Sasol Solar Challenge kicks off: Brunel Solar Team completes first day amidst heavy traffic

The race started at the Graceland Country Club in Secunda, about 120 kilometers east of Johannesburg. The Brunel Solar Team departed first at 9:00 AM, followed by the other thirteen teams. “The start went well, and we drove at the desired speed set by our strategists,” said Laurens de Boer, a driver for the Brunel Solar Team. “It was very windy, and I could really feel all the trucks passing close by Nuna. On the rough sections of the road, it was pretty bumpy without a normal seat. We kept driving at the speed limit of 100 kilometers per hour, which allowed us to overtake many trucks and other vehicles. We were the fastest vehicle on the highway.”

The entire Sasol Solar Challenge takes place on public roads. The teams must constantly adhere to speed regulations and deal with other traffic. Along the way, the solar car was involved in a minor incident. Driver Huub Kavelaars said, “At a turning point, we encountered a truck. The driver didn’t know what to do when he saw our solar car approaching and suddenly stopped. He didn’t respond to signals from our team, so our mission control took over and guided Nuna. During the chaos, I hit the curb while turning, causing some damage to Nuna. We’ll check tonight to see if there are any consequences.”

The goal of the challenge is to cover as many kilometers as possible. Each day, a start and end point are designated, and teams drive as many additional ‘loops’ as they can. These loops are created to accumulate extra kilometers and gain an advantage over competitors. Each team decides how many loops to drive per day. This is a strategic decision based on weather conditions, traffic, elevation changes, and how much energy can be recharged throughout the day. “We drove exactly seven loops according to plan and arrived precisely at 5:00 PM, the allowed end time,” said Sterre van der Wal, the strategist for the Brunel Solar Team. “There were more clouds in the afternoon than expected, but the most important thing is that we finished on time with enough energy in the battery for the next day, since we can only charge again tomorrow.”

Rival solar team Twente finished just ahead of the Brunel Solar Team with the same number of loops. The Belgian team, Innoptus, opted to drive one extra loop, covering more kilometers but arriving after the allowed finishtime, which resulted in a time penalty. Tomorrow, the solar car race resumes at 8:00 AM.

The Brunel Solar Team consists of eleven motivated students from TU Delft, with diverse technical backgrounds ranging from aerospace engineering to computer science. For more than a year, they’ve dedicated themselves to working on their solar car, Nuna 12s. The team's goal is to inspire the world in the field of sustainable mobility and innovation. With Nuna 12s, they are competing against international teams during the Sasol Solar Challenge in South Africa in September 2024.

Brunel has been the team’s main sponsor since 2022, connecting top specialists to challenging projects.