Solar Car Challenge

Jacob Riedel disappeared into the crowd in a clean, steady and stealth kind of way.

Jacob, 16, turned a few heads when he motored down High Street in a single-seat car powered by five solar panels.

The car started as a school club project and recently ended up on the track where NASCAR and IndyCars race. 

Jacob and others on his Devon Prep’s Solar Car Team were among 16 high school groups in the 16th Annual Hunt-Winston Solar Car Challenge last month.

According to the school's website, the Devon Panel was "the first Pennsylvania high school team to participate in the national competition."

Jacob, of Lower Pottsgrove Township, and teammate Michael Leuter, 18, displayed the car at the Nostalgia Nights Car Show in Pottstown on Saturday.

“We raced for four days on the Texas Motor Speedway powered by the sun,” said Jacob. 

Leuter, who specialized in metal working on the car, said the team was passionate about designing the solar automobile.

“We lived and breathed solar car,” he said.