The sun beat down on the Texas Motor Speedway Friday, its relentless glare heating the racetrack to nearly 100 degrees.
But for the 570 high school students at the track this weekend, the sun is a blessing. It’s the reason they came from a dozen states all across the country in the first place, and the reason their solar-powered cars are able to loop the track hundreds of times from Sunday to Wednesday this week.
For the 31st annual Solar Car Challenge held in Fort Worth, 32 teams of high school students towed their solar cars to the speedway from as far as Florida, Connecticut, Washington and other corners of the U.S., after months and even years of preparation.
While many teenagers dream of getting their first car, these students have invested hours of their free time into building their own, powered by renewable energy. The competition, which emphasizes education, has become a launching pad for budding scientists and engineers.
“Some people do it for their jobs in the future, some people do it for their college,” Nidhi Begur, a rising junior at Florida Atlantic University High School, said. “The reason that I’m here and so many people are here, too, is passion … passion for this new era of renewable energy that’s so important.”
The competition is open to the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday to Wednesday at the Texas Motor Speedway. Visitors are welcome to cheer on the teams and see the fleet of solar cars up close.
The road to the speedway
The challenge isn’t necessarily about speed. The teams compete to see which car can loop the track the most. Sometimes slow and steady wins the race.
“It’s not pedal to the metal,” Lehman Marks, the president and founder of the challenge, said. “If you do that, you use up your energy. You’ve got to be smart. It’s a brain sport.”
But Marks, who was a Texas educator for half a century, will tell you the challenge isn’t about distance, either. It’s about learning. Marks has used solar-powered cars to teach tens of thousands of students not just about science, technology, engineering and math — STEM — but also practical shop skills and invaluable life lessons.
“It brings everything together,” Marks said. “Budget, planning, teamwork, commitment, engineering, physics, evaluation, failure, success. It’s a life process.”
Students pour hours of their free time into their car, and many work 12-hour days in the weeks leading up to the challenge.
They also have to pay their own way to compete. Teams collect donations and sponsorships to fund the construction of their car and their trip to Texas. Some teams estimate their cars are worth around $100,000 in materials, and many spend additional tens of thousands of dollars on the trip.
The Iron Lions don’t have to travel far for race day. The group of 19 Greenville High School students are one of a dozen solar car teams in North Texas. The Iron Lions have been a dominant team in the competition for years — Greenville students have placed in the top three teams since 2013 and the team hopes to compete internationally next year.
“We kind of have the weight of a community on our shoulders,” Greenville student Sebastian Gonzalez said. “So many people have poured financial support and valuable time into this that the last thing we want is to disappoint them.”
The first challenge
The first challenge happens before the wheels even touch the track. “Scrutineering” is a three-day, six-step process that qualifies teams to compete. A panel of judges evaluate the cars at the speedway’s garages and make sure they are safe and the teams have followed every rule to the letter.
A team from Florida modeled their car after a Tesla Cybertruck, but learned a few months before the competition that it was just one millimeter too long. They disassembled the car in order to shave it down just enough to pass scrutineering.
One or two teams usually don’t make it through. But to even have your car evaluated is a huge accomplishment, Marks said. In September 2023, 100 schools started building a car, but by the summer, only 32 made it to the competition.
“When they get there, they’re all winners because of what they’ve had to go through,” Marks said.
While the evaluation is cutthroat, students lend each other a helping hand, loan each other tools and cheer each other on.
“To not pass scrutineering and have to go home … that thought is just sickening, and we wouldn’t want any team to experience that,” Greenville adviser Lucas Kiowski said. “We want everyone to come along with us.”
Feeling the heat
Teams that passed scrutineering round the track for four days, trying to accrue the most laps and the greatest distance with energy harnessed from the sun.
Sometimes, Marks said, it’s a rabbit and tortoise situation, where a team will drive very fast and then run out of power, and end up losing to a team that went slower but for longer.
The record is about 1,300 miles over the course of four days, accomplished in 2022 by a team from Washington. Cars have reached speeds as high as 72 mph, but most solar cars travel around 35, Marks said, to optimize the car’s power.
Drivers are required to have a license and rotate out every two hours when the heat index is above 95.
“That way we can ensure that the kids are not getting heat-goofy on the road,” Marks said.
Gonzalez said it can feel like it’s 140 degrees inside the cockpit. The Greenville team installed fans in their cars. Drivers wear cooling vests and a water bottle backpack, so they can hydrate without taking their hands off the wheel. They communicate by radio with their teammates.
Drivers feel the heat, not just from the glaring sun, but from the responsibility they take on behind the wheel.
“I feel that pressure. I’m still thinking about it every night,” Gianni Reyes, a rising senior at Wylie East High School said. “It’s just still so exciting for everyone to see me race and just be so depended on. I’ve never really had a chance like that.”
A bright future
Today, there are 261 ongoing high school solar car projects in 39 U.S. states and it is expanding to other countries, according to the organization. Marks said interest in the challenge has more than doubled from last year, and the waitlist to compete is 200-schools long. The nonprofit is supported by major industry sponsors, including Oncor and Lockheed Martin.
Greenville High School’s three team advisers have seen firsthand how the competition contributes to student success and have helped the school’s team for 13 years. Adviser Joel Pitts has seen students excel with the solar car experience under their belt.
“We have seen what this program does to students’ lives and the direction that it can take them,” Pitts said. “I can’t imagine not doing it just because of how it affects students’ lives.”
Students from the Greenville team have gone on to become meteorologists, firefighters, government contractors and engineers.
Marks has stayed in contact with thousands of students who have participated in the challenge over the past few decades.
“I continue to hear from them that whether or not they became an engineer or a scientist or whatever it was, that what they learned in the solar car challenge made them a success,” Marks said.
IF YOU GO: The challenge is open to the public and takes place at the Texas Motor Speedway from Sunday through Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a midday break. Attendees can enter through the South Tunnel on Allison Avenue and park in general parking on the north end of the infield. Spectators are encouraged to bring folding chairs, hats, water bottles and sun protection.
