The teams are allowed to race each day between nine o'clock in the morning and five in the evening. The 3010 kilometre race stretches across the Australian desert from Darwin to Adelaide. The starting gun for the tenth World Solar Challenge fires on 25 October. All the teams are showing a real sporting spirit." "We all want to win but we help each other where we can and borrow equipment from each other. I wouldn't wish that on anybody! Obviously we'd really like to win but we don't want to win at the expense of someone else's misfortune."Īccording to Stegink this is illustrative of the mutual respect and camaraderie among the teams. I thought that was bad enough but the Delft team hit the shoulder at 110 kilometres an hour. "I've driven our car into the verge myself during a test in the Netherlands but that was driving at about thirty kilometres an hour.
You might expect this to have dampened the spirits in the Twente camp but far from it, Stegink assures us. Just recently, the Delft team flew off the road during a test run. "We go for a run around seven o'clock in the morning but even then it's already pushing 27 degrees."
#Race driver grid teszt drivers
In Darwin, the drivers go for a run on the beach three times a week. Back in the Netherlands the drivers prepared for the race by exercising several times a week in a hot room with a thick jumper on.
Being stuck in a small hot cockpit for hours at a time is tough going. It's not only the solar car that has to withstand the rigorous conditions during the race the drivers have to be well prepared as well. Stegink: "I had to pretend to be unconscious while three people freed me from the cramped cockpit." The scout car then has to communicate with the solar car using signs, for example to indicate how fast you're allowed to drive." The team also practiced what to do in the event of a driver falling ill. We also simulated radio failure between our race car and the other cars. The first thing you have to remember is to park the car on top of a tarpaulin sheet on the hard shoulder to ensure the other tires don't burst. How best to change a flat tire is one of them. Stegink: "You have to practice a number of different contingency plans at least once. Yesterday, the team performed one of the most extensive tests so far: simulating a race day during which lots of problems occur. So, as you can imagine, it takes a long time to reach 90 kilometres an hour." There's also the fact that you can't just turn round on the hard shoulder - you'll easily puncture your tires that way - which means you have to make a big detour before you can turn the car. If that goes well, you drive over the next one 5 kilometres per hour faster and so on. This is why the first time you cross one you only go at a speed of about 10 kilometres an hour. Each time you drive over one of these grids, the car's frame and shock absorbers take quite a pounding. "The team has to navigate 95 cattle grids in total during the race. There's a lot of time-consuming tests to be performed, Stegink explains. In Australia, the team is busy putting the car through its paces. Especially because you always have to wear a helmet." But the minute you have to stop, it's like a sauna in there. "It's not too bad while you're driving because a small warm stream of air reaches the cockpit through the lenses. The temperature in the cockpit is roughly 10 degrees hotter than outside. "The fact that you sit really low down in the car's cockpit and are surrounded by a lot of noise makes you feel like you're going really fast." But Stegink admits it can get pretty hot in the car. He says it's "a real buzz" being able to drive the car. Here we can drive using real solar energy." Plus, we're used to driving under battery power.
We're working in daily temperatures of 35 degrees and above with high humidity, and the asphalt on the roads is very different than in the Netherlands. The conditions here are totally different. Stegink: "Although the car was ready when we left and we'd already done quite a lot of tests back home, we wanted to arrive in Australia as early as possible because this is where the real testing starts. There has been no sunning it up on the beach or holiday-making for these students though the team had to get straight down to work. The Solar Team Twente departed for Australia at the beginning of September to prepare for the World Solar Challenge. "It gives you a real buzz being able to drive the solar car here." Driver Haico Stegink tells us about the team's final preparations down under. This is the moment that the 18 students of the Solar Team Twente have been working towards for the past year and a half. The World Solar Challenge kicks off in just under a week's time.
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