The Solar Car Challenge is a national competition for teams from across the U.S. that invites high school students to design, build, and compete with fully solar-powered vehicles. The event happens every July, and sees around 40 teams across 5 divisions compete in Texas. The competition promotes STEM education, teamwork, and innovation while helping to advance the knowledge of renewable energy. Students apply real-world engineering and problem-solving techniques as they construct their vehicles, testing efficiency, speed, and endurance in a competitive environment. The Solar Car Challenge is greater than a competition, for it fosters leadership, sustainability, and a passion for cutting-edge technology, defining the future of engineers and innovators.
Most people will fly to Texas, but there will be some who will help trailer the car there. Your parents are welcome to join us but it is not required as there are chaperones.
The competition begins with three days of scrutineering, or in other words, three days of inspection where the judges check the car to see if it works safely and to see if all the rules are followed. All teams get a scrutineering packet, where it lists all of the criteria from the rules of the Solar Car Challenge, where the judge signs off the met criteria. After all criteria is met and the final inspection is passed, the car will qualify for the race. The race will last four days, and whichever team travels the farthest distance in total will win!
There are no skill requirements, but some sort of engineering experience is preferred. However, we look for individuals who show very high commitment levels, and those who are willing to put in the time, and the effort. Our main qualities we look for in a member are commitment, responsibility, and accountability.
This club doesn’t have a significant amount of meetings during the school year, and most work is done online by yourself. During the school year, this could mean up to ~20-30 hours per week. During summer break, this could be even higher.
This team is a very small team, meaning it is not an open invite. The first step is to fill out the Recruitment Application form on our “Join” page of our website. We will then reach out to schedule an interview to get to know you better. If we determine that you are a suitable member, then you will be invited.
For the designing phase, we will be having our meetings every Thursdays during lunch at Room 803. When we start building the car, we will be meeting outside of school (location to be determined).
Being a member of Garage 803 Racing is a very rewarding experience. We will teach you skills like designing in CAD, working with various machines in manufacturing, designing and constructing electrical systems, etc. Furthermore, you will also be introduced to advanced college level physics topics like finite element analysis and computational fluid dynamics. Apart from technical skills, you will also find yourself developing soft skills through our outreach programs and negotiating sponsorship. Being able to communicate with companies, pitch our solar car project, and giving presentations are all necessary skills you will need in the future.
