The student team from Twente arrived to Australia at the end of August. The delivery of their solar car RED Shift was delayed, which set the team back a bit, but everything seems to be back on track now. ‘We are testing the car and are getting great results. We’re very busy, but also very confident,’ says Gearte Nynke Noteboom, the communication manager of Solar Team Twente.
Working day and night
‘We wanted to make little changes to the car, which meant we also needed to work night shifts. Now we spend whole days testing the car and whole nights optimizing it. But it is going faster than expected and everything works very well. That is perfect, because the World Solar Challenge starts in less than two weeks.’ On the 8th of October, to be precise.
Scrutineering
Before the start of the race, the RED Shift needs to undergo so-called scrutineering. ‘That basically means passing a technical inspection and getting permission from the World Solar Challenge organizers,’ explains Noteboom. ‘We expect it will go fine, but it is still very exciting, because last time the car didn’t pass on the first day and the team had to make some changes until it finally got accepted on the last day.’
Practice race
To make sure no such thing happens, the team will also participate in a practice race this weekend, which will give them a final chance to test everything. This race will last three days and cover about 600 kilometers, while the big event - the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge – will involve 3000 km of public roads that the competing teams need to cross within six days. ‘We still feel happy about the conditions here and we are confident that we will do well in the race,’ says Noteboom on behalf of the local Solar Team Twente.
