The outer lanes of the campus loop will turn into Sunshine Speedway on Saturday, April 2 when 13-15 teams from area schools put the pedal to the metal in the 4th annual SunChase Solar Go-Kart Challenge.
High school students spent months retrofitting a standard go-kart chassis with solar panels and batteries and customizing their designs for optimal solar collection and aerodynamics. The vehicles can reach up to 35 mph — best-case scenario for would-be Speed Racers behind the wheel.
In addition to the high school race line up starting at 10:30 a.m., the afternoon events at 2 p.m. features elementary school teams competing with mini solar vehicles they’ve built and middle-schoolers racing remote-controlled solar cars.
SunChase is the culmination of the yearlong STEM Tour of interactive educational events organized by the STEM Team of SW Florida, a group of community leaders, educators and parents advocating for STEM programming that engages K-12 students.
“The hands-on activity gives students the chance to learn critical-thinking skills while having fun,” says Laura Frost, director of the Whitaker Center for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), who partners with the U.A. Whitaker College of Engineering at FGCU to sponsor the event. “Building a mini-solar car or a solar go-kart requires lots of testing and problem solving before race day.”
For instance, team members have to determine how and where to mount the solar panel on the chassis. How high should it be? Should it be angled?
Spectators are welcome to watch the results and are advised to arrive before 10 a.m. The start/finish line is in front of parking garage 4 (between Lutgert Hall and the WGCU Broadcast Building), which will be closed during the event. Traffic on FGCU Boulevard North and South (the loop) will be one way during SunChase.