Solar cars to sizzle in Hot laps pole decider

Sonnenwagen Aachen from Germany is preparing to defend its 2023 pole position, top gun teams from around the world are doing their best to take it away from them. The much-coveted honour of leading the 2025 Bridgestone World Solar Challenge field will be hotly contested by international and Australian teams, on the track at Hidden Valley Motorsports Complex today in Darwin.
The registered field of 37 has become 34, with three teams officially withdrawn unable to make it to Australia.

 

With Cruiser judging held before the event for the first time, static scrutineering was mostly completed by Thursday evening. While some teams, such Canada’s Eclipse ETS, got the green light at all nine stations early, others such as Italian teams Archimede and Onda Solare had an anxious wait for their cars to arrive.

 

33 teams now have the green light to take to the hot laps time trials. Just one team, Archimede, was still working into the night, doing their best to pass the final hurdles before they can cleared to move to the next phase. The Event Faculty worked with all teams to give them every chance to pass through to the next stage.

 

Event Ambassador, Chris Selwood AM, said the complexity of the event, logistics and issues surrounding the transport of a solar car and team across the globe, is no easy feat.
‘It’s called a Challenge for a reason and getting to the start line is certainly a huge achievement,’ Chris said.

 

‘Our goal is to see every team on the start-line and we work very hard to help them find solutions to ensure their solar cars meet regulations and are cleared to compete. Safety for everyone is paramount and that’s one area that can’t be compromised.

 

For such a competitive event, there is also a collaborative spirit quite unique to this event. From current teams to our 10,000 plus alumni, knowledge and experience continues to be shared. Undoubtedly everyone wants to win, but no one wants to see anyone fail either,’ Chris said.

 

‘Teams who fail to qualify are given their opportunities for photos on the start line and though not competing they can join us on the journey to build their knowledge and experience for future events. We hope to see these teams unable to compete this year back with us in our 40th anniversary year of 2027.

 

‘The focus is now on the Hidden Valley racetrack today, Saturday 23 August, for the Dynamic Scrutineering involving a timed qualifying lap, and safety trials. Team give their all to post a time fast enough to ensure them a top place on the grid.