Across North America, Liberty is one of only 30 schools that competes in the Winston Solar Car Program, which teaches high school students how to build and safely race road worthy solar cars.

Seniors in Liberty's Applied Engineering class build and work on the car, and other students in ninth to 11th grades also come to the regular meetings that introduce students to the project and get them involved. This year the team raced their solar car at the 2011 Solar Car Challenge July 17–20 at the Texas Motor Speedway. Teams raced at the four-day event in the hot Texas sun in the bowl of the Speedway. 

This year CoServ Electric partnered with Liberty as one of the sponsors of this project. Students presented to CoServ executives their vision, plans, and race strategies with the hope of creating a partnership. In addition to giving funds to support the project, CoServ designed and funded a wrap for the solar car trailer. Jesel Incorporated also partnered with the team to help support the purchase of additional equipment needed to build the car. With the solar car project, students learn how to analyze different parts of the car to optimize its performance, and gain valuable hands-on experience building the car and testing it to ensure it meets the requirements. In addition to learning valuable teamwork skills, students have been introduced to SolidWorks, a computer-aided design (CAD) tool used for designing the solar car.

The 2011—2012 Solar Car team is currently preparing for this year’s challenge, a cross-country race from Dallas to Los Angeles. Follow the journey on the student-led Solar Car team website at SolarCar.LibertyChristian.com.

Watch the videos below to see the Solar Car Challenge in action!