Our Honorary Solar Car Members

It was a wonderful priviledge to have Dr. Coker and Mrs. Janet Coker, our honorary solar car members, visit us at the Texas Motor Speedway. Their company was an amazing addition to our team and made our racing experience better than we could ever imagine.

DAY 6

Josh Griffin also helps another team by driving their car for a while! Doesn't he look good in a pink car?! :)

Today is the last day of the race. We are all tired but it has been fun. We are looking forward to a great, sunny day. This morning at the driver's meeting we received another trophy for Sundancer I. So far we have won seven. Tonight is the closing banquet where the over-all winner will be announced. We are hoping to bring home our eighth victory.

Making last minute adjustments before the race began.

DAY 5

Jonathon helped out another team today by filling in as one of their drivers. This morning at the drivers meeting, when the results from yesterday were announced, we were glad to find out that we had completed the most laps in the Classic Division in the morning session. We also found out that Sundancer I completed the most laps in the open division. We are so proud of our drivers and all of their hard work.

We would also like to thank Schott Solar for making all of this possible. We are glad they are interested in our team and our solar car and also that they have continued to support us.

Sundancer II crossing the finish line!

ALL OF THE TEAMS AT THE DELL-WINSTON SOLAR CHALLENGE 2008

DAY 4

We arrived at the track around 7 o'clock this morning and it was already hot! Before the race starts each day all of the teams have a drivers meeting. This is where the race officials announce the standings from the day before. We are happy to let you know that we recieved three trophies. Two were from Sundancer II completing the most laps in the morning and afternoon sessions in the classic divison. The other was from Sundancer I completing the most laps in the open divison. Sundancer II completed 90 laps while Sundancer I completed 132. We are hoping today goes just as well as yesterday!

DAY 3

Even though it's only the first day of racing, we are feeling very confident about both cars. We are having great lap times and charging well. We won the first new competition yesterday which was seeing who could carry their car 15 ft. the fastest. We did this is only 10.5 seconds!

Also, last night at the awards banquet, we received the first place trophy from last year that we didn't get while we were in Newburgh, New York. That was another great way to start off the race. We would also like to send out a special thank-you to our Superintendent Dr. Coker and his wife for coming all the way to Texas to show their support for our team!

DAY 2

Today, the second day of scrutineering, we finally completed all of the stations and are getting ready for the race tomorrow. We only had to make a few minor adjustments to our cars. We have all qualified to drive not only our cars but also some of the other cars. A few teams did not have enough drivers, so we volunteered to drive for them a few days. It will be tough competing against our own car, but we have to show true sportsmanship. We are about to go to the hotel and get ready for the opening banquet which is tonight at 7 o'clock. Hopefully the race will get off to a good start tomorrow morning.

Arrival in Texas

After breaking down about one hundred miles outside of Dallas, TX, in the bus, on July 4, it was very hard to find help. When the team from Biloxi passed us, they immediately pulled over to help. Thanks to them, the bus was fixed and we were able to make our way into Dallas and settle in for the night. We are currently setting up and preparing for scrutineering which will start at three this afternoon. The heat is smoltering and it's only 10:15 in the morning! With one more day of scrutineering (Sunday), the race will officially start on Monday morning and will end on Thursday. After that, we will rest for the night and start home on Friday morning. To all those who are keeping up with us, please pray for everything to fall in place and go well, and also the safety of our competitors and ourselves.
*Houston Solar Race Team

The broken down bus!

Thank you Mister bus mechanic man from Biloxi!

Finally coming into Dallas!

Saturday morning.. Inspecting any possible problems before scrutineering.

Will Turman, Josh Griffin, Mrs. Ellison, and Zack on the beach!

At the Hidden Valley Speedway in Darwin.

The view from our hotel in Darwin, Australia.

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Jodie Watkins, Josh Griffin, Lance Whitworth & Paige Lancaster

More Photos from Australia!

Our team had an amazing opportunity to go to Australia last fall. We competed in the Panasonic World Solar Challenge against some of the world's best solar cars. We would like to share the experience with you through the pictures that we took while we were there! :)

RESULTS

The trial run did not turn out at all the way we planned. Sorry we have not updated the blog in a few days telling about the results. We have been very busy repairing the car. Our damages included a collapsed frame, a splintered array, and a warped rim. We have decided to play it on the safe side by designing a heavier, more reliable frame and array. This will add about 4oo lbs to our original design, but we should be okay since we are only around 1200 lbs. We hope the law of inertia will be in our favor. We will be updating the blog daily so our fans can keep up with our progress.

On the Road Again

Today will be the first time that we drive our new car on the highway!! We would like to thank the City of Houston for providing us with a police escort and the use of their radar to test our speed. Since this is our first time out in this new car, we will all be required to wear a helmet (just in case things do not go as planned). We all are extremely excited about taking this car out for the first time after months of hard work! It is finally paying off. We will let you know how it turns out!

Shout-Outs and Thank Yous

This summer we will be racing in multiple divisons. We will be using Schott Solar Cells at the speedway race. We would like to thank Schott for all of their help in making us successful. Over the years, our relationship with Schott Solar has grown into what we feel is like an extended family. We would also like to send a big shout-out and thank you to Tim Cook at NTN Bearing Corporation of America. Without his generosity and interest in what we do, our program would simply not "go"!

Upcoming Events

We are very excited about the upcoming race this summer! It will be held in Dallas, Texas, and will take place at the Texas Motor Speedway. We have been working on building a new car, Sundancer II. With all of our hard work, it is almost completed. We are working extremely hard to get a different kind of solar car in each of the different divisons this year.
Besides getting ready for the race this summer, we are also doing a few things around our hometown. The Flywheel Festival is coming up the last weekend in April. We are planning on having a booth there and selling our "Sundancer water". We are also bringing the car along for pictures. We hope that everyone will try and attend the festival. We would love to see you there!

NEW MEMBER!

Josh Davis, the newest addition to the solar car team, is in his first year of electricity. He has worked very hard on helping build our new car, Sundancer II, and we're extremely proud of all of his accomplishments so far!

Let Us Brighten Your Day!

Happy 2008 everyone and thank you for taking the time out of your busy new year to stop by our blog! We are very proud to announce that we've completed the installation of the composite material on our new car. Next, we have to tackle the electrical system. After the electrical system, we work on the body of the car. This year, the girls of the team have considered some fun, bright colors. :) Hopefully, we can brighten people's day! And what is better than helping the environment and brightening someone's day?!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

*Houston Solar Race Team

Bruce and Calhoun City Parades

The Calhoun City Christmas Parade was Friday, December 7, 2007 at 6:30 P.M. and the Bruce Christmas Parade was Saturday, December 8, 2007 at 5:00 P.M. Here are the pictures from the parades...

Paige Smith and Jayla Alexander sit in the team's dragster before going around the square of Bruce.

A quick pose before the parade!

Parading around Bruce's square.