With a new year comes a new season of solar car racing! The official dates for the 2026 Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix (FSGP) and the 2026 Electrek American Solar Challenge (ASC) have been released.
In addition, I’m excited to share that not only will this year’s FSGP track event be hosted at an entirely new racing complex, but event officials tell me a record 46 teams have registered to compete! This includes colleges from the US, Canada, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
Formula Sun Grand Prix
In a thrilling first, this year’s Electrek FSGP is heading to Brainerd International Raceway in Minnesota. This 3.1-mile road course is known for hosting professional racing…of the gas kind (ew). It features sweeping turns and a really long, wide front straight that the raceway actually uses as a drag strip too.
It looks like the course is also less hilly compared to the previous year’s NCM Motorsports Park. More straightaways and wider room for passing will make the dynamics of this race interesting to watch!
Racing kicks off July 21 and goes through July 23. I’ll have more details on this race and the teams as we get closer.
The event is open to the public and FREE to attend. Come see the solar cars race up close! The most event officials will ask of you is to sign a waiver at the entrance. These are hand-built experimental solar cars after all 😉…
Photos from last year’s event
American Solar Challenge
This year, the Electrek FSGP will serve as a pre-qualifier for students to prove that their solar vehicles have what it takes to trek across the continental United States in the highly coveted biennial American Solar Challenge (ASC). The 2026 Electrek ASC will start almost directly after the FSGP on July 25. The starting line will be in the Twin Cities, MN (exact location is still TBD).
Once again, I’ll have more to share as we get closer. Additional racing information can found at the official American Solar Challenge website.
2024 Electrek ASC recap
A brief history
The roots of American solar car racing can be traced back to 1987, when GM’s Sunraycer solar car won the first World Solar Challenge in Australia. The Sunraycer featured a more rounded, UFO-looking design made of Kevlar for a great strength-to-weight ratio. It was covered in 8800 solar cells capable of generating about 1500 watts of power. It was an impressive feat of engineering at the time and proved to the world that electric drivetrains could be efficient and competitive.
Instead of continuing to compete with Sunraycer, GM used its experience in Australia to start an organized state-side collegiate solar car event. Sunrayce USA events were held in 1990, 1993, 1997, and 1999. Around the 2000s, General Motors began to shutter its electric vehicle efforts, partly due to the commercial failure of its first production EV, dubbed EV1. This shift in priorities saw an end to Sunrayce events.
In 2001, the cross-country event rebranded to the American Solar Challenge (ASC) following the creation of the Formula Sun Grand Prix (FSGP), all under the leadership of the Innovators Educational Foundation (IEF). Since then, FSGP has acted both as a qualifier for the biannual ASC and as a standalone event in years when the ASC isn’t held. This event setup helps ensure solar cars are roadworthy for long-distance travel (over 15,000 miles) across the United States, while also giving newer teams a chance to gain racing experience.
In 2023, Electrek announced the signing of a five-year title sponsorship agreement with the IEF, the governing non-profit that organizes both FSGP and ASC. The partnership guarantees funding to host these annual races all the way through 2028.
Other 2026 Electrek FSGP sponsors include Caterpillar, MathWorks, Macuca, and in previous years Tesla, which have used the event as prime recruiting grounds. In fact, in past years, one recruiter even told Electrek that “getting great employees at the Formula Sun Grand Prix was like shooting fish in a barrel” and added “students at these events are orders of magnitude more likely to yield successful hires than typical campus recruiting events.”
If you’re interesting is sponsoring the 2026 Electrek FSGP/ASC there’s still time. Please reach out to jordan@electrek.co!
Note: The Formula Sun Grand Prix is not in any way associated or affiliated with the Formula 1 companies, FORMULA 1 racing, or the FIA Formula One World Championship.
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