To make sure our array wouldn't get damaged while making its journey to Texas, our team covered the array with tarps to keep wind and debris off of our cells!

Mr. Reese meeting with the Houston Lady Racers and their parents before heading to Texas!

We would like to Thank Griffin Motor Company and Eatons for donating us two vans for the race! We extremely appreciate what you have both done for our team!

The team had a quick meeting to discuss what our day's plans were going to be.

Thomas Brown and Will Turman unloading Sundancer to charge!

The guys "setting up shop" at our hotel!

Since we have spent two days in Texas our team is getting even more excited about racing! Today after we finished tending to our car, we took a trip to Six Flags in Arlington, Tx! Tomorrow will be our first day of Scrutineering and we are hoping everything will go as smoothly as possible. We will officially start racing on July 18 and will finish in Boulder, Colorado July 25!

After a 14 hour drive, our team finally arrived in Dallas, TX, at 10:30 last night! Scrutineering will start tomorrow July 16, and we will be testing our car today to make sure everything is still working. Our team would like to thank all of our sponsors and the parents for helping us get here and for allowing us to have this great experience!

Locked and Loaded!

The team having a short meeting discussing what needs to be packed.

Since our team's moto is "Grab the bull by its horns", it would be only appropriate for our team to bring Red Bull along with us to the race this summer!

Sydney Harrell helping keep Sundancer electrified by packing our electrical box.

Catherine Marsh packing two of our extra fifty-nine tires!

Jay Michael Alford and Nolen Hood working together to pack our electrical box.

Karmen Spratlin, Whitney George, and Catherine Marsh cleaning our traffic cones until they sparkle!

Whitney George placing a protective foam cover over our safety gear.

Sydney Harrell and Catherine Marsh putting our newly cleaned traffic cones in Big Red.

The boys learning how to fold our array cover...some things are just unteachable!

With everything packed it was time to pack Sundacer for its journey to Texas!

July 11, our team met at the school to pack for the race! We started packing at 1:30 and finished up at about 6! After everything was loaded on the trailer, we locked both of the trailer doors and won't open them until we reach Texas! We can't wait to start racing and want to wish good luck to all of the teams!!

Last Minute Training!

With only seven days untill our team leaves for the Hunt-Winston Solar Challenge, our team has been training even harder to get race-ready! On July 5 the guys and girls (now named the Houston Lady Racers!) met to take our last training runs! Our team also met July 6 to practice scrutineering and to set a date to start packing! We are extremely excited for the race and can't wait to head for Texas!

Hunter Powell and Thomas Brown putting on the "Caution Solar Car Ahead" sign on the race trailer!

Hunter Powell and Adam Chandler putting ropes on Sundancer II so they could load it on the race trailer!

Will Turman and Thomas Brown practicing loading Sundancer! They set a goal to load the car in a minute and beat their goal by seven seconds!

Mr. Reese having a driver meeting with the team before leaving for a training run to Greenwood,MS!

June 26, "The Guys" took a training run to Greenwood , MS! Before they left for the run, they did a little training at the school by successfully loading and unloading the car on the trailer within their one minute goal!

Meeting With Exchange Club!

June 25, our team met with the Houston Exchange Club! During the meeting, our team updated the members on what we have been working on this year and also presented a slide show about the upcoming race! We would like to thank everyone for serving us a great lunch and for their continued support throughout the years! We couldn't do this without you!!

Sydney Harrell organizing our Tape and Array box for the run!

During a short stop in Eupora, we let these two girls sit in the car!

Sundancer II starting its journey from Carrollton back to Houston!

While leaving out of Maben, our car was pulled over for speeding!....Just Kidding!! After the long day's run, we pulled over to charge Sundancer II and an officer of Maben stopped to see our car!

When we arrived back at the school, we surprised Hillary Colbert with a party and birthday cake! We forgot plates or utensils so we used a box cutter to cut the cake and coffee filters for plates!

Monday, June 21, we took Sundancer II on a training run to Carrollton, MS! We met bright and early at 6:30 that morning to start charging Sundancer II for the day's run! (We found out a few of our members aren't exactly morning people!) Our run lasted until five that afternoon, and our team stayed at the school to re-charge the car and to celebrate Hillary Colbert's 16th birthday!!

Training Run!

Karmen Spratlin was our first driver of the day!

Hillary Colbert trying to catch a breeze in the summer heat...She wasn't very successful!

Making a 15 minute stop at Smokies to change drivers and charge our car!

Unloading Sundancer II after a lunch stop at Wendy's in Fulton!

The team getting the car ready to resume our training run!

After we arrived back at the school, we let Sundancer II re-charge from the 50 mile run!

June 18, we took an all day training run to Fulton, MS! After we arrived back at the school, we let our car charge untill dark and had a team meeting about the day's run. We also discussed the upcoming race, which is only 26 days away!!

"The Girls" finding the best spot to start charging Sundancer II!

Simulating an actual day in the race, we placed cones around Sundancer II while it was charging and put Catherine Marsh on watch duty!

Suzy Reese taking the car for a test run!

Mr. Reese driving Sundancer II around the school!.....I think he needs a taller car!!

Thursday, June 16, our girls team met to test drive Sundancer II to make sure it would be ready for our upcoming training run close to the Alabama state line and to practice any skills that will be necessary for this years race, including positioning the solar car so it can receive the most sun! Mr. Reese also drove the car but had a little difficulty fitting as you can see in the picture above!

Tuesday June 8, our team met to finish building the body on Sundancer II! Before we started we had a brief meeting about the fast approaching race and decided to arrive a day early so we can go to Six Flags!! We had a successful night and finished the body in under two hours!

Dr. Mobley started the presentation of by telling the students a little about our team and by introducing all of the members!

Team sponsor Anita Ellison shared stories from previous Hunt-Winston solar challenges and also from the World Solar Challenge in Australia!

Nolen Hood talked to the students about our team this year and about building Sundancer II!

Our team posed with a couple of the teachers from North Pontotoc!
We would like to thank everybody at North Pontotoc for inviting us to come speak, we had a blast!!

Karmen Spratlin, Adam Chandler, and Reagan Byrne checking the air pressure in Sundancer II's tire!

Karmen Spratlin getting the girls' tool box ready for the race this summer

Whitney George organizing tools while Hillary Colbert cuts out foam circles to go on our car!

Hillary Colbert and Whitney George sawing pieces of foam to put on our car!

With the race only two months away, our team has been working extra hard to get our cars race ready! We are putting the finishing touches on Sundancer II and have starting organizing our tool boxes and arranging our tools in preparation for the race!

Jay Alford and Hillary Colbert measuring the car to see how much foam board we'll need while Reagan Byrne and Hunter Powell practice aligning the tires!

Hillary Colbert starting to cut the first piece of foam board....How do you like her hot pink box cutter?!

Putting the first piece of foam board on Sundancer II :)

This week we have started the process of attaching foam board to Sundancer II. We have been getting the measurements of the car and have starting cutting out pieces of the foam board. We are extremely excited to start seeing our car have a more finished look after months of hard work! After we have completed adding the foam board, we will finally finish Sundancer II by applying the graphics which will include the logos of all of our sponsors!

The team raising Sundancer II's array so it can start charging!

Sydney Harrel and Elise Mobley practicing aligning the tires!

Karmen Spratlin and Whitney George securing the array down before taking Sundancer II inside after charging while being supervised by Mrs. Turman's grandson Grayson!

Jay Alford holding up Sundancer II's array while Will Turman helps Thomas Brown get ready for the day's training run!

Last Sunday, April 25 our team met to train for the upcoming race to Golden, Colorado! The girls and guys trained separately. The guys took a training run around Houston while the girls stayed at the school to practice aligning and changing the tires as well as other skills that will be needed for the race this summer!!