The Bridgestone World Solar Challenge 2013 finished on Sunday in Adelaide; with Australian teams faring very well overall.
In the Clipsal & Schneider Electric Challenger Class, the Netherlands’ Nuon Solar Team took first place with Nuna7. Australia’s Team Arrow finished 7th in Arrow1.
Nuna 7 took 33.05 hours to complete the 3021 kilometre journey, averaging a speed of 90.71 kilometres per hour.
Challenger Class vehicles were constructed for endurance and energy efficiency. New design guidelines for the class added to the challenge this year.
In the Michelin Cruiser Class, UNSW Solar Racing Team achieved the fastest time with Sunswift eVe; designed and built by the students of the University of New South Wales. However, Sunswift placed third behind Hochschule Bochum (runners up) and Solar Team Eindhoven (winners) in the overall judging of the Class. As well as time, other factors in determining the winner were energy efficiency, practicality and passenger miles.
The Cruiser Class was focused on practicality rather than speed and all vehicles needed to meet the requirements for road registration in the country of origin.
In the GoPro Adventure Class, Australia’s Aurora Vehicle Association took line honours with Aurora Evolution.
The Adventure Class saw teams with solar cars built for previous events participate.
Full time results can be viewed here.
38 teams participated in the World Solar Challenge this year. Inaugurated in 1987, the race was inspired by the 1982 efforts of Hans Tholstrup and Larry Perkins; who drove their home-built solar car Quiet Achiever across Australia from west to east.
Quiet Achiever had a 1 kilowatt solar panel system, which powered it to an average speed of around 22 kilometres per hour.
Quiet Achiever travelled 4,130-km in under 20 days – starting out from Scarborough, a suburb of Perth, on 19 December 1982 and finishing in Sydney on 7 January 1983.
