The Miraj Race Club, Northern California’s only high school solar car team, has their sights set on Dallas, Texas, where they will compete in the nationwide Solar Car Challenge in the middle of July.
The team was founded in 2022 by Program Director Rupa Chaturvedi, a seasoned veteran in the tech industry, spending over 15 years working with companies like Amazon, Google and Uber. The team built its first solar car in fewer than four months, and were able to win a 2nd place award for their mechanical drawings, as well as a special award for distinction.
While they competed in the basic division last year, they will be moving up to the advanced division in Dallas. The team will have three intensive days of testing before the actual race, where the judges will review every aspect of the car, like brake tests and performance tests. Both the car and the drivers have to clear the tests to qualify for the race, which will be a track race at Dallas’ famous Texas Speedway.
Chaturvedi said that the team is a great way for students to learn valuable skills in engineering, construction and technology. However, she added that arguably the most important skills that team members learn is project management and how to work with a team
“You can get a lot of skills and tools anywhere, technology has made it so easy for you to be able to do your job,” she said. “But working with people is the harder part, and being able to fail, take setbacks, being able to build that resilience.”
According to co-captain Manasvi Noronha, the car is “catamaran-style” with two separate sections. One section is called the “safety cell,” where the driver sits, and the other side is where all the electrical controls sit.
The team operates out of Maker Nexus in Sunnyvale, where they have access to every tool they need to properly build their solar-powered car.
With a few weeks left before the car is shipped to Dallas, the team is currently in crunch time, and Chaturvedi said they have around two weeks of work left to do, along with lots of testing. The team has been testing at a few local racetracks, including Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey County.
“We want to test in extreme heat because Dallas is going to be crazy hot,” she said.
The Solar Car Challenge will kick off in mid-July, with testing beginning on July 11, and the races will go from July 14-17. You can donate to the team to help with expenses for the races through their GoFundMe or on their website.