Sasol Solar Challenge
Standings
Team | Interval | Total distance | |
---|---|---|---|
01 | Brunel Solar Team | — | 3780.7 km |
02 | Agoria Solar Team | +10.1 km | 3770.6 km |
03 | TUT Solar Team | +1327 km | 2453.7 km |
04 | North West University Solar Team | +1638.3 km | 2142.4 km |
05 | Genuine JV Solar Car Team | +2562.4 km | 1218.3 km |
06 | SolarFlairs | +3258 km | 522.7 km |
07 | University of Free State Solar Team | +3277.4 km | 503.3 km |
08 | UniChamps | +3668.5 km | 112.2 km |
Sasol Solar Challenge
Standings
Team | Interval | Total distance | |
---|---|---|---|
01 | Brunel Solar Team | — | 3780.7 km |
02 | Agoria Solar Team | +10.1 km | 3770.6 km |
03 | TUT Solar Team | +1327 km | 2453.7 km |
04 | North West University Solar Team | +1638.3 km | 2142.4 km |
05 | Genuine JV Solar Car Team | +2562.4 km | 1218.3 km |
06 | SolarFlairs | +3258 km | 522.7 km |
07 | University of Free State Solar Team | +3277.4 km | 503.3 km |
08 | UniChamps | +3668.5 km | 112.2 km |
About the challenge
The Sasol Solar Challenge 2022 starts the 9th of September in Johannesburg at the Carnival City Casino and ends on the 16th of September in Cape Town at the V&A Waterfront. This eight day trip is approximately 2300 kilometers long and will reach altitudes of up to 2000 meters. Each day starts at 8.00 and ends at 17.00, with exception of the start day which is starts at 9.00 and the last day, the finish, which finishes at 16.00. Each day has a predetermined route which all teams must follow.
Meet the teams
How does a solar challenge work?

Goal, loops and different stops
The goal of the Sasol Solar Challenge 2022 is to cross the finish line with the most kilometers driven.
We hear you think: How is this possible if you have a fixed route everyday that is the same for every participating team? Well there is a simple explanation for this. Each day there is a loop included in the route. This loop can be 20 or even 80 kilometers, depending on the day of the race.
Each team can choose how many times they will drive the loop in order to gain more kilometers than the other participating teams. However, there are some challenges here.
You can drive as many loops as you want, but you have to reach the end of day location before 17.00h. If your solar car cannot reach this location , you will receive a time penalty for the next day. This means you will start later than the other teams, which gives you less time to drive the amount of kilometers you want to reach.
Furthermore, there are also loop stops and control stops. After each loop your team drives you have to stop your solar car at the beginning of the loop for five minutes and the driver must exit the car. After five minutes the driver again enter the car and start another loop or continue the set route of the race. You can do this as many times you like.
However, one of the stops you make has to be the control stop. Each team needs to perform one control stop per day. This will be at the same location as the loop stop, only a control stop takes 30 minutes instead of five. This stop can be used as a lunch break and/or recharging the solar car for example. Each team can choose what type of stop to perform every time they want to start a loop. You can start with a control stop followed by driving five loops for example, but you can also drive multiple loops before taking a break with the control stop.
The plan for all the stops and amount of loops is up to our strategist, but is also depending on the sun, the clouds and the competition.
Extra challenges
If you think this race is not challenging enough already, wait until you have read the extra challenges the organization has come up with this year.
Day 2/3: Marathon stage
Normally when you reach the end of day at 17.00h, the whole team starts working on the solar car to make the car race ready again for the next day. If something has broken or has been replaced during the day, you want to make sure it works the next day without any problems. When we arrive in Bloemfontein there will only be three team members allowed to improve the car. These three people will be assigned by our own team before the shift start. The other team members are not allowed to come near the car from that moment on. If normally you need at least five team members to lift the car to let’s say switch a tire, you can probably imagine that this night is going to be long and challenging.
Day 5: Blind Stage
Day five of the race will be an interesting one. We know that we will start and end day five in Graaff-Reinet, but that is actually everything we know thus far. This day is called the blind stage, because we do not know the route, the length, the direction of the loop and where the loop or control stop will be. This day will be quite challenging especially for our strategist. All information about day five will be received after the finish of day four. So we only have one night to prepare for this day.
Day 7: Half blind stage
The half blind stage is almost the same as the blind stage. Luckily for us, the route of this day is already known. The only unknown so far is everything involving the loop. Meaning the location of the loop stop and the route of the loop are unknown. Again, this information will be provided to us after the finish of day six.
WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!!!

