Description
Meet the Team
Let us introduce ourselves. We are UC Irvine Solar Car, a student-run interdisciplinary team of 50+ undergraduates from the Samueli School of Engineering.
Our team is made up of several specialized sub-teams: MGMT/Leads, Chassis, Suspension, Human Interface, Aerobody, High Voltage (Solar Array, Powertrain, Battery), Embedded and Operations. These teams combine their expertise to compete while advancing solar transportation and pushing the boundaries of sustainable automotive engineering.
Our Alumni have continued to pursue their careers across automotive, aerospace, defense, tech and sustainable industries and have joined companies like General Motors, Ford, Tesla, Rivian, Volvo, Boeing, Anduril Industries, Northrop Grumman, RTX, SoCal Edison, TSMC, Western Digital, Sandisk, Google, Maxxeon, SpaceX and many more!
This Year's Mission
Bring UC Irvine’s Solar Car team to the American Solar Challenge 2028 and help pave the way for future UC Irvine students to succeed through our project. We humbly ask for your support in reaching our $25,000 goal to fund essential materials, parts, tools, spaces and registration fees for this upcoming summer’s competition.
SolEater drives for the first time!
Our Races
The Formula Sun Grand Prix and American Solar Challenge go hand in hand. The Formula Sun Grand Prix takes place annually and serves as a preliminary qualifier for the American Solar Challenge, a 2,000-mile journey across the United States that occurs every two years.
Each Formula Sun Grand Prix sets a specific lap requirement to qualify for the American Solar Challenge and for different vehicle classes. Our team focuses on single-occupancy vehicles. In addition, awards are given for speed, overall performance and team conduct throughout the competition.
The first four days of the competition are devoted to scrutineering, during which our car’s electrical and mechanical systems are thoroughly checked. This includes body and sizing inspections, weigh-ins, driver ingress and egress and dynamic testing. The following three days allow cleared vehicles to begin speed and endurance racing. The faster and more prepared a team is during scrutineering, the more time they have to focus on racing. By the final day, any team that has not passed scrutineering is not allowed to compete on the track.
Formula Sun Grand Prix 2026 all teams photo (We’re Front and Center!)
Lesson Learned
In 2025, we were proud to be registered as Team #95 in the Formula Sun Grand Prix with our first-ever car, dubbed the SolEater. As a first-time team attending the competition, we all traveled to Bowling Green, Kentucky, where we underwent scrutineering of our car in hopes of making it to the track, and we took home an Electrical Capacitance Award!
This past summer, we reentered FSGP 2026 with all our lessons learned the previous year. We, along with 39 other universities, went through 4 days of scrutineering in Brainerd, Minnesota. We finished scrutineering first, earning Pole Position in the track race! Over three days, we completed 114 laps, finishing P10 overall in the SOV class and ranking 7th in the nation!
We hope to take the many lessons learned from these past two years and build a faster and more efficient solar car!
SolEater at the start line!
Final Thoughts
Our team continues to learn and grow each quarter and in every competition. That is why we are asking for everyone’s support in the upcoming year. With your donation, you are not only contributing to our car(s) but also investing in our educational growth and our solar car family.
We warmly welcome you to join us and become part of the incredible community that has believed in us from the start.
Thank you for taking the time to learn more about us. We truly appreciate your support, and we hope to bring back something meaningful for our school, supporters, family/friends and ourselves. We look forward to achieving great things with our new car!
Pole Position View at FSGP 2026
Connect With Us
Check out our website, follow our progress on Instagram and LinkedIn or contact us directly at ucirvinesolarcar@gmail.com.
$20
Supporter
Thank you so much for your support! Your generosity means the world to us and helps bring this project to life.
$50
Contributor
We appreciate your donation! Your kindness helps us move forward, and we’re so grateful for your contribution.
$100
Friend
Thank you for giving us an extra boost! Your donation makes a significant impact, and we’re thrilled to have your support.
$150
Family
You’re helping us pick up speed! We are so grateful for your commitment to helping us succeed.
$200
Team Member
Your commitment is a game-changer! Your generosity inspires us to push forward and achieve our goals.
$500
Investor
Wow! Thank you for your amazing donation! Your generosity makes a real difference, and we could not do this without you.
$1,000
Founder
From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for your extraordinary donation! Your support is truly transformative, and we are honored to have you as a part of our journey.
