[10:00 CET] I don’t expect much more WSC news, but maybe some interesting articles will pop up here and there. I’s away from the computer today, so the commenters will have to do all the work

[23:30 CET] On New Energy TV a very nice atmosphere impression of Nuon Solar Team’s finish:

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[20:00 CET] Both the Solar Team Twente and the Nuon Solar Team have put movies online of their finish. First up: Solar Team Twente:

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They look very happy diving into the fountain after this extremely tough race!

And the Nuon Solar Team (this movie does not work at this moment, but I think it’s a Youtube malfunction and that it will work in a while):

[12:00 CET] The World Solar Challenge has come to an end today for both teams of Hochschule Bochum. The BOcruiser made it to the checkpoint at Port Augusta but because at that time solar racing cars were not allowed on the road anymore it had to be trailered to Adelaide. Solarworld No.1 travelled to the finish line under its own power, but there is something I don’t quite understand: according to the article the Solarworld No.1 drove across the finish line at 12:25, but I thought that closing time was 12:00. Can any one shed some light on that?

[10:15 CET] The Solar Team Twente has published a list “What you didn’t know about racing day 5″. It features some… very interesting points.

Winfried is more interested in the female team members of the other teams than in the race. He orders photographer Gijs to take pictures of them….?

They must be tired but rightfully proud

[10:00 CET] Some picture have appeared of the finish, and of course that also includes the more or less mandatory bath in the Adelaide fountain.

Solar Team Twente: congratulations and well done!

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[09:30 CET] And Twente has made it! It was very exciting, the official finish closed at twelve o’clock and it was only at a quarter to twelve (!) that the 21Revolution rolled over the finish line. To travel the remaining 300km at sufficiently high speed it was necessary to be able to tilt the solar panel again, this was locked in the horizontal position since the crash. Last night the tilting mechanism was repaired, and twith te extra energy that was gained they were abel to drive fast enough to make it to the finish line in time.

I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: both Dutch teams have showed a stellar (solar?) performance this WSC. Firstly the Nuon Solar Team who saw their car disappear into a roadside ditch at 100km/h, but they repaired it beautifully and took second place with it. And then Solar Team Twente who managed, at night and in the middle of the Australian outback, to assemble the heap of parts that was left after the crash into a roadworthy solar racing car again.  It all sounds like s script for a very exciting movie

I feel deeply sorry for the Belgian Umicore team… They had a very fast car, a very strong team and a very good chance of taking first position, but unfortunately their crash was so severe that they couldn’t repair their car. It’s all very sad.

Het kamp van Twente bij nacht

[09:00 CET] Racing day six has come to an end and I hope that Twente managed to cross the finish line before the offical time limit. Unconfirmed reports in the comments on this website say that Twente did make it in time, I hope that we’ll know it for sure in a short while. They’ve put some images online about their fifth racing day, among which the gorgeous phot on the right. Below this picture also a movie of their fifth racing day.

This website has a lot of very nice images of the WSC start in Darwin. These clear pictures allow to compare all the different cars.

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[Attention: in this post I will order the updates differently; the most recent will be at the top]

[22:30 CET] Beautiful impressions from the Nuon Solar Team who were leapfrogging with Michigan today:

[22:15 CET] About the team in first position, Tokai University from Japan, there is very little information online that I can find. What sites there are I can’t read because they’re all in Japanese, and Google Translate is not much help with that language. Here is a short movie showing the Tokai Challenger on racing day three:

(If the embedden movie does not work, here’s the link)

[22:00 CET] The Solar Team Twente also has put a movie online about their third racing day. It seemed to start out great, but then disaster struck: the crash:

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[21:45 CET] Despite reports to the contrary, the Nuon Solar Team website still does not work. Dutch news site has a short movie about them:

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[18:00 CET] Solar Team Twente has published several photos on their website of the aftermath of their crash. Despite my interest in the WSC I’m of course only an amateur, but it looks hopeless to me. I hope they can get the car running again…

[15:45 CET] Solar Team Twente has published a moment-by-moment ‘storyboard‘ on their website described what happened during and after the crash. A few points:

- The 21Revolution was travelling at 95 km/h

– Something went wrong with the rear right wheel

– The solar car swayed from left to right all over te road

– Driver Mart tried to keep the car on the road with all his might

– The wind came under the wing and te car flipped over

– De wing detached from the body and landed upside down on the asphalt

- It’s dark now in the outback but bright lights are illuminating a a hard-working Solar Team Twente. Work will continue deep into the night to try to get the car roadworthy again.

