Belgian solar team Innoptus has won successive Bridgestone World Solar Challenge titles.
its solar car crossed the Adelaide finish line on October 27 in 34 hours, four minutes, and 41 seconds – about 48 minutes faster than their 2019 win (the biennial event was cancelled due to COVID in 2021).
Travelling about 3600km from Darwin, the Belgian’s aerodynamic Infinite with a fin for stability handled the windy conditions which affected many in the Projecta Challenger Class.
Smoke from wildfires was also an issue.
The Belgians finished nearly 20 minutes ahead of Team Twente from the Netherlands in solar car RED X.
Wind was also a factor in the CSIRO Cruiser Class.
None of the Cruiser Class teams were able to complete the arduous second stage 650km run from Alice Springs to Coober Pedy by 5pm where they could recharge, so the on-road scoring component was calculated from the last completed stage.
University of New South Wales (UNSW) Sydney’s Sunswift 7 won the Cruiser Class – the first time an Australian car has done so.
The Sunswift car was leading the points classification on day four of the race before weather conditions threw the competition into disarray.
The conditions put such a toll on all the car’s batteries that none of the five entrants (out of 10) still racing were able to complete the stage in the allotted time, and they were all subsequently ruled out of the rest of the challenge.
Final results were based on standings from the previous checkpoint at Tennant Creek, where Sunswift was well ahead of its rivals.
In the Cruiser Class event, positions are based not just on which car drives the fastest but use a points system which takes into consideration the car’s energy usage, the number of people inside the car and also therefore its ‘practicality’, as well as the time taken to complete each stage.
Sunswift had three passengers plus its driver while ahead of other Cruiser cars on the road in each completed stage.
The team had to wait until a final scrutineering session on Saturday October 28 when a panel of judges gave an additional score to each car based on criteria such as design innovation, environmental impact, ease of access and egress, occupant space and comfort, ease of operation (driving and charging), versatility, style and desirability.
The UNSW team was officially announced as Cruiser Class champions at an awards event in Adelaide on Sunday evening, October 29.
The University of Minnesota was second with Team Solaride from Estonia third.
The UNSW Sunswift project will now focus on developing and building a new car in 2024 likely to feature hydrogen fuel cells alongside solar panels, that might not even be allowed to race due to current regulations, says Sunswift Racing team principal Richard Hopkins.
Current designs indicate it will be a two-seater sports car capable of completing laps of Mount Panorama (where the Bathurst 1000 is held), only 20-30 seconds slower than the fastest V8 Supercars.
The chassis could potentially be made of hemp and flax rather than carbon fibre.
“Sunswift 8 won’t just be a hybrid, it will be a tri-brid, utilising solar, batteries and hydrogen fuel cells in combination,” Hopkins says, adding the car could run on all three or one at a time.
