Local team rises to the Sasol Solar challenge

MBOMBELA - Team SolarFlair has designed and built a solar-powered vehicle to compete in the Sasol Solar Challenge, an international and highly visible biannual competition. The concept stems from Australia, and the events are run in Australia and South Africa.

During September, South Africa will host professional and amateur solar car teams from around the world as they participate in the event. The ultimate goal is to cover the 2 500km from Johannesburg to Cape Town without using a drop of fuel. This is the 14th year that teams and technology companies take on the challenge to develop, build and drive solar-powered cars fitted with cutting-edge technology.

The 2022 event boasts new local and international teams (high school, university and private engineers teams) including those competing for the first time in South Africa. Many international teams have already arrived in the country.

This team is made up of people with design, engineering, electrical and other backgrounds. The three drivers are young adults who participated in the popular local EV Challenge Series of annual events. This encouraged high school learners to design and built battery-driven cars that were then subjected to a serious interschool race to see which team can do the most laps in one hour and over a designated race course.

SolarFlair has just recently passed the first of two stringent scrutineering tests at Red Star Raceway in Delmas. It also weighed in as the lightest vehicle among all the entrants. Whether they will be able to use this to their advantage, only time will tell. All teams will be subjected to another and final scrutineering and training session at Red Star Raceway from September 3 to 8. The official starts in Johannesburg on the ninth.

The team is mostly self-funded and will appreciate financial and other support from local business and individuals. Manganese Metal Company (MMC) has just come on board as the headline sponsor, thus the car being decked out in MMC’s corporate colours.

Contact team director Mark Schormann should you wish to support SolarFlair.

You can follow the Sasol Solar

Challenge on social media platforms or www.solarchallenge.org.za or Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or YouTube.

The team with SolarFlair: Mangaliso Gxesha (driver, seated), Theo Badenhorst (driver), Mark Schormann, Klasie and Erika Botha, Anton Geldenhuys and Willem van Wyk. Absent: Richard Purdon, Willem Botha, Pierre Human, Craig Gephard and Johan Verster.