Category: World Solar Challenge

Hungry for Sunshine, Ready to Race

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tough testing conditions for the blue.cruiser | ©Bochum Solar Car Team

The static scrutineering in advance of the World Solar Challenge (WSC) are a struggle to the race. The static scrutineering” started on Oct 2nd with two cars and continued with 14 teams a day until Thursday.

The scrutineering is not intended to be a selection, but a presentation to qualify. “We expect every car to comply. If there are questions, it is up to the team to persuade the engineers” director Chris Selwood points out.

The first car to receive a “Go” was Violet vom Team Sunswift. Very well done, since the Team had to cancel the unveiling two weeks ago, do to an accident. Today the first German car, the Sonnenwagen qualified for dynamic scrutineering on Saturday.

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Catching Ground

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WSC 2017: 16 von 42 teilnehmenden Fahrzeugen

30 days to go to the start of this years World Solar Challenge. The student teams from all over the world arrive in Australia. They wait to receive their their batteries, their gear and their cars. However transport and customs take time.

Teams from outside Australia that haven’t shipped their car yet, certainly feel pressure to get the solar car to Darwin in time. Although the cars themselves can reach Australia quickly by air freight, the batteries will not. They must be shipped and customs want to see them closely before they are allowed to enter the continent down under. Bochum has excellent logistics and is already unpacking the battery container. What a pity that the blue.cruiser is still missing. When it arrives the most important questions are: In what condition is the car after the transit? Are there serious damages? How long does it take to repair them? Only Australian teams still have time to build the car.

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Solar Cars pack down in the Outback

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tyssenkrupp blue.cruiser ©Hochschule Bochum Solar Car Team

tyssenkrupp blue.cruiser ©Hochschule Bochum Solar Car Team

45 solar cars racing on sunshine only will compete in the Australian outback from October 8th – for over 3000 kilometer. They fight to win the World Solar Challenge (WSC), the world championship of solar cars.
The organizing team published the official list of participants on July 6. From 16 Asian Teams 4 are Japanese. The US will send 7 out of 9 solar cars from the Americas. Only one of them from South America. Host Australia is strong with 7 participating solar cars. Two teams come from Africa. The 11 European teams come from the Netherlands (3), UK (2), Sweden (2), Germany (2), Poland (1) and Belgium (1). Having 2-10 support vehicle each the 46 participating teams will build a huge bunch, starting from Darwin, heading south. It’s good to know that Stuart Highway is wide enough for everyone.

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