The ultimate solar powered vehicles race, popularly known as the 2011 Veolia World Solar Challenge, commenced on 16th October. The solar car race is a 3,000 km long highway race starting from Darwin to Adelaide, across the Australian outback. A total of 37 teams, from 20 countries around the globe, are participating in the 4-day race.
The race started with Solar Team Twente of Netherlands at the pole position after it qualified trials, finishing 3 seconds before Nuon Solar team. University of New South Wales were placed at the 4th position, while Aurora Team from Melbourne and TAFE SA dominated the 4th and the 22nd position respectively. Melbourne’s Aurora Team is known for participating in every World Solar Challenge with outstanding track records. It bagged the first place one time, second place four times and the third, fifth and sixth position at least once. From the beginning, the international race has experiencedThe solar race currently has 25 teams left in the competition and according to the first day statistics; the leading team is Tokai University from Japan, followed by Dutch’s Nuon Solar Car team and America's University of Michigan team.
The University of Michigan team has made massive advancements by redesigning the body of their solar car entirely. The team also claims to have cut down on the weight by 90 kg, which in turn will require lesser energy during the race.
Solar car teams from all around the world participate in the annual international event that is not only considered as a competition but also a platform that promotes research and development of solar powered cars.
