FAQ

The World Solar Challenge is one of the world’s greatest scientific adventures. Your solarcar will require a great deal of additional commitment, preparation and resources to qualify for the event, get your team to Australia and travel safely through some of the world’s most remote and beautiful areas.

Entries for the 2011 event have closed.   We are planning the next event for 2013 (subject to funding) You may make an expression of interest at teams@wordsolarchallenge.org

The Organisers are committed to the continuous improvement of all aspects of the event.

Certainly there will be some minor changes as we continue to learn from our experiences. It is no secret that the technical committee is discussing ways to find a balance between exotic photovoltaic technologies essentially designed to power spacecraft and those for more practical terrestrial applications.

An essential component of the competition is to "Design and Build" a solarcar. The announcement of the competition (in effect the day you can see the examination paper) is World Environment Day - 5 June 2010. Solarcars build for previous events will be able to participate providing they meet certain criteria and current safety standards.

It is proposed that the dates of 11^th World Solar Challenge^® will be based on a start date of Sunday October 16^th 2011. This would mean that preparation facilities will be available in Darwin from Tuesday 4^th October 2011, and the awards event being on Sunday 23^rd October 2011.

The Pioneer Sponsor of World Solar Challenge, the South Australian Tourism Commission recognises the equity in the name and registered trade marks of the event and wishes to see it continue in its traditional format.

The World Solar Challenge and World Eco Challenge are managed by the South Australian Motor Sport Board. If you think the World Solar Challenge can provide value to your business, lets talk.

There are a number of pre-packaged sponsorship properties, and the commercial department of SAMSB is always willing to discuss custom solutions to align to your own marketing plan.

Please contact us in the first instance

The event relies on its volunteers and seeks a mix of experience and new blood, therefore there will always be new volunteer positions available in each event.

Volunteering for the World Solar Challenge is not like volunteering for any other event you will be away from home for an extended period and, at times, may not be provided with the most comfortable accommodation or your favourite food. It is however a great adventure and you will not only make new friends, but will take home many stories and a lifetime of memories.

There are also roles to be filled opportunities in Adelaide and of course the regional centres through which we pass. Whilst these do not call for the same commitment in terms of your time, they are important, valuable and rewarding roles.

Volunteering for the World Solar Challenge requires commitment, professionalism and, in many cases, diplomacy. If you think you have what it takes to be a volunteer for the 20011 World Solar Challenge please register your interest by submitting your details online.

Each individual needs some sort of authority to enter Australia. The complexity of the process depends on your country of origin. As a student team member or volunteer the most you are likely to need is a tourist visa. You may even qualify for an online Electronic Travel Authority (ETA). Film crews however may need business or even work visas. The best advice we can give is for you to examine your individual circumstances, research your needs early and make application in plenty of time. The visa requirements for Australia are published at http://www.immi.gov.au

The World Solar Challenge will apply for the event to be granted "International Event Status" with Customs and Immigration making the processing of applications quicker, especially for those from non ETA countries. Please note that under normal circumstances we will not issue individual "Letters of Invitation" for the purposes of obtaing visas however we are happy to provide written evidence of an individual's bona fide status of registration if required.

Despite rumours to the contrary is not an event requirement for solarcars to have a 17 digit VIN.

To satisfy the regulations any unique number is sufficient. It should be indelibly engraved and/or permanently attached to a substantial structural member of the car in a position visible to inspection without dismantling the vehicle. (in the cockpit is good). Whilst the event makes no demand as to the structure of the VIN, a mixture of alpha-numeric characters is good, as is some indication of the year of construction. Note that 'zero' and 'one' can be confused with 'O' and 'I' or even 'l' and are best avoided.

If the customs authorities in your own (exporting) country demand a 17 digit ISO VIN, it would be wise to contact the local motor vehicle registry in the first instance stating that the number is required for customs purposes. The reason for this is that the US has different standards (ISO 3779) to other parts of the world (ISO 3780).

If there are demands on you for a full 17 digit number, the Wikipedia page <Vehicle_Indentification_Number> provides sufficient information on each of the 17 segments to allow an ISO VIN to be constructed that contains valid check digit.

This answer is based on the Sunpower data-sheets: 70-0006 Rev 02 and 70-0006 Rev 03. Both have the same dimensions for the overall cell but differ slightly in tab placement.

The data-sheet states the cell dimensions as "150mm diameter with 125mm x 125mm square edges". As they have written 125mm (not 124mm or 126mm) we can assume a manufacturing tolerance (uncertainty) of +/- 0.5 mm. These linear uncertainties, when multiplied together provide an area uncertainty of +/- 0.25 mm².

The data-sheet does not give the overall cell area, but mathematically (OK, we used AutoDesk’s 3-D modeller) the cell area is 14,857.99mm² to which we must apply our uncertainty of +/- 0.25 mm².

If we assume the tolerance is always in our favour we can calculate the cell area at 14,857.74 mm²

Regulation D.5 states the total surface area of the solar array be no greater than 6.000m². As 403 x 14,857.74 gives us 5.987(m²) the answer to the question is: 403

No.

The 2011 regulations state that as the event is held on the highway, tyres with 'NOT FOR HIGHWAY USE' on the sidewall are not allowed.

The 2009 regulations allowed you to use tyres with that message if we had a letter from the manufacturer stating why the product was so endorsed. Such letters are no longer acceptable to the The Road Traffic Authority.

The WSC community maintains a Wiki resource at http://scg.levels.unisa.edu.au/src/

There is also a self-managed list server on Yahoo Tech Groups http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wsc/