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Solar car challenge pit stops at GCCC

Published 7/24/2010 in Local News

By MONICA SPRINGER

mspringer@gctelegram.com

The process of planning and building a solar car can take up to two years. And for a group of high school students, years of hard work are paying off as the students compete in a race from Texas to Colorado.

On Friday afternoon and evening, 14 solar cars built by high school students from across the United States stopped on the Garden City Community College campus to rest and visit with community members.

The cars are small and hold one person, and most have large solar panels on their roof.

The race is called the 2010 Hunt-Winston School Solar Car Challenge, and it was started by the Fort Worth-based Winston School.

"We're very proud of what we've accomplished," said Jessica Millar, 17, from Plantation, Fla., who is part of the Solar Knights team.

The cars are en route from Fort Worth, Texas, to Boulder, Colo., as part of an eight-day race to test reliability and endurance.

The school's solar car challenge, established in 1993, is designed to motivate engineering and science students from around the world, while boosting awareness of alternate energy. The objective is for the participants to build road-worthy solar-powered automobiles.

The annual project, with Hunt Oil Company as the title sponsor, concludes in some years as a cross-county road event. In alternate years, the cars are proven on a closed-track run at the Texas Motor Speedway near Dallas.

The cars can go a variety of speeds, based on the size of the car and the size of the motor. Millar's team went about 30 mph on Friday, while other cars can go 40 mph or faster.

Teams that are taking part in the competition are from Florida, California, Texas, Minnesota, Louisiana, Arizona, Colorado, New York and Connecticut.

Houston High School in Houston, Mississippi, has two teams in the competition: the Sundancer, which consists of seven high school boys, and the Sundancer II, a team that consists of eight high school girls.

This is the first year that the girls have entered into the race separately, and Donna Turman, who sponsors them, said they've been doing well in the competition.

The students taking part start out not knowing a thing about solar cars, but in the end they know how to raise money, design the car, weld and also operate the mechanical and electrical components of the vehicle, said Colin Hills, a race official and a student at Birmingham-Southern University in Alabama.

They also know how to fix the car if it breaks down.

Turman said at the start of the race a week ago, her team changed a tire on their solar powered car. The race will conclude in Colorado on Sunday.

The students and judges involved in the race said they're excited about the possibility of solar cars becoming common in the country, though they said technology isn't quite to that standard yet.

Hills said the majority of the solar cars taking part in the race seat only one person and in odd positions — the person might have to lay on their back or stomach to drive.

"I think solar technology is going to make a big leap in the near future," Hills said.

And a basic solar car costs between $15,000 to $20,000. Sponsors of the cars said on Friday that the high school students learn more than just mechanical skills. They also learn how to raise money from sponsors and how to apply for grants, as well as gain business skills.

Each car has a team of around eight drivers, all of whom are high school students. While one student drives, the rest of the students ride along in support vehicles.

Hills said safety also is taken into consideration in the race, and a paramedic follows the racers and provides assistance when needed.

While the cars do not have air conditioning, each car has a fan on the driver, and drivers also are required to have water bottles during the race.

Millar said it's challenging to be a part of the race, because the students get four or five hours of sleep a night. They spend the rest of the time working on the vehicles.

But, Millar said, it will be worth it when the solar cars cross the finish line in Colorado.

"This is a great way to spend a summer vacation," Millar said. "I'm seeing parts of the country I've never seen before and I'm making new friends. I'm having a blast."

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