This ends my World Solar Challenge 2019 coverage. I will begin covering the American Solar Challenge in a few months. Meanwhile, regular science content resumes.
Summary of WSC additional awards:
- CSIRO technical innovation award: Kogakuin, for their hydropneumatic suspension.
- Safety award: Sonnenwagen Aachen, who crashed.
- Spirit of the Event award: Sonnenwagen Aachen, for not giving up.
- Promotional award: Solar Team Twente, for their excellent media.
- Excellence in engineering award: Top Dutch, for their wonderful car.
Thank you for all the work you have put into this again Tony. I have checked this site multiple times per day for news.
As we discussed before, I do feel that most teams have been less generous to share their innovations before the scrutineering, which made it a bit less fun to speculate, compare and predict. The battle between catamarans and monohulls was very interesting with the advantage on the side of the catamarans. More so if the 2 front running catamarans had not been struck by disaster.
The Cruiser class, as fascinating as it is with many new features in some of the cars, I am missing the racing element that was so exciting the first 2 editions. As far as I am concerned they should not be allowed to charge from the grid anymore and given a bit more solar panel to also have a race with camping in the Outback. There are ways to also weigh the number of passengers and the judging at the end.
It’s been very hard to follow the Cruiser class. I’ve been wondering about changes such as you suggest.