Our Solar Car Team made history by finishing the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge in under six days - Durham’s fastest time ever.
The team's latest solar-powered vehicle placed 11th in the Challenger Class, enduring a 3,000km journey from Darwin to Adelaide across the harsh Australian outback.
Designed for efficiency and endurance, the single-seat vehicle underwent intense testing in Darwin before qualifying started on Friday 13 October.
Despite minor technical issues, the car showed impressive reliability. Facing a near disaster just 2km from the finish line due to a tyre puncture, the team swiftly switched to the backup motor, ensuring a successful crossing.
Dialogue spoke to the team about their success and what the future holds.
First, congratulations on a fantastic achievement. How does it feel?
Amazing and unreal! The adrenaline and excitement that built throughout the design and build of DUSC2023 car made this achievement feel like a dream! For the first time Durham has successfully finished a World Solar Challenge and completed the tough 3,000km journey across the outback in six days.
How many people were part of your team and how did you support each other?
The journey has been a rollercoaster but to be able to get to where we are today is down to the dedication and commitment of the team members. The team is student-run yet continues to provide unique experiences.
The 2023 World Solar Challenge (WSC) had a race team of 17 people across various year groups and more than just engineers. The glue is the common goal of advancing solar technology.
Each member brings a new insight and creative spark to the team, and a love for designing, building, and racing solar cars.
The team shared responsibilities and took it in turns to make sure the car was ready to go every morning of the race. Each team member worked incredibly hard in the pit garage to test and improve the car.
Seeing DUSC2023 improve each time sparked a proud feeling, thanks to all the hard work put in by the team.
We understand you finished the challenge in under six days, but that the vehicle is a one-seater car. How many drivers did you have and how many hours did they spend driving?
We had three drivers who drove on rotation each day. On average each driver drove about 1/3 of the day each. At every control stop the driver exited the car, then started the 30-minute timer while the next driver prepared for their driving stint.
Looking at the route from Darwin to Adelaide, it looks like there was just one road (A87) right across the centre of Australia. Did the landscape present any issues for you?
Our support vehicles had to be very careful because unfortunately they were not able to rely on the sun to re-charge! Luckily enough there were just enough small towns along the way for us to be able to fill-up and safely get back on road. Thanks to our brilliant logistics team and their planning, the team had plentiful food supplies as well as emergency rations.
We had all our camping equipment in our trailer and camped wherever we stopped driving at 5pm every day. The beauty of this was to be able to see the extensive horizons of the Australian outback and have a feeling of serenity each night after a long day of driving. Some might say not having a toilet was an “issue”, but we all survived!
What were conditions like in the car?
The solar car was warm! Especially during track tests where the car wasn’t going as fast in a straight line. Along the outback however, the air flowing through the driver occupant cell kept the drivers somewhat cool. Being in the solar car so low down to the ground isn’t easy to drive and all our drivers did an amazing job. It was also described as “quite bumpy” by our drivers, particularly over the cattle grids.
How did you supply the drivers with food and water?
Each driver had a two-litre water pack in the car every time they got in to make sure they stayed hydrated during their driving stints. The drivers were taken good care of when they were travelling in the support vehicles and had lunch before/after their driving stint.
Are there any notable stories from those six days? Any breakdowns or hiccups?
Thanks to the team’s hard work in delivering such an amazing solar car, over the six days of driving the team had very few stops while driving. One of them being a quick fuse replacement. For the other, we lost 20 minutes having to investigate some brake rub problems just before coming out of a control stop on day five after noticing significant increases in power consumption.
The final stop on the side of the road was a lot more dramatic than the previous – after having driven almost the whole way across the outback into Adelaide, our motor tyre got a puncture at a mere 2km away from the WSC finish line. The team had to carry out a motor change parked outside an Italian delicatessen in the bustling city of Adelaide with multi-lane rush hour traffic. As ironic as it is, this gave our 2019 in-house Durham motor the chance to finish what it started in 2019 – finish the World Solar Challenge for the first time.
Did you encounter any wildlife? Snakes, scorpions?
We came across a few frogs and a snake or two in Darwin! In the outback we were lucky enough to see some kangaroos on the horizon just across from one of our night camp stops as well as a tiny scorpion in a tent! Unfortunately, there were a lot more dead kangaroos to be seen on the Stuart Highway.
What does the future hold for the Durham University Solar Car Team?
The team will continue to innovate and improve our solar cars, focusing on further advancements in aerodynamics, efficiency, materials, and solar technology. This period before the next WSC allows time for us to embark on research initiatives to work on new technologies. Team expansion and growth is something we are hoping to see this year.
We are keen to see people broadening perspectives and bringing in fresh ideas.
Further collaborations and corporate relations is something to develop this year too, as well as engaging in educational outreach.
The team’s next event will hopefully be the 2024 iLumen European Solar Challenge – a 24-hour race around Circuit Zolder in Belgium, September 2024.
Finally, when will we see the first solar powered car on the road in the UK?
Seeing solar cars on the road in the UK will be a big step towards tackling sustainability and reducing emissions from diesel/petrol vehicles. Hopefully, solar will increase the range of EV vehicles. However, there are technological challenges as it is yet to be determined by what fraction solar will improve EV range, and what modifications will need to be made for it to have high-cost versus efficiency benefits.
Regulations, infrastructure and safety standards for solar powered vehicles need to be developed and established to support their integration into the transportation system.