Any race car driver will tell you that a car’s aerodynamics are an important factor in winning a race even when they have 700-horsepower engines hurtling them down the track. Fine-tuned aerodynamics is even more important when the only thing you have to power your car – across an entire continent – is the sun.

The quest for aerodynamic refinement is driving the University of Michigan’s Solar Car Team to spend two days in the Jacobs Technology wind tunnel in Allen Park, Mich., August 14 and 28. There, they are testing their $2.5 million solar-powered “Infinium” car for the 2009 Global Green Challenge, a 1,800 mile race across the Australian Outback from Darwin to Adelaide, October 25-31.

Solar-powered success story
Ford Motor Company is a long-time partner of the UM Solar Car Team, and is providing funding and technical assistance on its current project. The UM team designed the vehicle and Ford’s Design and Milling Studio fabricated the body mold.

The team unveiled “Infinium” at The Henry Ford Museum in June and has since been testing the vehicle across southeast Michigan. The students who will pilot the vehicle in Australia also received professional driver’s training at Ford Dearborn Proving Ground in Michigan.

Ford’s 17-year sponsorship of the team has yielded impressive results. The Solar Car Team has won five of nine national championship races it has entered, including the inaugural international solar vehicle race in 2005. The team finished third in the 2007 World Car Solar Challenge, the highest of any American team. The team seeks to be the first American winner of the race since the inaugural race in 1987.

The wind tunnel tests at Jacobs Technology mark the last major hurdle before the UM team travels to Australia to prepare for the race. Ford of Australia will provide vehicle and storage support during the team’s two-month stay Down Under.

QUOTE

“Even in the currently difficult economic climate, Ford has remained one of the team’s top sponsors, and is a big reason why our team has won five out of nine National Championship races in the past 20 years.”
– Steve Hechtman, the UM Solar Car Team’s 2009 Project Manager

SHERIF MARAKBY: HELPING DRIVE THE DEVELOPMENT OF FORD’S ‘GREEN’ POWERTRAIN TECHNOLOGY

• Sherif Marakby, chief engineer for Ford’s Global Hybrid Core Engineering, led the development of the Fusion Hybrid’s powertrain system
• Marakby leads the core engineering for electrified systems and components at Ford

Sherif Marakby leads Ford Motor Company’s core engineering for electrified systems and components. He is responsible for delivering the Fusion Hybrid’s powertrain system.

Marakby, who has a master’s degree in electrical and electronics engineering from the University of Maryland and a master’s in business administration from the University of Michigan, has worked at Ford for nearly 20 years. Before becoming chief engineer of Global Hybrid Core Engineering, Marakby worked in powertrain systems and components, electronic systems and modules, program management, electromechanical systems, manufacturing and assembly.

He’ll be discussing the plans that Ford has for vehicle-to-grid communications for plug-in hybrids.

Join Sherif here for a live chat at 11:30am (EST) on August 28, 2009.

SHERIF MARAKBY: HELPING DRIVE THE DEVELOPMENT OF FORD’S ‘GREEN’ POWERTRAIN TECHNOLOGY

• Sherif Marakby, chief engineer for Ford’s Global Hybrid Core Engineering, led the development of the Fusion Hybrid’s powertrain system
• Marakby leads the core engineering for electrified systems and components at Ford

Sherif Marakby leads Ford Motor Company’s core engineering for electrified systems and components. He is responsible for delivering the Fusion Hybrid’s powertrain system.

Marakby, who has a master’s degree in electrical and electronics engineering from the University of Maryland and a master’s in business administration from the University of Michigan, has worked at Ford for nearly 20 years. Before becoming chief engineer of Global Hybrid Core Engineering, Marakby worked in powertrain systems and components, electronic systems and modules, program management, electromechanical systems, manufacturing and assembly.

He’ll be discussing the plans that Ford has for vehicle-to-grid communications for plug-in hybrids.

Join Sherif here for a live chat at 11:30am (EST) on August 28, 2009.