Fourteen teams of engineers from General Motors South Africa's (GMSA’s) product engineering and product quality departments recently battled it out to see who could create the best miniature solar-powered vehicle motorised by a 1.5 V electric motor and 0.75 W solar panel.
While the engineers had two days to plan their project, on the day of the race they were allocated only 30 minutes to do final assembly and fine tuning and were only allowed to apply mechanical modifications, such as gearing, wheels or aerodynamics.
The vehicles were judged for aesthetics, creativity and speed and were powered by
150 W spot lamps and, ultimately, Team Chevy Stig won for aesthetics, while Team Solar Flare remained unbeaten in all three rounds of racing.
“Give our engineers a challenge and they accept it with open arms. This is also reflective of the teams' approach to developing and continuously improving engineering and technology on our locally produced products,” GM Africa product engineering VP Wendle Roberts said in a statement on Wednesday.