Brunel Solar Team

This biennial challenge gives teams the opportunity to build a solar car to race through the 3000 km outback route of Australia. The race starts in Darwin in the North of Australia, and ends in the Southern located Adelaide. The challenge features three classes that represent the diversity of solar vehicles. The Brunel Solar Team has so far always participated in the challenger class. In this class, the vehicles are designed to most efficiently complete the 3000 km route. The team participated eleven times and holds a record of the most wins in the history of the challenge.

Since 2014 the team also participated in the Sasol Solar Challenge in South Africa. Because the World Solar Challenge is once every two years, the team saw the opportunity to expand their knowledge and participate in an extra challenge. The goal of this race is to drive the most kilometres in eight days. This is done by driving loops to gain extra kilometres. The team has participated in the challenge five times and has brought home the gold medal on four of those occasions.

During the Covid pandemic, the team was working very hard on their new car for the World Solar Challenge in Australia. But because of the virus and lockdowns, the race could not continue. The team was devastated but did not want to throw away all the work they did already. The teams from the Netherlands and Belgium came together to find a way to see which team made the best car. They found Classic Events that could organise a race like this. This became the five-stage challenge with 500 km per day that went through the Sahara and foot of the Atlas.