Students back in challenge after rebuilding car
Citizen reporter
The Tshwane University of Technology proved their mettle yesterday, when they started in fifth place in the Sasol Solar Challenge, after having to rebuild their car’s cockpit and solar array overnight.
The international solar car race started day two yesterday with the Japanese team, Tokai, leading the pack ahead of defending champions, Nuon.
In an equally big upset, SA high school team Sonke Siyakunde managed to beat all the local universities, and start in fourth place.
Tokai and Nuon both completed 514.2km yesterday, but the Japanese team finished a full minute ahead of the Dutch, earning Tokai first place on today’s start line at UFS Sports Grounds. Swiss team Solar Energy Racers completed 372.6km, earning them third place.
Event director Winstone Jor- daan said, “”It’s only day two and the challenge is already proving that it’s anyone’s game.”
The racers departed from Bloemfontein for Edenburg and Gariep Dam.
The TUT team had to show “true engineering determination”, after their car suffered technical issues on Sunday.
“We took the car to Pretoria and worked through the night to get it to Kroonstad at 7am,” said Johannes de Vries, TUT team manager.
“By 10.30am we were on the road. But there are still issues with battery management.”