Many ISU students buy their cars at a dealer lot or inherit one from their parents, but Team PrISUm would much rather build their own. The solar car, “Hyperion,” is the result of the work done by the members of Team PrISUm, about 100 hours a week collectively, said Cory Anderson, mechanic director of Team PrISUm and junior in mechanical engineering.

Hyperion is a solar car, which means that it runs on energy by extracting energy from the sun. Evan Stumpges, president of Team PrISUm and a graduating senior in mechanical engineering said “Hyperion” is a clever word play incorporating Greek mythology and modern astronomy.

“Hyperion is a titan in Greek mythology who is the son of Helios, the god of fire,” Stumpges said.

Team PrISUm has been working on Hyperion since 2010. The entire process took two years to complete from start to finish, with a long distance race taking place every other year. This summer, Hyperion will race from Rochester, N.Y., to St. Paul, Minn. in a 1,600 plus mile cross country race.

The frame of Hyperion was displayed during the Veishea parade on Saturday and then displayed outside Marston Hall.

“Since I’ve arrived at Iowa State in 2008, this is the first time at ISU there has been a painted car in a welded frame by Veishea,” Stumpges said. “We’ve been really fortunate in sticking to an aggressive timeline.”

Stumpges and Anderson emphasized that Hyperion would not be possible without teamwork.

“There’s a bunch of little offshoots in every category which works well to incorporate all the team members,” Anderson said. “We always want new members and people are welcome to stop by anytime. Door is always open.”

“I really enjoy working a multi-disciplinary team,” Stumpges said. “I get to work with different people in different technical fields. People from different backgrounds and educational programs learn to approach similar problems from a different perspectives and different solve problems. It’s been fun watching the team grow this year and seeing this team develop as a family and watching them build relationships with each other.”

Hyperion is created only through the efforts of Team PrISUm and generous donations from sponsors. Anderson estimated Hyperion has a budget of about $300,000 worth of donated parts.

Stumpges said that setting a timeline and keeping track of the different parts of the project is difficult since the companies who do sponsor Hyperion also have other obligations.

“The timeline is always the most challenging part of the project. I have gone through the process twice now; when I first joined the team they were in the initial development stage,” Stumpges said. “Learning from that and the timeline issues we had, I knew how to avoid a making some of the same mistakes with the project. As with any project you don’t do the same time exactly twice and there are still timeline constraints as to when sponsors are able help.”

Anderson said the experience has been very eye-opening.

“It’s the very best way to grow as a person,” Anderson said. “It’s probably the best thing I’ve ever done.”