Horsepower, revolutions per minute, top speeds – these are things that count when developing racecars. CO2 emissions are a lesser matter – unfortunately! Albeit a car can be bursting with energy and still be eco-friendly – such as the SolarWorld No.1 solar racecar!Fifty students of the University of Applied Sciences Bochum have invested huge amounts of labor, sweat and pioneering spirit to develop the solar racecar in cooperation with the solar power company Solar World. Their goal: winning the World Solar Challenge (WSC) in Australia.The unofficial world championship for solar-run racecars will take place for the ninth time from 21 to 28 October 2007. Over a total of 3000 kilometers the race will follow the sun across the outback of the fifth continent – from Darwin on the northern coast of Australia, southward along the Stuart highway, past Alice Springs and Coober Pedy with its opal mines, to the harbor city Adelaide. Whoever wants to win this extreme race must simply think of everything: Parameters such as the elevation profile of the race course, wind velocity, state of charge of the batteries, and solar radiation must all be measured and analyzed constantly, in order to elicit the optimum performance of the racers. For this purpose the teams use escort vehicles that evaluate the data and communicate the necessary information to the racecar driver. For the SolarWorld No.1 four students who were tested for driving skills and analytical competence have been chosen to take turns in driving the course. Competence in this case means to drive safely and as resourcefully energy-wise as possible,” stresses Stefan Spychalski, press relations officer of the SolarCar project.SolarWorld No.1 in Darwin

Maximum demands are on the team’s shoulders – but the designers and developers of the SolarWorld No.1 are used to that! The students have been working on the solar racecar for over a year. The result is a noble, one-million-euro racing car made of carbon fiber that remains unequaled in efficiency and technical elaborateness. The wind resistance, for example, beats that of every conventional car with no problem – the exact parameter remains a secret, however, until the start of the World Solar Challenge.The focal point of the SolarWorld No.1 is the 6-square-meter configuration of solar cells that provide for a top speed of 120 km/h. The cells come from the solar company Solar World, one of the leading specialists for solar power technology and components with subsidiaries in Germany, Sweden, Spain, Asia, Africa and the USA. In selecting the cells, it had to be taken into consideration that the space needed for the cells is limited by regulations. “We had to find cells that would generate a high degree of efficiency in a very limited space”, explains Michael Schmidt of Solar World. To this end gallium cells were used, such as are used in the space station ISS. “These cells have the benefit that they are slightly flexible and can fit better into the curved shapes of the SolarWorld No.1,” reveals Schmidt.In view of these high-tech solutions, the Bochum students have the best chances of winning a top place, after having placed well with their forerunner model “Hans Go!” in past years. “A place among the top five should be possible,” estimates Stefan Spychalski. Project director Prof. Dr. Friedbert Pautzke is also of this opinion, and he wants to prove again this year “that German engineering is competitive in the international arena!”
The Club of Pioneers wishes the team luck for a clean race, and we’ll be watching that race taking place Down Under – stay tuned!Whoever would like to know more about Solar World should visit our reports from the “Garden of Ideas” on 3 October in Washington, D.C. On the occasion of the Day of German Unification we will present regenerative energy sources from the new German federal states – and will bring you the newest technology developments in video blogs!Pictures: FH Bochum