- During the repairs new problems have come to light.

- Photographer Gijs is busy taking pictures zo that everyone at home can see what’s going on

- The media crew has turned back to Alice Springs to upload the much awaited videos. It’s coming to the Netherlands as fast as possible.

– In the Netherlands a news editorial staff of four is working hard keeping everyone informed.

That all sounds very nitense – but also very controlled, the way I read it the team responded very professionally to the crash. It looks like we can expect images and video soon.

[15:00 CET] The bad luck does not seem to stop: there is an unconfirmed report report (there’s nothing on their website or Twitter) the McMaster seems to have had an electrical fire in the solar system which damaged it.

BOcruiser ladend op de aanhanger

[14:30 CET] The German teams from Bochum Hochschule have updated their website with news about racing day three. The Solarworld No.1 seems to be doing nicely, it’s still driving under its own steam at position thirteen. The BOcruiser, as announced yesterday, is actually being transported by trailer and as soon as the battery is charged enough it will drive as far as it can under its own power. The adversity that struck quite a lot of other teams in the WSC did not pass Bochum by: one of its fleet vehicles was involved in a car crash wich fortunately left all people unharmed, but car cannot drive anymore. This means that all kind of logistical stuff has to be arranged differently on very short notice to enable the BOcruiser to continue in some way.

[14:00 CET] Nuon Solar Team’s website is still offline. Does anyone know what’s going on? It’s not a DDOS by Michigan, is it? I’m really curious about how Nuna5 is doing.

[13:00 CET] Solar Team Twente has put a photogallery online about their crash. very, very sad to see all that damage. staan van hun crash. Erg, erg triest om te zien. I wonder if they can get the car on the road again.

Een gehavende 21Revolution

[11:30 CET] Solar Team Twente has updated their website about their third racing day – and their crash. It seems to have been caused by a tyre problem again, something that very nearly did Nuna in before the race, which sent the Belgians home and has struck Twente. From the article:

The car is heavily damaged. Both left and right rear suspension as well as the front suspension are damaged. All fresnell lenses are cracked and the right wheel pant is destroyed because it hit the asphalt. The wing landed upside down which damaged not only the structure of the wing but also many solar cells. Directly after the crash the team took stock of the damage and started repairs immediately. During the evening the extent of the damage will become clear, it’s too early to say much about it.

The team has hope of being able to continue the race, but it remains to be seen.

[10:00 CET] In the phone interview of the Dutch radio show Overijssels Hart the het Solar Team Twente reports that their car, 21Revolution, is severly damaged in a crash – probably after a blown tyre. Especially the solar panel is damaged. The team still has hope that the car can be repaired enough during the night so that they can continue the race. The chance of winning is just about gone, the team has dropped from its fourth position yesterday to a seventh opsition today.

[09:15 CET] Unconfirmed reports are popping up thet Twente has crashed. I’ll keep en eye on it, extra information is very welcome.

[08:20 CET] Both a few comments and the WSC’s website indicatie that the Nuon Solar Team has overtaken Michigan and is now in second place. That same list puts Twente still in fourth place. Nuon Solar Team’s website can’t be reached, it might be swamped with visitors. Dutch DJ Giel, at Radio3, did not mention the World Solar Challenge this morning, which is a pity.

[07:45 CET] It is now 16:15 in Australia and that means that the teams are still driving. That means it will probably take a while before any real news will start to appear. This morning, on the Dutch radio show GIEL, I heard a satellite telephone interview (from one of the moving support vehicles!) with on of the Nuon Solar Team members. The news was positive: they were still in third position but they were driving directly behind Michigan. Let’s hope they van overtake them.

