(Image source from: University of Michigan's Solar Car wins its fifth straight national})

It wasn't without adversity, but the University of Michigan's Solar Car Team won the eight-day, 1,700-mile American Solar Car Challenge, making it the fifth consecutive year in which the Wolverines took home first place.

The team had a series of setbacks, including a motor problem, that cost it nearly half an hour at the start of the race – which began on July 20 in Austin, Texas. But it recovered soundly and crossed the finish line in Minneapolis at 1:50 p.m. Monday, July 28.

In qualifying rounds, Michigan had clinched the first starting position. But soon after the students hit the road, driver Jake Fratzke knew something was wrong. The car wouldn't accelerate. He radioed back to his caravan.

"I said, 'Hey, guys, the motor's cutting out. I'm not able to get up this hill,'" Fratzke, a junior in mechanical engineering, said in a statement. "It was scary. It was out of nowhere. It wasn't like the car had been acting up."

The team made the decision to change out the motor completely, and in the process five of the other 22 teams competing in the race passed Michigan.

The stop set the team back about 20 or 30 minutes, a representative said. They made the time up when team strategists decided to push the car to the speed limit while the sun was shining bright, rather than hold back to conserve energy. By the end of the day, U-M was back in the lead.

"We pulled together," Fratzke said. "To see that happen was awesome."

AW: Suchorita Choudhury