Almost at the end of day!

Going strong

We are catching-up

Last day of the challenge!

Total distance after day 7
Team | total distance | ||
---|---|---|---|
01 | Brunel Solar Team | 3780.7 km | |
02 | Agoria Solar Team | 3770.6 km | |
03 | TUT Solar Team | 2453.7 km | |
04 | North West University Solar Team | 2142.4 km | |
05 | Genuine JV Solar Car Team | 1218.3 km | |
06 | SolarFlairs | 522.7 km | |
07 | University of Free State Solar Team | 503.3 km | |
08 | UniChamps | 112.2 km |
Results day 7
Team | total distance | ||
---|---|---|---|
01 | Agoria Solar Team | 609.4 km | |
02 | Brunel Solar Team | 590.5 km | |
03 | TUT Solar Team | 417.4 km | |
04 | North West Solar Team | 322 km | |
05 | Genuine JV Solar Car Team | 214 km | |
06 | SolarFlairs | 98 km | |
07 | UniChamps | 91 km | |
08 | University Free State Solar Team | 67 km |
Almost at the end of day

Loop number 4

Finished the first loop!

First loop

Currently in second place

Day 7 of the Sasol Solar Challenge

Total distance after day 6
Team | total distance | ||
---|---|---|---|
01 | Brunel Solar Team | 3190.2 km | |
02 | Agoria Solar Team | 3161.2 km | |
03 | TUT Solar Team | 2036.3 km | |
04 | North West University Solar Team | 1820.4 km | |
05 | Genuine JV Solar Car Team | 1004.3 km | |
06 | University of Free State Solar Team | 436.3 km | |
07 | SolarFlairs | 424.7 km | |
08 | UniChamps | 21.2 km |
Results day 6
Team | |
---|---|
01 | Brunel Solar Team |
02 | Agoria Solar Team |
03 | TUT Solar Team |
04 | North West University Solar Team |
05 | Genuine JV Solar Car Team |
06 | University of Free State Solar Team |
07 | SolarFlairs |
End of day 6, back to first!

Driving to end of day

Back to second place

Back in first place!

We have been overtaken!

First loop done!

We are at the loopstop!

Route of today

Day 6 of the Sasol Solar Challenge

Total distance after day 5
Team | total distance | ||
---|---|---|---|
01 | Brunel Solar Team | 2619.3 km | |
02 | Agoria Solar Team | 2590.3 km | |
03 | TUT Solar Team | 1695 km | |
04 | North West University Solar Team | 1488.7 km | |
05 | Genuine JV Solar Car Team | 798.3 km | |
06 | University of Free State Solar Team | 324.3 km | |
07 | SolarFlairs | 317.3 km | |
08 | UniChamps | 21.2 km | |
09 |
Results day 5
Team | total today | ||
---|---|---|---|
01 | Brunel Solar Team | 501 km | |
02 | Agoria Solar Team | 501 km | |
03 | North West University Solar Team | 170 km | |
04 | TUT Solar Team | 130 km | |
05 | SolarFlairs | 91 km | |
06 | Genuine JV Solar Car Team | 90 km | |
07 | University of Free State Solar Team | 2 km |
we are at end of day!

Control stop 2

Sightseeing in South-Africa

The route of today

It is day five of the Sasol Solar Challenge

We are back in first place!

Total distance after day 4
Team | Total distance | ||
---|---|---|---|
01 | Brunel Solar Team | 2118.3 km | |
02 | Agoria Solar Team | 2089.3 km | |
03 | TUT Solar Team | 1565 km | |
04 | North West University Solar Team | 1318.7 km | |
05 | Genuine JV Solar Car Team | 708.3 km | |
06 | University of Free State Solar Team | 322.3 km | |
07 | SolarFlairs | 226.3 km | |
08 | UniChamps | 21.2 km | |
09 | CUT Seilatsatsi (Teruggetrokken) | 1.6 km |
Results day 4
Team | Total today | ||
---|---|---|---|
01 | Brunel Solar Team | 560.4 km | |
02 | Agoria Solar Team | 508.8 km | |
03 | TUT Solar Team | 422.2 km | |
04 | North West University Solar Team | 370.6 km | |
05 | Genuine JV Solar Car Team | 209 km | |
06 | SolarFlairs | 83 km | |
07 | University of Free State Solar Team | 64 km | |
08 | UniChamps | 12 km |
We are ready for the blind stage

5 loops!

