Wind powers Belgium’s Innoptus to solar challenge win
Belgian solar team Innoptus has won back-to-back Bridgestone World Solar Challenges and will give thanks to wind for its conquest, as much as the sun’s rays.
The team’s bullet-shaped solar car ‘Infinite’ arrived at the World Solar Challenge finish line at Victoria Square in Adelaide just before noon today.
Despite shaving two minutes off Innoptus’ 16-minute lead at Coober Pedy, Dutch rivals Solar Team Twente lost touch in the final leg between Glendambo and Port Augusta in South Australia’s arid zone yesterday.
Yesterday was a challenging day for the entire race pack.
All entrants in the Cruiser class – a regulatory category contested between passenger-vehicles-inspired cars – were “trailered” in the outback. None will reach the finish line unaided.
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Innoptus now has a 35-minute lead over Twente. It wasn’t just solar energy powering its car on Wednesday, however, with powerful winds caught by its car’s unique retractable fin boosting it to a dominant position.
The Belgian team camped overnight just south of the lead smelter town of Port Pirie, about 165km north of a final control point on the outskirts of Adelaide.
Competitors are prevented from overtaking one another after this location, owing to the suburban traffic along main roads into the CBD, but must still reach the finish line under their own power to certify their result.
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Twente restarted near Port Germain, about 230km north of the finish.
Solar (and wind) energy the winning formula
In a battle between three aerodynamic designs at this event, the Belgians have proved superior.
Brunel – the most successful operation in solar car racing – was alone among the leading teams to stick with the “catamaran” design it had driven to multiple successes over the past decade. It simply hasn’t held pace with its rivals in the second half of this year’s challenge.
On the other hand, Innoptus and Twente switched from catamarans to “bullet” aeroshells. The decision paid off on Wednesday.
But it was Innoptus’ novel fin – deployed for most of the day – that gave it an added edge. The rudder-like extension acts as a dynamic sail that maximises significant crosswinds experienced across the far north of SA.
Near 60km/h wind gusts were recorded just outside Port Augusta late Wednesday afternoon. With the fin angled to catch those gusts, Innoptus got a 5-10km/h boost over Twente’s top speed.
“We’re really happy with the result,” Innoptus team leader Cedric Verlinden said.
“We still have we still have some energy within the battery pack, which we can use tomorrow to drive at a good speed.
“Priority No.1 now is mitigating all the risks to see that we can still hold together – tomorrow, the strategy will not be to extend the gap even more, just to hold it.”
This story was supplied by Cosmos Magazine.
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