Dell's 2006 Solar Car Race draws record number of competitors

The blazing Texas sun will replace high-priced gas at Dell's largest-ever international high school solar car race, kicking off here July 17 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Dell and the Winston School in Dallas will host 18 high school race teams from the United States, India and Puerto Rico that hand-built

"The solar car challenge has taught more than 3,000 participating students about technology, teamwork and commitment; and it has inspired thousands of others to get involved in long-term science projects," said Dr. Lehman Marks, race director and instructor at The Winston School, a private K-12 school in Dallas focused on realizing the potential of bright children through individualized learning. "Dell's commitment to education has helped make this program's continued success possible."

The teams used Dell notebooks to help with the engineering and design of their solar cars, some of which have been in production for 18 months, and event judges will use wireless-enabled Dell Inspiron notebooks to monitor daily team statistics. These statistics will be uploaded daily to www.winstonsolar.org, where parents and other fans can track each team's performance real-time.

Each year, the Dell-Winston Solar Car Challenge rotates between the Texas Motor Speedway and a cross-country route. Last year's participants took a nine-day trek from Round Rock, Texas, to Pasadena, Calif. During next year's cross-country race - scheduled from Round Rock to New York - the solar car teams will use Dell notebooks to gauge solar car battery usage, monitor weather patterns and track competitors via global positioning systems.