South Plantation High team captures 3rd place

By Maria Chercoles | South Florida Sun-Sentinel

July 29, 2008

Plantation - They call themselves the Solar Knights. This South Plantation High team of students earned third place at the Texas Dell-Winston School Solar Car Challenge earlier this month in Dallas.

The annual challenge brings together high schools from throughout the country, all competing to create the most efficient solar car.

Solar Knight II, South Plantation High's three-wheeler solar car, finished third among the 13 teams in their category. The team also won a trophy for the most laps in one of the daily distance challenges.

"The last day, we decided we were going to go all the way to win this," said senior Marlon Smith.

 The 13 students built the car in their Solar and Alternative Energies class. It took them six months of research and design to come up with Solar Knight II, with the stude nts often staying after school up to 30 hours a week.

The one-passenger car runs on six solar panels — the kind built for rooftops — and was built around an ultra-light aircraft fuselage. It weighs 695 pounds and measures 14.7 feet long and 5.3 feet wide. It can reach speeds of 48 mph, but during the challenge it averaged 25 mph.

The students used grants and donations to raise the almost $40,000 needed to build the car.

For the next five months, Solar Knight II will participate in community events and school visits to educate students on alternative energies, said Allan Phipps, the team adviser and teacher.

In January, the team will start working on a new car for next year's challenge: a road race between Texas and Colorado.

"We are looking at trying to shave another 300 to 200 pounds," Phipps said. "Maybe we can bring the trophy back to the Sunshine State."

Maria Chercoles can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .