Cambridge students gear up for solar car challenge

The prototype vehicle is designed to reach speeds of up to 87mph, while running on the same amount of power as a hairdryer. According to Keno Mario-Ghae, team manager of Cambridge University Eco-Racing, Resolution is different to conventional designs because it overcomes one of the main limitations that affect most solar cars. "Traditionally, the entire structure of a solar car has been based on a trade-off between aerodynamic performance and solar performance," he explained. "That's how they've been designed for the past 10 years, and that's why they all tend to look the same. "We turned the concept on its head. Our reasoning is that solar performance needs to adapt to the movement of the sun, but the car needs a fixed shape to be at its most aerodynamic. To make the car as fast and powerful as possible, we needed to find a way to separate the two ideas out, rather than find a compromise between them." The solution the team eventually hit upon involved embedding the solar panels within an aft-facing tracking plate. The plate follows the sun's trajectory, and moves the panels themselves, so that they are optimally positioned at all times. The team estimates that this will give the car 20% more power than it would have otherwise had. This structure is placed under a canopy which forms part of the teardrop shape of the vehicle as a whole. The design is a departure from the 'tabletop' look of most other solar cars, but is said to be more aerodynamic. Because it encases the solar panels, rather than making them part of the shape, the question of power generation does not compromise the car's aerodynamics. The 2013 World Solar Challenge takes place in Australia between 6 and 13 October. Teams from across the globe will be tasked with completing a 3,000km journey across the Australian outback using solar power alone.