On Thursday, the fifth day of the World Solar Challenge race,
the Solar Team Twente covered almost 600 kilometres. The team are
calling it a 'good fifth day'. The 21Revolution, which crashed two
days earlier, held up well. But the car is generating somewhat less
solar power than before the crash.
Mart Bruinja, the driver of the 21Revolution who overturned on
Wednesday, drove on the first etappe of the day, having regained
enough confidence in himself and in the car to start again. In the
morning, he reached the speed of 95 kilometres per hour, which is
considerably faster than the team achieved on the day after the
crash. Mart covered a total of 300 kilometres in the morning.
Energy yield
The team did not manage to regain the speeds they had reached
before the crash. According to Annemiek Dul of Solar Team Twente,
this has to do with the fact that the 21Revolution is generating
less solar energy. 'This is caused by two problems. The tiltable
wing no longer tilts, so that we can no longer turn the car's solar
panel towards the sun. We will see tonight whether we can repair
it. Apart from that, the car's two rear fresnel lens boxes have
stopped working.' These lenses are intended to focus sunlight on to
the underlying solar cells. Despite the reduced energy yield, the
team managed to drive an average of 83 kilometres per hour
throughout the day.
Ranking
The Twente team is still in eighth place in the rankings. They
will have to race almost 300 kilometres tomorrow. The tension will
build again on the last day of the race, when the team needs to
reach a certain point by eleven in the morning (end of timing
point). If they don't manage that, the 21Revolution will be out of
the race. Every effort will be made tonight to carry out the last
repairs.
The Nuon Solar Team from Delft arrived this morning in Adelaide,
the finishing point, and took second place in the race.
For more information you can contact one of the following persons:
Science writer UT
Joost Bruysters
+ 31 53 - 4892773
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