De gecrashde Inspire

[08:45 CET] The Belgian Umicore team has updated their website bijgewerkt with news about their crash. It was actually a sudden wind gust from the side which picked up their car and threw it into a tree. Fortunately the driver is unharmed (except, undoubtedly, very shaken). The whole mess is doubly sad because until the moment of the crash the team was doing very well – they were in second place and had their sights on the first position.

The team and what’s left of the car are back in Darwin and planning how to get everything and everyone home.

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[10:15 CET] The Japanese Tokai team, which still seems to be in the number one spot after two racing days, has put a few (pleasant but not very informative) movies online.

Leaving Darwin:

Racing day 1:

Racing day 2:

[11:15 CET] The organisation updated the rankings:

I still think it’s odd that the the times differ from each other, but I suppose these are the rankings then, after racing day two. No change compared to yesterday. Tokai is pushing hard, very hard. I hope that Nuon (and hopefully Twenet also) can close the gap.

[11:30 CET] Dutch radio station RTV Oost has put their daily interview online. It’s going well, except for a few small technical problems like a tear in the flexible sealing between the ‘bath tub’ and the wing, and a few flat tyres.

[12:30 CET] It seems that the news treams have driep up a bit for the moment. That was to be expected, most teams are now really in the middle of nowhere. The coming two days will be very exciting… will Nuon and Twente succeed in moving up one (or even two) spot? Two Dutch teams in the top three seems possible at this pont. In my opinion the chances of one of the Dutch teams finishing in first position are looking rather bleak if nothing untoward happens to Tokai. On the other hand: the Nuon and Umicore crashes show that anything is possible and the race isn’t over until all the teams have crossed the finish line in Adelaide. (not that I wish the Tokai team any crashes, let me be clear about that)

Nuna 5 charging on race day two

[13:15 CET] The Nuon Solar Team has updated their website. At the end of the second racing day they are still in third position, only 21km behind Michigan. That short distance offers some hope that they can move up a position. What’s not so nice is that the equipment that tells Mission Control the amount of power the solar panel is producing is not working, or not working well. MC needs that information to determine the race strategy. I assume that the team will try to fix that tonight, because running down the battery could be fatal at this point.

The number one, Tokai, is one hour and fifteen minutes in front of the students from Delft. The question is if such a difference in time can be bridged in (barely) two days.

21Revolution on the road on race day two

[14:15 CET] No real updates yet on Solar Team Twente’s website, but there is a great picture of the 21Revolution on its way in a dust storm.

I wonder if the wing makes the car more sensitive to cross winds when its tilted.

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[14:30 CET] Michigan has updated their website. They seem to have had a perfect racing day with no unplanned stops at all, which allowed them to hang on to their second place. They knew about Nuon’s uncertainty about the solar charging current, which stopped them from attempting to overtake Michigan. This allowed Michigan to accellerate and move 20km away from Nuon. The second part of the race, through Southern Australia, has a speed limit of 110km/h, making it difficult to overtake another fast team like Tokai.

[15:30 CET] The Solar Team Twente updated their website. Their second racing day was quite good. The weather was much better than yesterday, sunny and with low wind speeds. Unfortunately forest fires and dust storms limited the amount of harvested solar power. A few technical problems did creep up: the rubber collar connecting the ‘bath tub’ with the wing tore and that had to be fixed and there were also a flat tyres. The team managed to keep the fourth position and even increase the distance to number five, MIT.

[18:15 CET] The Nuon Solar Team put a movie online which shows their second racing day. It’s very clear they had nearly overtaken Michigan at one point.:

Hochschule Bochum updated their website, and both Germans teams don’t seem to be doing very well. Bocruiser is driving so slow it’s already certain it won’t make Adelaide before the official closing time under its own power, so the team will transport the car some distance on a trailer. The text then mentions something I do not quite understand, apparently the WSC rules allows this and the car still competes. Does some one know more about this? BOcruiser is currently in sixteenth position.

Solarworld No.1 has had another few flat tyres, and that program was aggrevated  by a recalcitrant compresser which was needed to inflate the tyres. Solarworld No.1 is now, at the end of racing day two, in position thirteen.

[20:00 CET] A movie of racing day two of the Solar Team Twente:

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[22:00 CET] A nice movie which explains how the solar cells on the Nuna 5 (well, all solar cells, actually) work:

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