Brookvale firm helps solar-powered race car grab world record

A new world record for a solar powered race car has been won with the help of a hi-tech northern beaches company.

The Sunswift 7 solar powered race car, created by a created by a team of University of NSW engineering students, with the help of Sorensen Engineering at Brookvale, which broke a world record for the fastest electric vehicle over 1000 km on a single charge. Picture: Richard Freeman

A hi-tech northern beaches business has helped Australia grab a world record for a solar-powered electric race car.

Sorensen Engineering at Brookvale was part of the team, set up by University of NSW students, to build the specialised racer that smashed the record for the world’s fastest electric vehicle to complete 1000km in under 12 hours.

The “Sunswift 7” vehicle averaged a speed of 85km/h, over 11 hours 52.08 minutes, at a track in Victoria just before Christmas.

It now has an entry in the latest Guinness Book of World Records.

Sorensen Engineering provided the groundbreaking race car, designed and built by the engineering students, with wheels and wheel hubs to allow it to glide to world record glory.

The wheels and hubs for the Sunswift 7 solar-powered electric car that broke a world speed record where created in the Sorensen Product Lab at Sorensen Engineering at Brookvale. Picture: Supplied

The firm in Orchard Rd normally manufactures components for a wide range of industries including mining, biomedical and construction.

Company owner and managing director Julius Sorensen said the Sunswift hubs were machined in its Sorensen Product Lab along with a range of small mechanical components crucial to the success of the world record attempt.

Julius Sorensen, the managing director and owner of Sorensen Engineering at Brookvale. Picture: Supplied

The wheels and hubs for the Sunswift 7 solar-powered electric car that broke a world speed record where created in the Sorensen Product Lab at Sorensen Engineering at Brookvale. Picture: Supplied

“There were a lot of things around the drive train and the suspension as well, but the hubs and the wheels were the main thing,” he said on Tuesday.

The work at Sorensen, which was started by Mr Sorensen’s parents, Keld and Vivi, about 50 years ago, was supervised by Christophe Perfetti and its prototype development team.

“Basically our agreement with the university team is that whatever they needed mechanically machined for the car we made for them,” Mr Sorensen said.

The Sunswift 7 solar powered race car during its 1000km run that led to world record being broken. Picture: Richard Freeman

“We also gave some design feedback because a lot of them are uni students.

“They are hyper-bright but we were able to give them some of our engineering experience.

“It’s not every day that your work gets into a page in the Guinness World Records.”

Sunswift team manager Andrea Holden, a mechanical engineering student at UNSW, said she was delighted with the car’s performance.

The Sunswift 7 solar powered race car, created by a created by a team of University of NSW engineering students, with the help of Sorensen Engineering at Brookvale. Picture: Sunswift

The Sunswift 7 team tinker with the solar powered electric race car. Picture: Sunswift

“It feels very weird to think that we’ve helped to make something that’s the best in the entire world,” she said.

“This world record is validation of all the effort everyone in the team has put in.”

Sunswift 7 weighs just 500kg, about one quarter that of a Tesla.

Team principal, Professor of Practice Richard Hopkins, said it had “superb efficiencies thanks to its aerodynamic design, the efficiency of the motors and throughout the drive chain, and incredibly low rolling resistance”.

“This team have focused on ultimate efficiency in order to break this world record,” he said.

“They have shown what is ultimately achievable if you concentrate on aerodynamics, and rolling resistance and the use of smart materials.”