World Solar Challenge About To Start 34
SustainableJeroen writes "On Sunday morning at 08:30 local time — that's less than an hour away — the World Solar Challenge will start in Darwin, Australia. The first solar racing car and its support fleet will depart Darwin to traverse the 3000+ km to Adelaide through the Australian outback. It will be followed at two-minute intervals by 36 other racing teams, from twenty countries from all over the world. The qualification round, held on Saturday, saw Solar Team Twente secure the first starting position in the race, closely followed by Nuon Solar Team and Michigan University. The top ten times in the qualification round were within eleven seconds of each other, and while driving one lap around a race track is very different from driving 3000 km on a public motorway, it does show that the top cars are quite close in performance. With the top cars and teams being very, very close to each other, it's sure to be a very exciting race. The fastest teams are expected to reach the official finish line just outside Adelaide late Wednesday or early Thursday (local time), after which the teams will continue on for the traditional dive in the fountain at Victoria Square in Adelaide."
It's "University of Michigan" (Score:1)
It's "University of Michigan" not "Michigan University."
Re: (Score:1)
U of M (Score:3)
Solar cars? (Score:1)
http://www.hochschule-bochum.de/en/solarcar.html [hochschule-bochum.de]
Re: (Score:2)
I am not much of a gear nut, so excuse me if I am utterly wrong, but:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manual_transmission#Dog_clutch [wikipedia.org]
Reading that, aren't all modern manuals dog clutches? My understanding of my Camry's manual is that the gears are always meshed and the gear selector connects the gear to the axle to prevent wear on the gears, and this sounds much like the description from Wikipedia. What am I missing? Please enlighten me :)
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It's a technology challenge, they aren't making practical things.
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I'd like to see them get rid of restrictive rules, like no more than X m^2 of solar. I always thought it would be cool to drag a solar trailer behind a solar EV. +10-20% weight but +100% power.
Of course those numbers are for a real car. I don't know how much lighter a trailer would be than a solar challenge car.
I think that would be an incredibly BAD idea. This isn't just a race, The solar challenge is about efficient and effective design. The restrictive rules on solar panel size is one of the main drivers for them to innovate around effective energy management. Forcing them to think about ways to come up with more and more efficient designs rather than saying FUCK IT lets put a V8 equivalent in it and drag 200 m^2 of panels to drive it, removal of the restrictions would make this a pointless race and probably ki
Re:Solar cars? (Score:4, Informative)
Like this [yugocar.co.uk]? And this [hotrod.com]? And this [wordpress.com]?
Let's face it, racing cars and practical cars are two different things.
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These cars are the very definition of useful, they are specifically designed to meet a requirement, to prove their technology is the best by using it to win a 3000k race.
When I read this (Score:2)
World Solar Challenge About To Start
I thought great, even more flares...
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underhighlighted underdog (Score:3)
I seem to remember that during the first challenge, much media attention was spent on a pitted "battle" between an australian (?) and an american team. Except that in the end, the Dutch team won by miles, which earned the Dutch team a side note. Talk about media focus getting it wrong ;).
Re:underhighlighted underdog (Score:5, Informative)
You have your memories slightly jumbled. It was University of Michigan's UMSolar vs Nuon Solar Car Team and in the end a Japanese team (Tokai University) won by leagues. -- Team Tokai ran a great race, it was very impressive.
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Thanks for the refresher. :).
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NT is no fun any more.. (Score:2)
Why do they still bother racing in the Northern Territory?
It was one of the few places in the world without road speed limits until 2007. Now there is a 110km/hr limit.
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Most of the Stuart highway in the NT has a 130 km/hr (~81 mph for those so inclined) limit and 110 km/hr in SA. The average speed for last year's winner was approx 100 km/h, so they must be touching these limits at times. At the moment it also has a day time temperatures in the 30-40 degrees Celsius range (~86-104 deg. Fahrenheit). Bags not being in a cramped, non-airconditioned, low slung vehicle on top of the tarmac.
First? Not hardly (Score:1)
Weather (Score:1)
Aussie ISP Internode is a sponsor (Score:1)
http://www.internode.on.net/news/2011/09/247.php [on.net]
Makes the 1% of me feel better that when I am surfing I'm green about it...
El Reg's coverage of the race (Score:3)
The Register's [theregister.co.uk] Lester Haynes of its Special Projects Bureau [theregister.co.uk] is following the race (in an air conditioned 4x4: temperatures in the cabins of the cars can reach 50C)
They also have a twitter feed [twitter.com]
News so far:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/10/12/world_solar_challenge_2011_race_rules/ [theregister.co.uk]
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/10/13/solar_update/ [theregister.co.uk]
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/10/14/wsc_update/ [theregister.co.uk]
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/10/15/wsc_update/ [theregister.co.uk]