World Solar Challenge Beginning

Posted by michael on Saturday November 17, 2001 @03:10PM from the spin-long-light-from-the-glory-of-the-sun dept.

Stuart Bowden writes: "Today (Sunday at 8:00am Central Australian time) is the start of the 2001 World solar Challenge, a sort of alternative Cannonball Run in which the solar cars cost up to $10 million. Over the next five days or so thirty three solar powered cars will race 3000km across the Australia desert powered only by sunlight. The official site is at WSC and there is extra gossip, pictures and information at our site at the University of NSW. We'll be doing the web upgrades on the road by begging connections at roadside diners and the occasional satellite phone. The big problem is keeping up with solar cars that don't stop for fuel." Our previous story had more links.

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Disappointing. by VA+Software · 2001-11-17 15:26 · Score: 3, Informative

The World Solar Challenge is a race to motivate research and development into harnessing solar energy

I haven't looked at all the teams yet, but so far they seem to be aiming to improve performance by improving aerodynamics and reducing weight, not by improving the efficiency of the electricity generation.

One exception is the aurora team, but I can't find any technical details of the improvements they're claiming.

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