Scrutineering for the Solar Challenge Morocco has begun, with the race running from 25 to 29 October. Six Challenger Class cars are competing (see my illustrated teams list with social media links for details). The montage above (assembled from team instagram feeds) shows the cars:
- Vattenfall Solar Team (Delft, NL, team 3) in Nuna 11, which weighs only 157 kg
- Solar Team Twente (NL, team 21) in Red Horizon
- Chalmers Solar Team (SE, team 51) in Sköll, with Top Dutch Solar Racing (NL, team 6) in Green Spirit behind
- Agoria Solar Team (KU Leuven, BE, team 8) in BluePoint Atlas, shown behind Vattenfall
- Another view of Agoria
- Sonnenwagen Aachen (DE, team 7) in Covestro Photon
That is one 4-wheel bullet car (Top Dutch), three 3-wheel bullet cars, and two 3-wheel asymmetrical catamarans. In addition, Solaride, from Estonia, has the only Cruiser Class car.
Update: qualification lap times were:
- Top Dutch (NL, team 6): 02:17 (68.69 km/h)
- Vattenfall (NL, team 3): 02:23 (65.81 km/h)
- Agoria (BE, team 8): 02:25 (64.90 km/h)
- Twente (NL, team 21): 02:30 (62.74 km/h)
- Chalmers (SE, team 51): 02:45 (57.03 km/h)
- Sonnenwagen Aachen (DE, team 7): car being repaired after an accident
- Solaride (EE, team 1, Cruiser): –
Update: the route for the event is as follows (the map below shows elevation):
- Day 1: Agadir to Zagora
- Day 2: Zagora to Merzouga
- Day 3: loop from Merzouga
- Day 4: Merzouga to Zagora
- Day 5: Zagora to Agadir
Vattenfall is presenting a delayed live feed of the race.
Scientific Gems 