The first stage of the World Solar Challenge could not have been much more Australian for Top Dutch Solar Racing, the Groningen-Frisian student team.
Loeka Demkes, student at Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen and member of the Groningen-Frisian team, still needs to recover from everything that happened on the first day of the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge.
Solar car Green Thunder from Top Dutch Solar Racing covered no less than 632 kilometers, from Darwin to Dunmarra, reaching an average speed of almost 75 kilometers per hour. The fact that it was much sunnier (and very hot at 39 degrees) than predicted meant that the team was able to cover a lot more kilometers than expected on day one.
Bucking cows
“We have had many very exciting moments,” Demkes said via a spotty internet connection. “Like a wallaby that jumped in front of the Green Thunder and wild cows that started bucking around the car.”
For all those animals, the driver of the Northern Dutch solar car had to slam on the brakes a few times. Just as impressive were the various forest fires that the vehicles passed. Demkes: “Very intense to see and exciting to drive by.”
The 632 kilometers that Top Dutch Solar Racing (consisting of 38 students from the University of Groningen, the Hanze, Noorderpoort, Alfa College and NHL-Stenden) covered on the first day of the solar challenge earned a nice place in the sub-top. Only 6 (out of 23) teams managed to reach Dunmarra earlier. The fastest were the Belgians from Innoptus, who defended their 2019 world title. The engineering students from Leuven achieved an average speed of 95 kilometers per hour.
Take the roof off
The Top Dutch team is very satisfied with its provisional seventh place. “Much better than expected,” says Demkes. Earlier this month, the team suffered a huge setback when the entire sunroof flew off during a test drive. Everything has been repaired and the problem seems to have been resolved, Demkes concludes after the first day of racing. “But we will know for sure as soon as we arrive in Coober Pedy, because that is where the wind blows the hardest.”
That will take a while, because it is in the south. The World Solar Challenge lasts five days. The route between Darwin and Adelaide is three thousand kilometers long. The Green Thunder reaches a top speed of approximately 140 kilometers per hour. The racing cars start every day at eight in the morning and have to stop at exactly five in the afternoon. The Northern Dutch car is accompanied by a convoy of seven cars, including the ‘scout’ who drives ahead, explores the traffic situation and looks for a suitable place to spend the night.
In any case, that worked out well after day one, Demkes says. “We sleep at the same camping spot with two other teams.”