Bright Day for Solar Cars at Sierra Canyon School

For teacher Robbie Revel and her eighth grade science classes at Sierra Canyon School, things have never been brighter than at this year's annual Solar Car Race.

Not only did one of the 16 teams, Solar Express, set a track speed record (5.73 seconds) on Friday but enthusiasm for the event , now in its 17th year, has never been greater.

"When I first started," Revel recalled, "no one cared about solar energy and I couldn't get any materials." These days, however, solar energy is considered to be an essential piece of the energy puzzle and the solar panels needed to build the model cars are widely available.

Students in Revel's four science classes are divided into teams of three or four. They spend hours working on their cars--all of it during school time. And they love every minute of it.

"We had to learn a lot of things," said Nick Ritcheson of the Need for Speed team. He said his team had to work with different types of saws and learn "how to wire things." The team's car, Black Mamba, performed better in the practice session the day before than it did during the event. "Today it got stagefright," Nick theorized.

Revel said  another benefit of the project is that it extends a rare opportunity to let girls learn to become engineers. From all appearances, they relished the opportunity.

Sabrina de Silva, Shaina Shultz and Amanda Ross, all members of Solar Splash, said putting together their solar car, Sundrop, took a lot of work but was also a lot of fun. They cheered loudly when they heard their team had managed to qualify for the final round.

Each team took turns launching their solar car  down a track outlined in blue tape that otherwise serves as the school's outdoor basketball area. Over the two-hour event, the school's seniors as well as other classes  sit under canopies and cheer for the eighth grade teams.

Proceeds from refreshments are donated to a turtle conservancy in the Caribbean, where Revel donates her time each summer.

Members of the winning Solar Express were Mike Oni, Justin Singer, Jake Porath and Juwan Trotter.  They called their victorious car Light Rider.

Second place went to the Solar Beats (Isabel Hedinsson, Destinee Dubose and Shea Laughton) and their car, Waka Flocka Flame. Finishing third was the Solar Knights (Ryan Ducar, Tristian Dohs and Zach Pierce) and their car, Lightning McKing.