From July 12 till July 27, Texas A&M Solar Car Racing organization competed in the Formula Sun Grand Prix and the American Solar Challenge, placing 11th overall and 7th in its division out of 40 other teams nationwide.
The organization is composed of subteams, including mechanical, electrical, array, business and outreach. These teams of students worked together on their solar car, named ‘Duodecim,’ which is Latin for 12. This competition served not only as an achievement for the organization but also as a milestone and an affirmation of what it means to be a part of the Aggie Network.
Architectural engineering sophomore Carlos Cerna is the project manager for Texas A&M Solar Car Racing. He said that in the mid-90s, after the team competed for three cycles, it was dissolved in the early 2000s due to many obstacles appearing in the span of a few years.
“We realized the importance of university departments,” Cerna said. “ … We realized the importance of solidifying those relationships and not trying to do everything by ourselves. By fostering those relationships, we were able to meet a bunch of people that helped us out during our competition. The connection we were able to network through the foundation not only helped us race, but we also connected with the old solar car members and old alumni who have been nothing but helpful to us.”
Cerna said being a leader of the organization is like a full-time job, and even though they’re not getting paid, it’s worth it for the opportunity to work on a passion project.
“I joined as a freshman and slowly fell in love with the program,” Cerna said. “What the team believes in is making sure we’re building the best engineers first, making sure we’re pulling the best of our business school, engineering school and marketing school together to create this amalgamation of a project of racing a vehicle cross-country.”
Nuclear engineering junior Whitney Jung is a suspension and wheels engineer on the mechanical team of Texas A&M Solar Car Racing. Jung said that when working on the car, there were times in the shop when she realized how ecstatic she was to be part of the process.
“I am assembling a vehicle we designed from the ground up with my friends, and I really love cars,” Jung said. “I love the design, I love working on them, so probably my favorite part was … working on the car. It’s a lot of late nights and it kind of sucks in the moment, but then you look back on it and it’s really fun.”
Jung said that prior to the competition, the group felt similar to how one feels before a big exam or finals.
“At the competition, it’s a little tense at first … because we had … a piece of the competition where we tested the car and it passed all its standards,” Jung said. “ … And after we kind of got our flow, working together … I feel like we became cohesive. Afterward, … we actually crossed the finish line, and a lot of teams didn’t, so the final atmosphere was … a little surreal.”
Mechanical engineering junior Karmanya Patidar is an array lead and a driver for the past competition.
“My favorite part of the atmosphere was everyone was so positive,” Patidar said. “We all had the same goal, it’s not like we were all competing against each other to have the fastest car…During the competition, there’s always something that you know inevitably would go wrong, and then debugging that, figuring out exactly what the problem is, fixing it and then continuing to race without getting hung up on one setback.”
Jung said one tense part of the competition was when an issue with the car or other things out of their control occurred.
“Every time we bumped in the road, the car computer module would reset across the Midwest,” Jung said. “ … They would have to power cycle … and get all the electrical systems back online. Then, during the track race, it was projected to pour one day, and so … we had to figure out what to buy on our budget. … Just that night, the skies opened up. It was crazy, but it was stressful at the time, but looking back, it was a lot of fun.”
Jung said it felt like something out of a movie for the three weeks she and others competing were on the road.
“I think we all learned a lot about how engineering designs tend to start,” Jung said. “They don’t always survive contact with the real world, and you learn how to fix your stuff really quickly and on the fly.”
Jung said they will apply several things they learned from this past competition to their next Formula 1 competition, the American Solar Challenge and the Formula Sun Grand Prix.
“I think, mechanically, we did a lot right the last go around, Jung said. “So I think we’re going to try and repeat what we did there, which is a really sturdy system and we’re going to try and reuse parts. And then I think this time we might brace for waterproofing because that was something we really didn’t think about until it was right on top of us.”
Patidar said placing 11th nationally in the competition is a milestone that acts as a solid foundation for the organization.
“It only goes up from here based on what we’ve learned and how inspiring we come from competing,” Patidar said. “I think the collaboration among teams helps drive our design this cycle. … It’s still going to be our own, with our twist on it, but taking inspiration and bits and pieces from every team will go a long way towards a new design.”
