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He's driven by the sun

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 13, 2009

TAMPA - Made in Canada with parts from as far away as Korea, a solar car swung through Tampa on Tuesday.

It didn't go unnoticed and was pulled over by Tampa police on Fowler Avenue as it neared its destination at the University of South Florida.

It was the second time the flying-saucer-shaped vehicle was stopped in Tampa, said the car's inventor, creator and driver, Marcelo da Luz. "They just wanted to make sure it was legal. It is."

At USF's Clean Energy Research Center at Research Park, students and professors milled around the car, some asking technical questions, others taking pictures.

He said the vehicle is the result of a lot of hard work, including about 50,000 donated hours of labor. Two years of research and more than two years of construction went into the vehicle, which began its North America trek in Buffalo, N.Y., in June 2008. It has logged more than 14,000 miles, said da Luz, who was en route to Key West.

Keith Morelli

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