It's not your ultimate road trip.

You have to squeeze into the car, driving while sitting almost completely laid back, wearing a motorcycle helmet and harness for safety. A hood comes just over the driver's head, leaving no extra room in the compartment.

There's no radio. Just two small computer fans, not air conditioning, provide circulation while driving cross-country, some 2,200 miles in 10 days.

"It's really hot and uncomfortable to drive the car," said Tim Petro, a 21-year-old Cal Poly electrical engineering student.

On the other hand, the gas mileage is excellent. For this is the Cal Poly Solar Club's entry into the American Solar Challenge.

Cal Poly is one of 20 teams from colleges around the United States, England and Canada racing from Chicago to Claremont, Calif. They finish up today.

And despite the difficult conditions and poor showing so far -- Cal Poly is in 19th place as of Monday evening -- the trip has had its up moments as well.

"Just doing the whole road trip thing has been kind of fun," Petro said, adding that he is disappointed with the car's performance.

"It probably should have been better," he said. "We've been counting down the days. It's nice to be back in California finally."

All 20 teams met in Barstow on Tuesday in preparation for today's finish.

"Our one problem is that the solar ray just doesn't put out enough power," said team member Bryan Graham from Barstow on Tuesday afternoon.

When there's not enough energy to run the car, the team loads it into a trailer and drives it along the route while it charges. The team gets a penalty for those hours.

As of Monday, the Cal Poly team had driven the solar car 490.82 miles, for a total time of about 100 hours, 45 minutes with penalties. That's compared to 2142.08 driving miles and about 48 hours 42 minutes for the leading team from University of Missouri, Rolla.

How well the Cal Poly team performs today in the last 91.55 miles will be mostly up to the weather, said 22-year-old Graham, who graduated from the mechanical engineering department in June.

"It's all dependent on the sun," said Graham, who will be driving the car today. "If we have decent sun, we'll probably be there in three hours or so, maybe less."

The car averages between 30 and 35 mph, Graham said. The top speed is 65 mph, but the route includes highways, back roads and stop-and-go city streets.

The team has been working on the car for about two years, spending around $40,000 for the one-passenger solar machine. Other teams, competing in the open class with few equipment restrictions, have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"It's interesting to see different people's reactions to the car," Graham said. "People often pull over on the side of the highway to take pictures."