Race 2024
Texas motor speedway 2024
This year we are returning to the
Texas motor speedway!
The goal of this solar car race is to get the most laps by the end of the week. This year our goal is to get 1000 laps with AC, and work on a successor for our car.
The Solar car challenge
Scrutineering
The Solar Car Challenge started with a three day scrutineering process at the Texas Motor Speedway. Scrutineering consists several tests and inspections to insure that all the cars conform to the rules and safety standards set by the race event. It was a busy, stressful three days, but we were able to pass everything and our team worked great together throughout the process!
The Race
Then the race started the next day, it was a crazy start! A rainstorm forced us to trailer a few miles, but luckily we were able to get out of the storm quickly and could start driving. Later in the afternoon we had an issue with our motor, which forced to pull off the road and repair the issue, but we were still able to drive 75 miles total!
We spent the night in Snyder, TX, and started working on our car as soon as we could in the morning to get our solar array working. Despite starting the race about an hour later than other teams, we were able to drive over 150 miles, winning our division for that day!
The next day, we were able to complete all the available driving miles, driving 102 miles. That night, however, we learned some unfortunate news, that many of the race staff had tested positive for COVID, and that the rest of the race was cancelled.
Results
Although the race was cut short, the race was still able to have an awards ceremony the next morning. We placed 2nd in the Advanced Division, with 353.2 miles driven! This was a huge accomplishment for our team! After that, we had to figure out what our plans were for the rest of the race time.
The Tracks
Planning
The team captains, Mr. Stueve, and the adults met to re-group and discuss options. Mr. Stueve started us off with the reminder, "we're about solving problems, so let's look at what our problems are and see what solutions we can come up with."
After discussing various possibilities we decided on trying to find tracks and/or large parking lots that would allow us to put some miles on the car.
We started calling contacts and searching on Google - then called the rest of the team to the hotel lobby to bring them up to speed.
The team went to work! We started cold calling tracks. Then giving everyone tips and an intro script.
Every single person was making calls to every track they could find.
Within a few hours, we were able to find two tracks in Arizona that would allow us to drive on their tracks, Podium Club, and Inde Motorsports Ranch! Concordia University Irvine also gave us permission to use their parking lot.
Podium Club
Friday morning, we went to a new motorsports club near Phoenix, called Podium Club. We were able to drive there for two hours! Our car performed well and handled the track configuration very well! Check out a video of us driving on the track!
Inde Motorsports Ranch
Saturday morning we arrived at Inde Motorsports Ranch, another motorsports club in Arizona. We were able to use their track from 6am until 3pm! We were able to complete quite a few laps on the track, but we ran the car pretty hard and ended up overheating a motor. ADD MORE PROBABLY
Help Our team!
Your support and contributions will enable us to meet our goals and improve conditions. Your generous donation will fund our mission.
We changed our email!
due to some unfortunate circumstances we have changed our email to info@oregonsolarcar.org