Nuna3 still is the fastest solar car to this time. In 2005 it won the World Solar Challenge at an average speed of 103 kilometers per hour. The time that the team needed to complete the 3021 kilometers, was 29 hours and 11 minutes.
This was the first solar car solar car in the World Solar Challenge which used an adaptive cruise control. This means that the ideal speed (and thus energy usage) was determined by Mission Control and directly sent to Nuna. The car could maintain a certain speed without the need for the driver’s intervention. Mission Control is a driving control room which combines weather forecasts and car measurements into a velocity advice to use the available energy as efficiently as possible.
The weight of the car was reduced to about 189 kilograms and the aerodynamics CdA value was reduced to about 0.07.
Nuna3 was the last solar car allowed to use an unlimited surface of gallium cells and had very free driver position regulations. After 2004 the rules of the World Solar Challenge were adjusted causing it to be a lot more difficult to reach such speeds.