We are starting the fourth loop

We are starting our first loop!

Change of drivers

We are currently driving in first place!

Today is day 4 of the Sasol Solar Challenge.

Total distance after day 3
Team | total distance | ||
---|---|---|---|
01 | Agoria Solar Team | 1580.5 km | |
02 | Brunel Solar Team | 1557.9 km | |
03 | TUT Solar Team | 1142.8 km | |
04 | North West University Solar Team | 948.1 km | |
05 | Genuine JV Solar Car Team | 499.3 km | |
06 | University of Free State Solar Team | 258.3 km | |
07 | SolarFlairs | 143.3 km | |
08 | CUT Seilatsatsi | 1.6 km |
Results day 3
Team | Total Today | ||
---|---|---|---|
01 | Agoria Solar Team | 591.1 km | |
02 | Brunel Solar Team | 511.5 km | |
03 | TUT Solar Team | 352.3 km | |
04 | North West University Solar Team | 193.1 km | |
05 | Genuine JV Solar Car Team | 136.1 km | |
06 | SolairFlairs | 122.1 km | |
07 | University of Free State Solar Team | 109.1 km | |
08 | CUT Seilatsatsi | 0 km |
We have arrived in Gariep Dam!

On our way back!

Loop 4

Poor road surface

Currently driving the second loop

Ready for the first loop!

we are driving in second place

Toady is day 3 of the Sasol Solar Challenge!

Marathon Stage!

Total distance after day 2
Team | Total distance | ||
---|---|---|---|
01 | Brunel Solar Team | 1046.4 km | |
02 | Agoria Solar Team | 989.4 km | |
03 | TUT Solar Team | 790.5 | |
04 | North West University Solar Team | 755 | |
05 | Genuine JV Solar Car Team | 363.6 | |
06 | University of Free State Solar Team | 149.2 | |
07 | SolarFlair | 21.2 | |
08 | CUT Seilatsatsi | 1.6 |
Results Day 2
Team | Total today | ||
---|---|---|---|
01 | Agoria Solar Team | 519.2 km | |
02 | Brunel Solar Team | 476.6 km | |
03 | TUT Solar Team | 370.1 km | |
04 | North West University Solar Team | 384.4 km | |
05 | Genuine JV Solar Car Team | 142.0 km | |
06 | University of Free State Solar Team | 51.0 km | |
07 | SolarFlair | 9.2 km | |
08 | CUT Seilatsatsi | 0.6 km |
End of the day

On our way to Bloemfontein

9 loops and counting

6 loops done!

4 loops

Starting loop 1

Ready for loops!

Today is day 2 of the Sasol Solar Challenge!

Standings day 1
Team | Total today | |
---|---|---|
01 | Brunel Solar Team | 569.8 km |
02 | Agoria Solar Team | 470.2 km |
03 | TUT Solar Team | 420.4 km |
04 | North West University Solar Team | 370.6 km |
05 | Genuine JV Solar Car Team | 221.2 km |
06 | University of Free State Solar Team | 98.2 km |
07 | SolarFlair | 21.2 km |
08 | CUT Seilatsatsi | 1.0 km |
End of day 1

We are at the control stop!

2 minutes ahead

Battle for first place

Nuna is on her way!

Today is day 1 of the Sasol Solar Challenge

We got Pole position!

We passed dynamic scrutineering!

For dynamic testing a slalom has to be driven within 11 seconds. We succeeded!

We passed the figure 8 test!

Good morning! Today is day 1 of dynamic scrutineering

We passed static scrutineering!

Only one station to go

Nuna only weighs 130 Kg

Interim results scrutineering

Today static scrutineering starts!

Welcome to our blog on the Sasol Solar Challenge! Starting on the 4th of September, we will post regularly on this page
