Yesterday, in our last attempt to beat Prosper, our goal was simply to match their speed not to let them pass us and to keep our five-lap lead. However, due to our car not charging correctly the night before and the Prosper team adjusting their charge controller, we were not able to follow that plan. Instead, we had to maintain an average speed of just over 21 mph, while Prosper was able to go around the track at 26 mph. Much to our disappointment, we lost our lead by lunch.  After lunch, we were racing at 27 mph, but they were driving in the low 30s, and we couldn’t catch up. We are happy to report, however, that they didn’t get too far ahead of us.  They finished the race at 326 laps, while we finished at 324 laps. After the race, we packed up the car and left the TMS garage. Once at the awards banquet, we heard Jaxson’s speech about what solar cars had taught him and cheered for him when he was inducted into The Order of the Solar Cell. Later that evening, we received the 2nd place Trophy, and The Prosper Team shook our hands. It had been a close race, and all of us were excited. After the banquet, our team went to get half-price shakes at Sonic and then proceeded to watch a movie to celebrate. This morning, we left for the school around 10:30 and were thereby 12:00. We unpacked the solar car and then had a meeting to determine the plan for next year’s race!

This trip taught us that anything is possible through teamwork and detention, with a little bit of planning. It also taught us that even when 1st place slips out of your fingers, engineering is about the journey, not the destination, and that having a team that has your back makes the good times greater and the hard times fun! To our seniors, Landry and Jaxson, we will miss you, but the determination and pride that you put into this team will live on

– Jonathan O’Grady

PS- I have updated all of the pages on the website to show that our competition has ended and added new content and a new page to prepare for the next year, so please check it out!

The Wylie East Solar Car will return on August 15, 2019