It is one of the largest sustainability races in the world: Racing Aeolus. Students from all over the world will come to Den Helder this week with their self-built racing cart, which is built in such a way that it can move forward against a headwind. The first day of racing immediately caused a spectacle on the dike.
Students from colleges and universities from Germany, Canada, Denmark, Egypt and also from the Netherlands came to Den Helder this week for a special race. The participants have three days, so Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, to set the fastest race time and thus have a chance to win various prizes.
“This is really a unique race,” says organizer Hans Verhoef. “It is therefore great that all those teams from these countries come here.” And they do this with a self-built cart, which absorbs the headwind by means of a turbine with a propeller and thus moves forward.
This year there was enough wind on the first day to go racing. That was different last year, when there was no sigh wind stood.
In the video below, the German student Tjard talks about his participation in Racing Aeolus.