European Solar Challenge 2016 Update

Below, once again, are the 12 solar car teams that will be competing in the European Solar Challenge this year, with revised links to their websites and social media. The ESC will be held at Circuit Zolder in Belgium from September 23 to 25 this year. It will be a 24 hour endurance track race, competing against a (non-solar) Tesla Model S (however, teams may charge their car from mains power up to two times, if they stop for an hour to do so). About half the points for the ESC will come from the number of laps of the track completed. Other points will come from the fastest lap time, a timed chicane challenge on the 23^rd, and a presentation about the car. Follow the event on Facebook and Twitter.

Circuit Zolder seen from above (imagery: Landsat, car photo: Anthony Dekker)

The 24 hour track race starts at 13:00 on the 24^th, and sunset will be at 19:32 that evening. The sun will rise again at 07:30 the next morning, and the race will continue until 13:00 on the 25^th. Long-range weather forecasting suggested that the weather might be cloudy that weekend, but a more up-to-date forecast suggests sun (see diagram below). See also this nearby weathercam (about 8.5 km away, and facing towards the racetrack).

Advance weather forecast for the 24 hour track race

  Bochum University of Applied Sciences 

This team came 3^rd in the Cruiser class at WSC 2015. Bochum are fielding three teams at ESC (racing the Solarworld GT, which drove around the world in 2011/12; the PowerCore SunCruiser from WSC 2013; and the beautiful ThyssenKrupp SunRiser from WSC 2015).

  

  Cambridge University 

This team came 22^nd in the Challenger class at WSC 2015. Their car has an interesting teardrop design.

  Dokuz Eylül University / Solaris 

This team came 25^th in the Challenger class at WSC 2015.

  EAFIT / Cambria 

This is a new team. They have posted a nice team overview video.

  Futuro Solare 

This appears to be a relatively new team. Read more about them here. Their car is called Archimede in honour of the famous mathematician of that name, who was a native of Syracuse, the team’s home town.

  Istanbul Technical University 

This team came 17^th in the Challenger class at WSC 2013. They will be racing a rebuilt version of one of their old Challenger class cars, not the more recent Cruiser shown below.

  Onda Solare 

This team came 10^th in the Challenger class at WSC 2013, and 10^th in the 2015 Abu Dhabi Solar Challenge. They came 2^nd in the Evolución class at the 2016 Carrera Solar Atacama.

  Punch Powertrain Solar Team 

This team came 3^rd in the 2015 Abu Dhabi Solar Challenge, and 5^th in the Challenger class at WSC 2015. They will be racing Indupol One, their entry from WSC 2013.

  Solar Energy Racers 

This team came 5^th in the Challenger class at WSC 2013, and 11^th in the 2015 Abu Dhabi Solar Challenge. They also participated in this year’s American Solar Challenge. They will be racing their SER-1 car, which was their entry in the 2011 WSC.

  Solar Team Twente 

This team came 2^nd in the Challenger class at WSC 2015. Their Red One is the fastest entry in terms of raw speed. Whether that is enough to win the challenge remains to be seen.

Here is the scoring matrix for the event:

	Chicane	Fastest Lap	24-hour Race	Presentation
1st	20	20	50	10
2nd	15	15	40	8
3rd	10	10	30	6
4th	5	5	20	4
5th	0	0	10	2

This post last updated 11:29 on 23 September 2016 AEST

---

Advertisement