World Solar Challenge teams make final preparations ahead of race
With the competition only five days away, this years’ World Solar Challenge entrants are making their final preparations ahead of 3000km epic. Read about the event and see all the photos below.
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Young engineers and students have descended on the Territory’s capital ahead of the 2023 Bridgestone World Solar Challenge.
Putting their craft on show after hundreds of hours of hard work for the world to see, teams from around the world are making their final preparations ahead of the 3000 km endurance event.
WHAT IS THE EVENT?
Starting in 1987, the World Solar Challenge is a week-long competition that pits some of the world’s best student engineers and nations against each other in a 3000 km epic, that starts this Sunday, October 22 and concludes on Sunday, October 29.
While the event is often referred to as a race, the purpose of the challenge is to get from point A to point B using the power of the sun.
“The solar challenge is not just another form of motor racing,” event director Chris Selwood AM said.
“It is an intellectual exercise where bright young engineers from around the world are challenged to build a car that is capable of travelling between Darwin and Adelaide on the power of the sun.”
Two separate classes are involved in the challenge; cruiser and challenger.
The challenger class is the original, and is an extreme endurance race that focuses on efficiency, reliability.
“The current technology favours photovoltaics and electric motors, that is pushed to the nth degree by the most efficient conversion of photons into electrical power, storage and application through the wheel motors which are around 98 per cent efficient,” Selwood said.
“The teams set off on the Stuart Highway to Port Augusta, and then travel via Highway 1 to the finish line in Adelaide.”
A biannual event and in its 16th iteration, the World Solar Challenge is unlike the other events held on foreign shores.
“What separates the challenge from others is Australia is where it all started,” Selwood said.
“Hans Tholstrup drove his car – Quiet Achiever – from Perth to Sydney back in 1982–83, which inspired an entire generation of engineers to become involved in solar cars.
“The goal of the challenge is to develop talent; it is such a well packaged set of practical, intellectual, design, mechanical, electrical, robotics and computer studies, in one multicultural and multidisciplinary event.”
DEFENDING CHAMPIONS
The defending champions and challenger entrants, the Innoputs Solar Team from Belgium are here for one thing, retaining their crown.
“We are here to defend the world title and ambitions are high,” team manager and business engineer Cedric Verlinden said.
“This is my first time with the team and we have big boots to fill.”
Rolling out their three-wheeled machine for their competitors to see, the 23 year old said that the journey to this point has been a whirlwind.
“In the city where I’m studying, it’s (solar program) is one of the most craziest and sort-after projects you can get involved in,” Verlinden said.
“It’s a 15-month journey from the start to here (Darwin) has been a really great journey and there were some challenges along the way but we succeeded in building a really beautiful car.”
This year’s entry possesses two unique and news innovations that Verlinden believes will be key to his team’s success.
“We have a very different car to the one that won, a main difference is the battery that can store enough energy to travel for 800 km, and our motor (on the rear wheel) is more efficient than that of a Tesla,” he said.
“We also have a rotating fin in this years model.
“It comes out of the canopy and we will use it like a sailboat does to maximise the use of crosswinds that’ll help propel us forward.”
AUSSIE DARK HORSE
Labelled by some in the know, the Western Sydney Solar Team have been penned as a potential ‘dark horse’ for this years challenge.
“We are definitely looking for a high placing finish,” team manager Brad Nadalini said.
“We believe our car (Unlimited 5.0) is one of the best designed in the class.”
Using silicon based solar cells to capture the energy and with an energy collector on the top of the car that’s fed directly into a battery, the team are confident that their design will have enough power and reliability to go the distance.
“The aerodynamic performance of our vehicle we believe to be quite good comparatively to the rest,” Nadalini said.
“We chose to go with three wheels in order to keep the car more streamlined like a bullet train, lighter, aerodynamic and smaller.
“Weight is a hugely critical factor when building the car.
“Many of the teams including us have parts that are topology optimised, for example, one kilogram of weight over 3000 km can equate to five to 10 minutes of time.
“So in essence, lighter is better, within reason.”
The team manager said the whole process from design to build took the team roughly a year.
“We buy off the shelf components to use, then we make our own motor housing, but
the vehicle is designed, developed and manufactured in house, and assembled,” Nadalini said.
“The car is very capable of going over 100km/ph and has very good efficiency but that’s a secret that I don’t want to give away to the competitors.
WHO IS COMPETING
Teams from Europe, Asia, Oceania, and North America have entered this year’s challenge, all with the hopes of being crowned world champions.
TEAMS
Australia: x4 Challenger, x3 Cruiser
Belgium: x1 Challenger
Canada: x2 Challenger
China: x1 Cruiser
Estonia: x1 Cruiser
Germany: x1 Challenger
Hong Kong: x1 Cruiser
India: x1 Challenger
Italy: x1 Cruiser
Japan: x4 Challenger
Malaysia: x1 Challenger
Netherlands: x3 Challenger
Romania: 1x Challenger
Saudi Arabia: x1 Challenger
South Korea: x1 Challenger
Sweden: x3 Challenger
Switzerland: x1 Challenger
Taiwan: x1 Cruiser
Thailand: x1 Cruiser
Turkey: x2 Challenger
United Kingdom: x1 Challenger
United States: x1 Challenger, x1 Cruiser
PHOTOS FROM SCRUTINEERING
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