The Brunel Solar Team, made up of students from TU Delft, has departed for Australia to participate in the world solar racing championship: the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge. This year, no fewer than 31 teams will race nearly 3,000 kilometers across the Australian desert from Darwin to Adelaide in 5 days. With extreme weather conditions, difficult and unknown terrain and intense competition, the race promises to be more exciting than ever.
This year’s Bridgestone World Solar Challenge presents not only a strategic and technological challenge, but also a mental challenge for the Brunel Solar team. During the previous participation in the championship in 2019, the team was in the lead, even the solar car Nona, and after smelling smoke, the driver immediately pulled the car to the side of the road. A few minutes later, all that was found was the license plate in a pile of smoldering remains.
Over the past year and a half, the team has been working on a number of innovations in their solar car. The battery is 50% more energy dense than last year, which means it can store much more energy for the same weight. In addition, the new solar panel consists of several thin layers that generate energy and the car is lighter than ever before. This year the team also took a risk by being one of the few to race a solar-powered car in the form of an asymmetric catamaran. This shape makes it difficult to adjust the car correctly on the track, but it also offers several advantages: the car encounters less air resistance and with 3 wheels, the car also encounters less resistance from the road.
Special (weather) conditions
It’s no coincidence, of course, that the course of this challenging race runs right through the Australian desert. The sun shines like nowhere else, and the desert brings some challenging weather conditions. For example, the world is dealing with El Niño this year, which can cause extremely high temperatures and droughts in the already warm and dry desert. This increases the risk of extreme weather conditions, wildfires and unexpected obstacles. The team is preparing for this as best it can with training and emergency protocols. The team will also have to deal with strong crosswinds during the race. Instead of adding weight to the car, the team uses the force of the wind to push the car further.
weather prediction
To cross the entire desert and regain first place, the team leads a convoy of support vehicles. These cars have different roles, all of which contribute to improving the racing strategy during the race. One of the most important vehicles in the convoy is the Meteo. This car stays two hours ahead of the Nuna and creates and analyzes weather models, helping to improve the Nuna 12’s coverage of sunlight during the race. About 30 minutes before Nuna, Prescout scouts the road and identifies potential obstacles, such as holes in the road, intersections and the timing of traffic lights. The “Scout” drives directly in front of the solar car, which acts as his eyes and ears due to the limited visibility from the Nuna 12. “Mission Control” collects all inputs from the team and thus coordinates the strategy. Finally, the media team accompanies us to record everything, and the team from the “support” car, the team’s mobile workshop, is ready in the evening and, if necessary, during the race to make the necessary repairs.
Bridgestone Global Solar Challenge
The Bridgestone World Solar Challenge, October 22-29, 2023, is the world championship of solar racing. Every two years, more than 40 teams of university students from around the world gather here to race from north to south Australia in five days, powered entirely by solar energy. The race was created to stimulate innovation in sustainable technology and is known as a key strategic test for participating solar racing teams. This year, no less than 41 teams from three categories will participate in the various awards of the World Championship. The Brunel Solar team is participating in the Challenger class: a single-car race focused on speed. The 31st team in this category will drive as fast as possible over more than 3,000 kilometers in about 5 days, from north of Darwin to south of Adelaide.
