Michigan solar team heads north for final trials

By Matthew Ward Agius | Cosmos

Original story at: Cosmos

Operating a solar car in a 3000km cross-country challenge every two years is no mean feat, and teams need to ‘bed in’ their cars and test their race management systems, well in advance of the event taking place. 

So when 39 cars line up to start the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge in Darwin on October 22, there will be plenty of miles already on the clock for these lightweight vehicles. 

For the University of Michigan Solar Car Team, the first taste of pre-event testing for its...

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Swiss solar car racers inspired by threat to nation’s glacier

By Matthew Ward Agius | Cosmos

When your nation’s largest glacier is losing ice at an alarming rate, it serves as an ideal – if existential – inspiration for building a car powered entirely by renewable energy. 

And it’s the case for the Zurich-based αCentauri Solar Racing team, which has dubbed the vehicle it will debut in the upcoming Bridgestone World Solar Challenge, ‘Aletsch’, after the largest glacier in Switzerland.  

“It’s part of what motivates us as a team,” says Jent Imelman.  

Last year, the...

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Illuminating Aussie Spirit

Can an Australian team take on the multi-million-dollar international top guns in this year’s Bridgestone World Solar Challenge on a fraction of the budget? Adelaide University Solar Racing Team, who launched their new and improved, aerodynamic machine, LUMEN II last night, is certainly gearing up to give it a red-hot crack. The talk around the workshop is that this car has the potential to
go the distance and exceed past performances.

Speaking at the reveal, BWSC Event Director, Chris Selwood AM, said Adelaide University Solar Racing
team has already achieved much in their short history of solar car...

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