Teams are now making camp as the sun sets on Day 2 of the 2023 Bridgestone World Solar Challenge. With air temperatures hovering around 40 degrees Celsius for most of the day, and the cockpit around 50 degrees.

Belgian Innoptus Solar team in Infinite, with its futuristic fin, is setting a red-hot pace. Taking the lead an hour out of Darwin, the Belgians are now in Alice Springs, halfway to Adelaide, the record distance covered in two days since speed limits were imposed on the Stuart Highway in the Northern Territory.  

Around 67 kilometres off the lead pace is Dutch team Twente in RED X with Brunel in Nuna 12 close behind. All three teams have now travelled more than 1,400 kilometres on the power of the sun, around 60 minutes ahead of last year’s pace.   

Germany’s Sonnenwagen Aachen team in Covestro Adelie, is 120 km behind Brunel, holding fourth place comfortably ahead of Japan’s team Tokai who are approximately 45 kilometres behind with US team Michigan who are steadily gaining ground on Tokai in a tight tussle for fifth and sixth place. Top Dutch in Green Thunder is in Barrow Creek with Japan’s Kogakuin in Koga further behind in eighth place. Rounding out the top 10 is Sweden’s JU Solar in Axelight and UK’s Durham in DUSC23 camping in Karlu Karlu (Devils Marbles).

Six CSIRO Cruiser Class teams now remain competitive: Australia’s Sunswift 7 taking a clear lead, the only team to make the Tennant Creek time target, carrying four people with an energy efficiency performance estimated at twice that of a current Tesla. The remaining five teams will receive time penalties. US Minnesota in Gaia was 52 minutes after the target time, followed by Estonia’s Solaride, Taiwan’s Apollo IX, Australia’s ASCEND, and China’s Sun Shuttle. All are camping at Tennant Creek for the first of two compulsory overnight stops and the first opportunity for external charging from the grid.

Western Sydney University in Unlimited 5.0 is Australia’s best placed Projecta Challenger team at Tennant Creek ahead of Canada’s Blue Sky Solar also overnighting at Tennant Creek just ahead of Switzerland’s aCentauri and Goko High School. Adelaide University Solar Racing Team in Lumen III are now south of Renner Springs, an improvement on their 2019 performance.  

For the full leaderboard and to follow team progress visit the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge VAILO Car Tracker.

Photo credit: Frankie The Creative 

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