Pretoria teams fired up for solar race
The teams will be travelling from Pretoria to Stellenbosch using solar-powered cars in the epic 2 500km journey.
Two Pretoria teams are fired up for the 2018 Sasol solar car challenge in September.
It takes off on 22 September and will conclude on 29 September.
The race will see five international teams and four locals teams competing in a race from Pretoria to Stellenbosch with solar cars built by themselves.
The South African teams are the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), North West University, and newcomers Seilatsatsi from the Central University of Technology, and Sonke which is a combined team from St Alban’s College and St Augustine’s school.
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The epic 2 500 km event tests the limits of energy, innovation and technology as teams are challenged by diverse conditions.
Baking sun, violent storms, high winds, changing road surfaces and a drop-in altitude of nearly 2 000 metres have to be taken into account by team strategists who work out their vehicles’ power consumption.
Teams travel with entire weather stations of their own and strategists who make make-or-break decisions as conditions change.
Taking advantage of loops in the route that teams are allowed to repeat as many times as they’re able to, top teams will clock close to 5 000 km during the eight days.
International team, Nuon from the Netherlands won the 2016 race by a record-breaking 4 716 km and they are also participating this year to defend their title.
The solar cars are only allowed to have solar arrays of 4 m², where previously their arrays could be 6 m². This puts significant pressure on the engineers to deliver the power from a smaller array. To do this, teams reduce the weight of their cars, and improve the energy technology.
Sasol Solar Challenge director and founder Winstone Jordaan said there had been advances made in technology as a direct result of such events.
Winstone Jordaan said the Sasol Solar Challenge inspires students to develop new technologies by creating a competitive environment.
“They contribute to core research on solar technology, including the manufacturing of solar cells, their casing, converters, controllers and electronics. The research done by solar teams has become invaluable to the energy industry,” said Jordaan.
Jordaan said the Sasol solar challenge was a way of bringing these top-notch technologies into communities throughout South Africa, making it more accessible and serving as a practical demonstration of their capabilities.
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