The World Solar Challenge is an exciting race to find the best solar car in the world. That makes for serious competition between countries. But there are also some interesting contests within countries. The most obvious is between Nuon (3) and Twente (21), who came first and second in the Challenger class last time.
Within Australia, Western Sydney (15, Unlimited 2.0, above) did very well in 2015, coming 10th in the Challenger class. Adelaide University (7, Lumen II, below) did not do quite so well back then (coming 21st), but have learned a lot about building solar cars from the experience. Potential competitors Clenergy Team Arrow (who came 8th in 2015) have switched to the Cruiser class, while newcomers ANU are still on their initial learning curve. Who will be Australia’s leading Challenger in 2017?
Scientific Gems 
Unlimited 2.0 looks a bit like a reversed Novum, but with the canopy on one side. Very long nose indeed (I understand the platypus subtitle) and wonder what that does for the stability of the car, especially in rough conditions.
One of my readers mentioned this video. I hope not.
Interesting comparison. The WSU car (Unlimited 2.0) is 1.4 m wide, almost the same as Red Shift from Twente, and wider than Tokai Challenger (1.2 m) and Novum (1 m). I look forward to hearing from WSU on what their thinking was (and to seeing it race!).
A month ago, MostDece had discovered the shape of Unlimited 2.0 and compared it to this Stanford car.
Yes, that does make sense! We see many design evolutions with roots in past cars this year. l’Histoire se répète.