The Blaze Raycer team’s solar-powered car sits in front of the Engineering Research Building at UTA.
Jordan Nalepka, resource and energy engineering senior, points at solar panels on a car Nov. 4 at the Continuing Education and Workforce Development Center. The Blaze Raycers competed in the Formula Sun Grand Prix in Brainerd, Minnesota.
Nuts and bolts lie on the Blaze Racers solar car Nov. 4 at the Continuing Education and Workforce Development Center. The team started building its car in a garage in Mineral Wells, Texas.
Jordan Nalepka, resource and energy engineering senior, talks about the Blaze Raycer team Nov. 4 at the Continuing Education and Workforce Development Center. The Blaze Raycer is UTA’s first solar car team.
The Blaze Raycer team’s solar-powered car sits in front of the Engineering Research Building at UTA.
Rays of sun glistened off row after row of solar panels. With batteries filled and the racer ready, all systems had been checked before Soltron headed to the track.
Blaze Raycers, UTA’s first solar car team, brought its car, Soltron, to the racetrack at the Formula Sun Grand Prix from July 21 to 23 in Brainerd, Minnesota.
The Formula Sun Grand Prix is a collegiate solar car competition. The race is meant to give students the opportunity to test their engineering, energy efficiency, teamwork and endurance capabilities, according to the competition website.
William Bourgeois, resource and energy engineering senior and previous chief engineer of the team, got in the driver’s seat at the competition around 9:10 a.m. and took off, going as fast as 56 mph.
Twenty UTA students traveled to the Formula Sun Grand Prix, driving during the day and camping overnight to get to Minnesota. Only two other Texas schools attended the competition, UT Austin and Texas A&M University.
The first few days of the event were spent by judges inspecting the vehicles, making sure they were compliant with the rules. Before a team was able to roll its car onto the track, there were a multitude of screenings and inspections the car had to pass, said Jesse Ramos, resource and energy engineering junior and team operations lead.
“Going in, we knew we had to be prepared for any situation because anything can go wrong,” Ramos said.
Despite small setbacks like needing to weld new tabs onto the body, the car was able to pass all inspections, getting the green light to move to the track.
Months of hard work, late nights and head-scratching accumulated into the moment the team was able to see their car do what it was built for: race.
Jordan Nalepka, resource and energy engineering senior and previous team electrical lead, said most teams spend years and take multiple tries before they’re able to get their car onto the track.
Jordan Nalepka, resource and energy engineering senior, points at solar panels on a car Nov. 4 at the Continuing Education and Workforce Development Center. The Blaze Raycers competed in the Formula Sun Grand Prix in Brainerd, Minnesota.
The Blaze Raycers did it in just ten months, according to a UTA press release.
In fall 2024, an alumnus approached the Department of Electrical Engineering to discuss the possibility of UTA competing in the collegiate competition for solar-powered vehicles, Bourgeois said.
The department had recently started the resource and energy engineering program and had been looking for a project for students, he said.
Bourgeois and six other students met with the College of Engineering to work out a plan for the project. After that, they recruited more students and started reaching out to resources that would be available, Bourgeois said.
The team met with Texas A&M University to share knowledge and see what a solar car looks like in person, he said. They also visited local high schools that have competed in similar competitions.
Seeing others’ work helped them understand what goes into building and operating a vehicle, Bourgeois said.
“There’s a lot of pieces that go into it, not just mechanically and electrically but just from an operation standpoint,” he said.
Nuts and bolts lie on the Blaze Racers solar car Nov. 4 at the Continuing Education and Workforce Development Center. The team started building its car in a garage in Mineral Wells, Texas.
Construction for the car began, not at UTA but in Mineral Wells, Texas.
Every Saturday, the team would drive almost an hour and a half to work on the body of the car, cutting metal bars to be welded into the chassis.
“There’s programs out there that are on year five and six and haven’t even put their car on the track, and even though we only had our car done in one year, we got our car actually out on track and completed miles,” Bourgeois said.
One of the main issues that came up while building the car, he said, was the fact that many team members didn’t have experience with tools. There was also a lack of tools at the start, Bourgeois said.
He said the team started from the ground up, with more experienced leaders teaching the rest the needed skills.
“We didn’t have any equipment; we didn’t have any tools; we had to go buy these things,” Bourgeois said. “Then also, we had to host little workshops on how to properly do wiring, how to properly solder connections, solder boards, cut metal.”
Jordan Nalepka, resource and energy engineering senior, talks about the Blaze Raycer team Nov. 4 at the Continuing Education and Workforce Development Center. The Blaze Raycer is UTA’s first solar car team.
On the third and final day of racing, Soltron made its debut on the track.
“The feeling of seeing the car get on the track for the first time was complete euphoria,” Nalepka said.
In the end, Soltron was only able to complete 16 laps, with its fastest lap being 4 minutes and 24 seconds.
“Just showing up with the car is a huge feat on its own and is a huge accomplishment,” Bourgeois said.
Despite not beating the other Texas teams in laps completed, UTA was able to surpass them in terms of speed.
“At the end of the day, we’re all super proud of what we accomplished,” Ramos said.
The team will continue to work toward qualifying for the American Solar Challenge, a cross-country road-style event, and the World Solar Challenge in Australia, Bourgeois said.
Going forward, they plan to fix known issues on the car, like problems with the battery, test the vehicle and get it driving a few hundred miles on the road, he said.
Like the others, Charlotte Hooper, resource and energy engineering junior and team battery lead, said she had goals for making Soltron better and stronger for its next race, but she is also looking to the future of the team and creating something for students after them to enjoy.
“I want the team to be around when we’re not here anymore,” Hooper said.
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