World Solar Challenge 2015

[Joe Blake]

Has it been 2 years already?

http://www.gizmag.com/world-solar-challenge-roundup/39858/

[Rob Beckers]

Neat! Those are amazing cars, and it's a great project for university students to be involved in.

I see there are a couple of Dutch teams as well. Eindhoven Technical University has a car, Nuon is there again, and my old Alma Mater Twente University has a car in the running as well.

Keep us informed Joe! You're our local reporter... :cool:

-RoB-

[Joe Blake]

Will do Rob. The latest thing is the creation of the "cruiser" class.


http://www.worldsolarchallenge.org/team_info/2015_classes/cruiser_class

Recognising the imperatives of sustainable transport, we have established the Cruiser Class to encourage solar cars designed for practicality and acceptance in a given market segment.
...
2015 will see the second running of this class, which is a tribute to the inaugural event in 2013 which saw a four-seater family car travel over 3000Km with an external energy input of just 64kWh! (to put this into context, a modern family car returning around 5ltr/100km would use an energy equivalent of around 5000kWh!)

http://www.hybridcars.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Sunswift_Toylabs-eVe-Solar-Car-668.jpg


And just for you Rob, from the Netherlands. :cool:

http://www.worldsolarchallenge.org/team/view/8

http://scienceplx.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/stella-lux-solar-powered-family-car.jpg



And so you know who to cheer for, a list of images of the entrants.

http://www.worldsolarchallenge.org/2015-event/2015-images/team-cars

It kicks off tomorrow (18 Oct 2015)..

[Joe Blake]

And they're off ...

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-18/solar-challenge-race-begins-in-darwin-cars-headed-for-adelaide/6863686

[Rob Beckers]

Fantastic machines! Those cruiser class cars...

Thanks for the link Joe. Nice pictures in there. Keep us posted!

-RoB-

[Joe Blake]

End of Day 1

http://www.worldsolarchallenge.org/

Well done Eindhoven in the Cruiser Class. :bigsmile:

[Rob Beckers]

I see Twente University is leading the Challenger Class (that's the place I went to university)! Nuon (another Dutch team, yeah!) hot on their heels...

-RoB-

[Joe Blake]

Day 2

http://www.worldsolarchallenge.org/

:bigsmile:

[Joe Blake]

day 3

http://www.worldsolarchallenge.org/

[Rob Beckers]

Two Dutch teams leading the pack!
:cheer2:

-RoB-

[Joe Blake]

Day 4

http://www.worldsolarchallenge.org/

And the Dutch running second in the Challenger class! Wooo hoooo

[Rob Beckers]

As I get to see this some hours later (due to time-zone differences), it's already at the end of day 5 now. The listing is:

1: Nuon (Dutch), total time 37:56:12
2: Twente (Dutch), total time 38:04:32
3: Tokai (Japan), total time 38:50:07

So, amazingly after 3000 km the two leaders are within 8 minutes of each other!

-RoB-

[Joe Blake]

And the winner is ....

http://www.worldsolarchallenge.org/

Well done Netherlands. Yayyyyyy.

A close race it seems.

[Rob Beckers]

Looks like the Web site hasn't been updated with the latest times yet...

The Dutch news had a report on it: First place Nuon (Delft University), second place Twente University. Remarkably within just a few minutes of each other.

Well done to all the teams!

-RoB-