There are media reports of a fire at Singapore Polytechnic, home of Team 28 in the WSC. Apparently the fire “involved a solar car model.” Three security officers who responded to the fire were treated for smoke inhalation. The students are OK, but it is unclear how seriously the solar car SunSPEC4 was damaged.
The drag coefficient measures how aerodynamic a shape, such as the body of a car, is – and therefore how energy-efficient the car will be when driving at speed. Some example values are shown below, listed from low-drag to high-drag. A solar-powered Hummer is probably not on the cards any time soon.
Entries hoping to win the World Solar Challenge Challenger class should be aiming at drag coefficients around 0.1. In the Cruiser class, values under 0.2 would be appropriate. This year, the wide range of car shapes in the World Solar Challenge demonstrates that there are many ways of achieving these goals.
Scientific Gems 