The Bridgestone World Solar Challenge has arrived (see my annotated teams list). Scrutineering begins tomorrow, and racing on October 22nd. The award ceremony will be on the 29th in Adelaide. Here are some postcards from Darwin (click images to zoom):
Top Dutch 
Top Dutch (#6) are representing the northernmost provinces of the Netherlands (Groningen, Friesland and Drenthe). The photo below shows their car, with the flag of Friesland (showing seven water-lily leaves). The Frisian anthem is one of defiance in the face of adversity:
Frysk bloed tsjoch op! Wol noris brûze en siede,
en bûnzje troch ús ieren om!
Flean op! Wy sjonge it bêste lân fan d’ierde,
it Fryske lân fol eare en rom.
Klink dan en daverje fier yn it rûn,
Dyn âlde eare, o Fryske grûn! …
Top Dutch have had their share of adversity already, after a pre-race accident damaged their cutting-edge perovskite-on-silicon tandem solar cells from Oxford PV (photo of the sad cells here). I wish them the best of luck.
Top Dutch in their pitbox (photo: John Inglis)
Blue Sky (Toronto) and Éclipse (Quebec)
There are two Canadian teams this year – English-speaking Blue Sky (#77) from Toronto and French-speaking Éclipse (#92) from Montreal – celebrating the bilingual nature of that country:
Ô Canada!
Terre de nos aïeux,
Ton front est ceint de fleurons glorieux!
Car ton bras sait porter l’épée,
Il sait porter la croix! …
O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all of us command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free! …
Éclipse (left) and Blue Sky (right) head-to-head on Gunn Point Road (photo: John Inglis)
Twente
The University of Twente is located within the Dutch province of Overijssel:
Aan de rand van Hollands gouwen
Over brede IJsselstroom
Ligt daar, lieflijk om t’aanschouwen
Overijssel, fier en vroom. …
Twente (#21) are one of the best international teams, having been on the podium at iESC the last five races and won the WSC-substitute race in Morocco in 2021. The photographs below show Twente’s convoy vehicles at Gunn Point Road for road-testing: Escort (red, with a trailer), several white vans, DMU/chase (red van), truck with flight case, solar car. That solar car is “lieflijk om t’aanschouwen” as well.
Twente at Gunn Point Road. Sometimes you have to open up the car and fix stuff (photos: John Inglis)
Adelaide / Flinders / Sunswift / Ascend
There are seven Australian teams in the competition. Here are four of them: Adelaide (#9), Flinders (#30), Sunswift (#27), and Deakin/Ascend (#67).
Standing at the limit of an endless ocean
Stranded like a runaway, lost at sea
City on a rainy day down in the harbor
Watching as the grey clouds shadow the bay
Looking everywhere ’cause I had to find you
This is not the way that I remember it here
Anyone will tell you its a prisoner island
Hidden in the summer for a million years
Great Southern Land …
Adelaide’s Challenger-class car; the blue Cruiser from Flinders; the absolutely awesome green Cruiser from Sunswift; and Deakin’s innovative 3D-printed titanium upright in its suspension (all photos: John Inglis)
Scientific Gems 