World Solar Challenge - History

History

The idea for the competition originates from Danish-born adventurer Hans Tholstrup. He was the first to circumnavigate the Australian continent in a 16-foot (4.9 m) open boat. At a later stage in his life he became involved in various competitions with fuel saving cars and trucks. Already in the 1980s, he became aware of the necessity to explore sustainable energy as a replacement for the limited available fossil fuel. Sponsored by BP, he designed the world's first solar car, called The Quiet Achiever, and traversed the 4,052 km (2,518 mi) between Sydney and Perth in 20 days. That was the precursor of the World Solar Challenge.

After the 4th race, he sold the rights to the state of South Australia and leadership of the race was assumed by Chris Selwood.

The race was held every three years until 1999 when it was switched to every two years.

• The first race was run in 1987 when the winning entry, GM's Sunraycer won with an average speed of 67 km/h (42 mph). Ford Australia's "Sunchaser" was second and "Spirit of Biel" was third. The "Solar Resource", which came in 7th overall, was first in the Private Entry category.
• In 1990 the race was won by the "Spirit of Biel", built by Biel School of Engineering and Architecture in Switzerland followed by Honda in second place and University of Michigan in third. Video coverage here.
• In 1993 the race was won by Honda. Video coverage here.
• In 1996 the race was won by Honda for a second time.
• Finally in 1999 a "home" team, the Australian "Aurora", took the prize.
• In 2001 the Nuna of the Delft University of Technology from the Netherlands, participating for the first time, was the fastest.
• In 2003 the Nuna 2, the successor to the winner of 2001 won again, with an average speed of 97 km/h (60 mph).
• In 2005 the Nuna team scored a hat-trick with their third victory in a row; their Nuna 3 won with a record average speed of 102.75 km/h (63.85 mph). Aurora finished in second place followed by the University of Michigan in third.
• In 2007 the Dutch Nuon Solar team scored their fourth successive victory with Nuna 4 in the challenge class averaging 90.07 km/h (55.97 mph) under the new rules, while the Ashiya team with their car Tiga won the race in the adventure class under the old rules with an average speed of 93.53 km/h (58.12 mph).
• In 2009 the race was won by the "Tokai Challenger", built by the Tokai University Solar Car Team in Japan. The Dutch Nuon Solar Team's Nuna 5 finished in second place followed by the University of Michigan in third. The first Australian car across the line was Sunswift IV built by students at the University of New South Wales which came in fourth overall and was the first silicon-based cell car to finish.