About us
The Pacific Academy Solar Car Team is a student-led engineering program dedicated to designing, building, and testing a fully solar-powered vehicle. Through hands-on fabrication and systems integration, students apply principles from mechanical, electrical, and computer engineering in a real-world setting.
​
The team competes in the Solar Car Challenge at the Texas Motor Speedway, where students drive their vehicle in a national high school competition. This immersive experience develops technical skills, teamwork, and leadership while preparing students for future careers in engineering and sustainable innovation.
HISTORY
The Pacific Academy Solar Car Team was founded with a vision: to design and build a competitive solar-powered vehicle capable of competing in the Solar Car Challenge in Dallas, Texas. With only five months to prepare, the team overcame steep learning curves in mechanical design, electrical systems, and fabrication to construct its first vehicle, Galant, which competed in the 2024 Solar Car Challenge. This milestone marked the beginning of Pacific Academy’s presence in national solar car racing.
​
Building on the experience gained from that season, the team developed its second-generation vehicle, Triple Caution, engineered for the 2025 Solar Car Challenge. The redesign focused on reliability, structural integrity, and system efficiency, addressing the mechanical limitations encountered in the previous year.
​
Over four days of competition in Dallas, Triple Caution completed 290 laps, covering 435 miles without technical breakdowns, demonstrating significant improvements in endurance and performance.
​
Major upgrades included transitioning from a flush-mounted solar array to an elevated panel configuration to increase surface area and energy capture; converting to a four-wheel platform with double wishbone suspension for enhanced stability; and integrating a 5 kW water-cooled motor to improve thermal management and efficiency. The electrical architecture was fully redesigned to support higher loads and ensure consistent output throughout the race.
​
Having established reliability, the team now aims to optimize efficiency, refine aerodynamics, and mentor future student engineers, continuing its mission to advance sustainable transportation and engineering excellence.
Competition
Our team competes in the Solar Car Challenge, a national engineering competition founded in 1993 that challenges high school students to design and build fully roadworthy solar-powered vehicles. Through this program, students gain hands-on experience in multidisciplinary engineering fields, including mechanical design, electrical systems, aerodynamics, and project management, while also promoting renewable energy and sustainable transportation.
​
Each competition cycle, the team travels to Texas to race at the Texas Motor Speedway or complete the endurance route. There, we demonstrate not only our vehicle’s performance, but also our teamwork, leadership, and commitment to engineering excellence.
 |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|
 |  |