The World Solar Challenge is a 3010 km race from Darwin in the North to Adelaide in the South of the Australian continent. The Nuon Solar Team will start this exhausting journey on October 21st. The team defends the three titles from the previous three record-setting Dutch solar cars, Nuna, Nuna 2, and Nuna 3. They won the 2001, 2003, and 2005 races. During the grueling race, we will put the completely new vehicle to the extreme to again prove the unparalleled successes of the Dutch Solar car team!

The route

The race is conducted on the Stuart Highway, the public highway connecting Darwin and Adelaide. The Stuart Highway will be open for all public traffic during the race, this means that all solar cars and their adherent convoys will use the road alongside regular transport as well as the notorious road trains. This also implies that all teams must obey all traffic laws and speed limits.

The participants are only allowed to travel between 8 am and 5 pm. An observer from the World Solar Challenge joins the team to observe all actions. At 5 pm the team will make camp at the location they have reached. The course includes seven compulsory checkpoints where all teams have to make a half-hour stop.

The regulations

New this year for the competition class are regulations requiring a full motor vehicle specification lighting package, a normal seating angle for the driver, and a scaling back of the maximum solar panel area from 8.9 square meters to 6 square meters. Saftey concerns have also prompted the regulators to require a roll bar in the vehicle, and an exterior body that can handle four times the weight of the vehicle itself.

The solar cars

Since the new Nuna vehicle will use a public road, the car needs to be subjected to an regular motor vehicle inspection. The brakes, stability, manoeuvrability and the line of sight of the driver need to be examined. When the solar car meets these criteria, the team will recieve a temporary license.

The convoy

The new Nuna will be escorted by a convoy. The solar car is guided by three cars and followed by the mission control and support vehicles. The Mission Control is, besides the Nuna, the most important car in the convoy. All data from the Nuna is transmitted by a wireless network to the mission control car. Based on this information and other external factors like the weather, a strategic program determines the most efficient and effective driving speed.

The pilots

According to the regulations of the World Solar Challenge, we can register a minimum of 2 and maximum of 4 pilots. Four of our team members will be registered as pilot to make sure that we can replace them at any time by someone that is fit and focused. All drivers have to be in possession of an international driving licence and have at least 10 hours of driving experience in the new Nuna.

The driver might be in the solar car for more than 5 hours, while temperatures may exceed 50 degrees. It is of primary importance that the drivers are in good shape and very alert during the race.

Other participants

35 teams from over the world will participate in the World Solar Challenge. The most prominent competition comes from the United States, Australia, Japan and other European countries. In the previous World Solar Challenge the Aurora from RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) finished as runner up and the solar car from MIT (Massachusets Institute of Technology) finished third. These teams will also join the next World Solar Challenge in 2007.