Share the road with Team Sunergy, Appalachian State University’s solar vehicle team, as it traverses from Brecksville, Ohio, to Hot Springs, South Dakota – 1,975 miles of sun racing, wind-whistling, solar battery charging, slick-road stopping, seven-state crossing, auto-history making, nine national park honoring thrills, spills and sheer Mountaineer grit.

For a week before and during the 2016 American Solar Challenge at the Pittsburgh International Race Complex in Wampum, Pennsylvania, Appalachian’s solar vehicle drivers weaved between traffic cones in slalom handling tests, clocked times, kidded to fast stops in wet road brake tests, and jumped from their vehicles in quick egress tests; crews demonstrated solar array charging capacity, battery load bearing and capacity; and dozens of details, including driver registration, insurance and support vehicle graphics, were scrutinized or, using track vernacular, “scrutineered.” And, after hours, there was laundry to be done.