Students from across the country have arrived at Texas Motor Speedway for the annual "Solar Car Challenge." This year's event includes 27 teams from nine states.
Students had to design their cars and ship them to Texas. Friday, they went through "scrutineering," where judges inspected cars to ensure they met requirements.
"We have some limitations. We have variables we have to meet," says the captain of a team from Palmdale, California. "We do a lot of research and find what we can do. We find panels that meet that maximum efficiency so we can pull as much wattage as we can."
Some members of the group have been working together several years. They say the design and construction of the car helped them narrow down fields they might enjoy as a career.
"I feel like, at first, nobody really knows what they want to do. I know I didn't," one of the team members from Palmdale said. "But being involved in the program has really helped find what I want to do in the future."
That student says he wants to study aerospace engineering in college, saying he found aerodynamics a fascinating aspect of the design of the solar car. Another says he wants to study city planning, saying the entire process has helped him learn other parts of the work besides just the design.
"It's a really good opportunity to build up communication skills not only on your team but with other teams that will help you," he says.
Doctor Lehman Marks launched the Solar Car Challenge in 1993 to showcase careers in science and engineering. He says 85,000 kids have competed over the years, and he still hears from previous participants.
"One of the kids said, 'I never realized building a solar car would entail so much 'un-engineering' experiences in order to do this," he says.
Marks says kids learn the importance of communication so they can work together and also write fundraising pitches and presentations. He says students learn whether they can afford certain designs and whether a given design is practical.
He says the challenge can also introduce kids to new technology, and the challenge itself is changing as that technology becomes more available.
"One of the intriguing things is we used to have lead-acid batteries. That was what was available back in 1995," Marks says. "In the last couple years, they have moved to lithium, specifically lithium-iron phosphate. It's lighter, they're cheaper, they're environmentally responsible, they can release energy more quickly."
Marks describes the Solar Car Challenge as a "cooperation not a competition." Since students are working in large garages at the speedway, he says they can learn from each other, and the event can give them a chance to work together to achieve new things.
"They have failures and successes. That's just like life," he says. "They learn how to pick themselves back up again and find other solutions."
Scrutineering will continue through Saturday. The Solar Car Challenge begins Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway and runs four days. The car that turns the most laps will be the winner.