The Nuna 13 is already special because it a solar car concerns, but he has an extra trick in store. This version has a folding and folding sail on the Dutch car, which in practice ensures a hybrid drive (solar and wind energy). You not only have to use this fin as a sailboat, but it can also charge the 3 kWh-strong battery and you can fold it in.
The road from Nuna 13 to win
The Brunel Solar Team makes no statements about exact specifications. On the other hand, they say that the air resistance of the entire Dutch car can be compared with the outside mirror of a ‘normal’ passenger car.
The car has been tested up to 130 km/h, but can be theoretically harder according to the team. They just don’t have much to it, since the speed limit of the Australian roads must be maintained.
Last year the team from Delft finished in third place, but that should go better this year. “We always participate for the win,” Merijn Kroon, information officer of the Brunel Solar Team, tells Autovisie.
However, it went wrong during testing. The Nuna 13 stood in the wind tunnel of Volkswagen, in Wolfsburg, Germany, when fate struck. Kroon continues: “The car was not stuck well and hit the head. We were really shocked. Fortunately the damage was minimal and within a week he was back in his old state.
The race and the Dutch car
“The Bridgestone World Solar Challenge takes place in the Australian Outback. Here the teams have to travel 3,000 kilometers.
That is normally heavy, but on top of that this edition is taking place in the Australian winter. The Dutch car on solar energy does not like that, of course, which was one of the motives for adding the Zijl to the Nuna 13.
It is for the Delft residents this edition that they first participated in the race 25 years ago. Of the eleven races they participated, they won seven, including their debut race. The Dutch car Nuna 13 therefore has a reputation to uphold.