All too soon, the 24-hour iLumen European Solar Challenge is over. The charts above and below (click to zoom) show results from the live timing board. The winners of the two classes (Challenger and CR = Cruiser) will be decided on points scores, which are still to come. Meanwhile, however, the German teams from Aachen and Bochum deserve special congratulations. For updates, see also the race social media at
Update 1: there are apparently no official results yet. All that has been released has been the podiums:
Challenger: 1. Covestro Photon (Aachen), 2. Covestro Sonnenwagen (Aachen), 3. RED E (Twente)
Cruiser: 1. Lodz, 2. Onda Solare, 3. Stella Era (Eindhoven)
Using the guidelines in the official regulations, I can calculate the Challenger class scores (see below).
Update 2: the official results have now been released, and I have added the chart below. Bochum seems to have lost out from having a two-seater car. For the rest, practicality judging makes up 40% of the final Cruiser score at iESC, so that Lodz essentially won on practicality (although I note that four of the Cruisers raced in Australia in 2019, and I would have expected both practicality and efficiency scores at Zolder to have been somewhat similar).
Day 7 of the Sasol Solar Challenge took the solar cars along the coast from Jeffreys Bay to Riversdale via Knysna and (optionally) Buffelsbaai. The Dutch and the Belgians are still-neck-and-neck, with the Dutch ahead by the tiniest whisker (10.1 km). Nail-biting stuff!
Meanwhile, scrutineering is beginning in Belgium for the massive fleet of cars in the iLumen European Solar Challenge (see my annotated list of iESC teams). I count 4 teams from the Netherlands (6 cars), 2 teams from Germany (3 cars), 2 teams from Turkey, 2 teams from the UK, and 1 team each from Belgium, Colombia, Italy, Poland, Sweden, and Switzerland. That’s 19 cars in total (10 Challengers and 9 Cruisers).
The 24-hour track race will start at 13:00 on the 17th, continuing until 13:00 on the 18th. For fans at home interested in the weather, check the forecast. It looks like it will be rather wet, sadly. At the top of this page is a webcam nearby, looking west, towards the Zolder racetrack. This webcam is at the track itself (with a view of the “Kleine Chicane,” looking roughly north from just about the centre of the track). See the race social media at
Day 6 of the Sasol Solar Challenge has seen some back-and-forth overtaking between the Dutch and the Belgians (in between roadworks), but the final position is the same as yesterday. Follow the Dutch at brunelsolarteam.com/race, the Belgians at live.solarteam.be, and see my annotated list of teams for team social media links. The official race social media is at
Meanwhile, solar car teams are starting to arrive in Belgium for the iLumen European Solar Challenge (iESC). Naturally, I also have an annotated list of iESC teams. Scrutineering begins on the 15th. The 24-hour track race will start at 13:00 on the 17th, continuing until 13:00 on the 18th. For fans at home interested in the weather, check the forecast. Also, at the top of this page is a webcam nearby, looking west, towards the Zolder racetrack. This webcam is at the track itself (with a view of the “Kleine Chicane,” looking roughly north from just about the centre of the track). See the race social media at
The iLumen European Solar Challenge is over. Challenger Class results are shown above, and Cruiser Class results below. The heights of the bars show points allocated in the various categories. Twente was third overall on points in the Challenger Class, although a very close second in terms of laps (344).
A number of teams had some unfortunate problems, and the Cruisers from Eindhoven and PUT Solar Dynamics were not able to hit the track at all. For pictures, see team social media (see my list of teams) or iESC social media at (click on the icons).
Below are some pictures from recent social media of five teams (use the picture above to identify teams):
Breaking news: in a sad turn of events, Bochum are out of the Cruiser class, as are Lodz. This leaves only Eindhoven in the Cruiser class. See the current teams list here.
By special request, all links in this post (including the clickable social media icons) now open in a new tab or page, depending on your browser (I would welcome feedback on whether this is an improvement):
Challenger (Éclipse X.I) – they came an excellent 3rd in the ASC, 102 minutes behind Western Sydney, and hope to go even faster with the new battery pack in their modified car.
Challenger (new car: Tigris) – no news on the new design as yet, but they already have a very professional media presence. Their fund-raising efforts include some great T-shirts.
Detailed results for the recent iLumen European Solar Challenge (iESC) have just been released. The two charts above (for Challengers) and below (for Cruisers) visualise the results. The “Total” bar on the left in each case is the sum of the other bars, which reflect points for the various sub-challenges. In the Challenger class:
Twente won, with Red Shift (which did the most laps) and also came second with the older Red One (which did almost as many laps, as well as doing the fastest lap and winning the KO chicane);
Aachen came third in their Sonnenwagen, having put in a good all-round performance; and
Megalux came fourth overall, having come third in the lap count.
In the Cruiser class:
Lodz won, with the highest calculated cruiser score (they also won the safety sub-challenge, about which I’ve heard nothing);
Bochum came second and third in their sexy SunRiser and blue.cruiser; and
Kratos EAFIT–Postobon came fourth overall, in their lovely solar sports vehicle, having run the fastest lap, won the regularity sub-challenge, and come third in the KO chicane.
See here for more information on the teams. Well done to everybody for coping so well with the terrible weather!
Update: And don’t forget to watch the great series of videos from Bochum.
The iLumen European Solar Challenge (iESC) in Belgium has just finished, under extremely wet conditions. Lap counts are shown below. Twente clocked up about 85% of the laps they did when they won in 2016. I will post about official results when they are released. However, Twente are clearly Challenger champions, while Lodz Solar Team has won the Cruiser class on points.
This updated table shows the 35 (out of 42) cars in the World Solar Challenge which have been spotted on the track or on the road as at 20:40 on Wed, Oct 4 (Darwin time). There are links to photos and to team social media. The third column of the table shows the car class (or, for Cruisers, the number of seats). For more detailed information about the teams, see my annotated teams list.
Scientific Gems 