Bonde is part of ISU solar car team


Humboldt’s Andrew Bonde (standing in back, fifth from left) is pictured here with his ISU solar car teammates and their entry in a global challenge in Australia last October. Photo courtesy ISU.

By Phil Monson
Humboldt native and Iowa State University student Andrew Bonde has gotten a lot of mileage out of his membership on the school’s solar car team.
Bonde, a senior at ISU majoring in Mechanical Engineering, was part of 15 team members on PrISUm, to travel to Australia last October and spend five weeks, which included racing in the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge.
The 1,877-mile, biennial race began on Oct. 8 in northern Australia, in Darwin, and finished Oct. 15 in southern Australia, in Adelaide.
“It was a really awesome experience. It was my first time leaving the United States and we went quite a ways away for that matter,” Bonde said. “Australia itself is a really neat environment. They kind of have that ‘Midwest-level’ of friendliness over there. The people were nice.”
“The competition was great. It was a challenge for sure. It was the first time my team had ever taken part in that world challenge. We did okay considering all the competition,” Bonde said.
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