Kees, Tijn and Basthian from Haarlem and their TU Delft team failed to win the solar racing world title for the eighth time. “The cars from Belgium and TU Twente really drove faster,” concludes electrical engineer and driver Kees Broek.
Halfway through the 3,000 kilometer race through the Australian outback, the solar car Nuna 12 from TU Delft was already overtaken by Twente’s car. And Belgium remained the leader from start to finish throughout the week.
No revenge
The team from Delft tried to take home the world title again after losing the race in 2019, which had a catastrophic ending with the car catching fire. But that didn’t work. The race is held once every two years. In 2021, the Solar Challenge could not be held due to corona measures. Until 2019, Delft’s solar car was always superior.
“It was a bit of a shock that we were not able to take revenge, but we are still proud.” Kees Broek already felt the downpour earlier this week. Due to a traffic light failure, just as the Nuna 12 arrived, Twente’s car passed by. “But their car and that of Belgium were also driving really fast.”
Research
According to Kees, it remains a guess why these cars drove faster. “You don’t know what is in the car. But what we did see is that the shape of their car is really different.” Kees explains from the restaurant where the team is celebrating their third place that tests showed that the ‘catamaran shape’ of the Nuna 12 would be the best. The TU Twente car has more of a bullet shape.
“The next team will now investigate how that works,” says Broek. The next version of the Nuna is already being built with the knowledge of the current TU Delft team. For example, the technology of solar energy driving is continuously being improved. And Kees already knows that he will actively contribute to improving the solar panels with his knowledge as an electrical engineer.