BWSC 2023 Aftermovies

Four teams from the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge 2023 have released aftermovies so far (see the YouTube links). Éclipse / ÉTS are the most recent:

• Brunel / Delft #3 NL (came 3^rd) YouTube (11 minutes, Dutch with English subtitles, November)
• Innoptus / Leuven #8 BE (won) YouTube (18 minutes, Dutch with English subtitles, January)
• Twente #21 NL (came 2^nd) YouTube (15 minutes, Dutch with English subtitles, February)
• Éclipse / ÉTS #92 CA (came 10^th – the 2^nd best North American team) YouTube (61 minutes, French with English subtitles, June)

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Solar Car World Rankings

There seems to be a demand among solar car teams for a “Solar Car World Championship.” Above is my best attempt at such a thing. It is based on rankings from these 4 races which I cover:

• BWSC 23 – ranks for other races were adjusted to be compatible with BWSC results
• ASC 22 – ranks were increased by 5
• Sasol 22 – ranks were doubled
• iESC 22 – ranks were raised to the 1.5 power

Only Challenger cars were included (I do not have enough information to rank Cruisers), and only teams racing in two or more races were included (thus Michigan, a truly fantastic team, is excluded). Overall rankings shown in the chart were based on the average of the results for each team’s best 2 races. Here they are as text:

• Equal 1st: Delft
• Equal 1st: Leuven
• 3rd: Twente
• 4th: Aachen
• 5th: Top Dutch
• 6th: Éclipse
• 7th: ITU
• 8th: Chalmers
• 9th: Solis-EV

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BWSC: Songs from Darwin

The Bridgestone World Solar Challenge has arrived (see my annotated teams list). Scrutineering begins tomorrow, and racing on October 22^nd. The award ceremony will be on the 29^th 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)

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Solar Cars on Gunn Point Road

Gunn Point Road open for testing (photo: John Inglis)

The Bridgestone World Solar Challenge is upon us (see my annotated teams list). Scrutineering begins on the 16^th, and racing on the 22^nd. The award ceremony will be on the 29^th in Adelaide. Teams have (mostly) transferred to the racetrack for race preparation and qualification, and Gunn Point Road near Darwin has opened for pre-race testing (see pictures).

Team Éclipse, from Montreal in Canada, takes their car for a test drive (photo: team)

Some logistics lessons learned so far this year:

• Several teams have seriously underestimated shipping time – time taken to ship containers (especially by sea), time taken to transfer containers between ships, and time taken to clear Customs. Sadly, that means that a couple of cars might miss the race.
• It is important for teams to have somebody with an Australian truck license (or its overseas equivalent), both to drive a support vehicle and to get the solar car to Darwin in the first place. A backup truck driver is highly desirable (to alternate driving, or in case of unforeseen circumstances), and I have always admired the Top Dutch team-member who volunteered for that role in 2019.

Deakin University (Ascend) after their test run (photo: John Inglis)

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