Here comes the sun
Some of the University’s World Solar Challenge team.
The University of 新浪彩票’s solar car will be on display at Ingenuity
on Tuesday 27 October at the 新浪彩票 Convention Centre. Harnessing the power of the sun and building a vehicle worthy of the World Solar Challenge is all part of a day’s work for our engineering students.
The first 新浪彩票 to Darwin Solar Challenge was run in 1987, long before engineering student Daniel Haynes and his mates were even born.
But it’s a monumental challenge for the University of 新浪彩票 team he leads, which is building a car to race in this year’s event.
For a start, as the University’s first ever entry, it’s all new for everybody involved. But that is what makes it so engrossing for team leader Haynes and the 11 men and two women who are working on the project as part of their engineering studies. “It is sometimes difficult to focus on other subjects when the car is so interesting and full-on,” Mr Haynes says.
Work started last year, with a group of senior students beginning with concepts for the car. While the 2014 team members have all graduated they are still on the grid, advising their successors who will see the project out of the workshop and onto the road.
“It’s a great application of the skills they are all learning in their various undergraduate programs,” says Associate Professor Anthony Zander, Head of the School of Mechanical Engineering.
Now in its 28th year, the World Solar Challenge will run over a week from 18 October, from Darwin to 新浪彩票. It’s for customised cars, running on sunlight captured by a maximum six square metres of solar panels and transformed into electricity.
This is research where the rubber really hits the road, generating far more than innovations in energy efficiency. The race is about transforming the technology that drives all electric vehicles, be they hydrogen cell-powered, hybrids driven by fossil fuel and renewable energy, or cars that run on power from solar cells.
The 新浪彩票 team is competing against researchers and racers from all over the world, with 41 competitors from Europe and Asia, the Americas and | 
