The Nuon team, from the Netherlands
The biennial, eight-day Sasol Solar Challenge kicks off in the country’s capital, Pretoria, on Saturday, and is set to end in Cape Town, on October 4.
Fourteen teams will take part, of which eight are local, says race project manager Annalie van Vuuren.
There are four classes in the race, with the Olympia class likely to draw the most attention, as it will host the high-tech solar cars that also participate in other solar races around the globe.
There are 11 competitors in this class, says Van Vuuren.
The local teams are from the University of the Witwatersrand, the University of Johannesburg (UJ), the University of Cape Town, the Tshwane University of Technology, the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the North-West University (NWU).
Local school competitors in the Olympia class include the Maragon Private Schools Olympus and the Deutsche Internationale Schule Johannesburg (DSJ).
Maragon will race with NWU’s 2012 Sasol Solar Challenge car, while DSJ will use UJ’s previous racing vehicle.
International competitors include world champion team Nuon, from the Delft University of Technology, in the Netherlands, the Near East University, in Northern Cyprus, and Anadolu University, in Turkey.
The Sasol Solar Challenge 2014 is not a fixed-distance race, where the fastest vehicle wins, as was the case in 2012. This year’s event is about maximising and managing the vehicles’ energy.
Each of the eight stages is around 260 km long, with the race 2 000 km in total.
However, each day teams must decide how many loops their vehicle can complete in addition to this stage, with loops varying in length between 58 km and 130 km.
Vehicles may only be charged by the sun during the race.
“We expect the strongest teams to do around 600 km a day,” says Van Vuuren.
The race will travel through Kroonstad, Bloemfontein, Colesberg, Graaff-Reinet, Port Elizabeth, Knysna and Swellendam.