2018 Solar Car Challenge (SCC) - Awards Ceremony in Palmdale, CA

Tonight was the awards ceremony for the 2018 cross country race from Fort Worth, TX to Palmdale, CA. Our team is extremely proud of the 3rd place finish in our division that originally started out with 14 registered teams, 12 of which had been able to complete scrutineering and compete in the race.

The two teams that placed ahead of us, The Solar Cats and the Wylie East team, both had recently rebuilt their cars with a significantly lighter weight than their prior year designs, weighing in ~250 to 300 lbs lighter than our car. As such, they had very competitive designs that were difficult for us to beat. If we had not had the 2 1/2 hours of break downs on the first day of the race, we would have been even closer to the Wylie East team in overall mileage; however, I am not sure that even then, we would have been able to edge them out for 2nd place. Both of these teams have inspired us to go back to the drawing board for 2019, to design and build a significantly lighter and more aerodynamic car!

We were also really proud of the strong finish that the Presido, Pana, Stony Point, and Prosper teams had, which placed just below us. These teams also were highly competitive and showed a lot of creativity and competitive spirit, which kept us on our toes throughout the race.

What an awesome experience that the 2018 Solar Car Challenge has been for the CCA Solar Car Team! We are deeply grateful to all the volunteers and sponsors who make the Solar Car Challenge possible for these high school teams!