an accident if they don't buckle up.

There was reportedly no statistical evidence that showed that females were affected by their weight in a crash. Unfortunately, there was evidence that women were 1.1 times as likely to die in a car crash then were men. And everyone is safer when buckled up, as evidenced by the not-so-surprising observation that those who do not fasten their safety belts are 2.1 times more likely to die in a car accident. U of M says that the study does show that the large mass of some men shows that airbags and seat belts may need to be redesigned in the future because their larger size could possibly be overwhelming the safety equipment. Maybe we won't have that extra pastrami on rye after all.

[Source: AnnArbor.com | Image: Lili Nelson]

Study: Want to improve your odds of surviving a crash? Have another sammich originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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